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Help me convice my dad...

coday182

coday182

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2006
237
0
Jamestown, IN
Ok this weekend me and my friend are both going to the Apple Store. I am hopefully going to try to talk my mom and mostly dad into helping me get my college laptop. Part of my reason of getting it this early (I still have 2 weeks before I graduate high school) is that it would be nice to bring it on my vacations this summer. This will be his first mac and my second. I am planning on getting a 2.0 Ghz Macbook with 2 gb of ram. It's not a macbook pro, but it will blow my 1.5 solo mini with 512 mb out of the water. So... any advice on helping my plead my case with my dad?
 
how much are you going to be paying toward your macbook, just out of curiosity? or are you expecting your dad to cover most of the cost?

as nice as it might be to take the macbook on vacation this summer, maybe you could work this summer and save up your own money for the macbook.
 
1,5xx with my educational discount. My dad really wants me to get an economy laptop for under or around 1,000 but I will try to make up the difference. It's been really hard for cash lately because I have gotten less hours and have needed more money. Plus it's a real pain in the butt when gas prices get high casue I live in the boondocks and have to drive 17 miles both ways everyday to school so thats where a lot of my money goes.
 
Something I would recommend is buying the laptop minus the extra gig of RAM.
Then go to Ebay and get one nice and cheap from there and save almost 100 bucks.
(Be sure to get one with 1 stick of 1 gb and not 2 sticks of 512mb!!!)

Be sure to push the longevity of a Macbook over any windows pcs!!
Battery life etc...
My dad was the same way...Good luck!
 
I would suggest going refurbished if money is tight. I myself went down that road, being a college student I am also tight with money and I plan to use it for the usual things a college student does. I saved a good amount of money for a model that is just the same compared to a new one. Good luck!
 
Andrew D. said:
I would suggest going refurbished if money is tight. I myself went down that road, being a college student I am also tight with money and I plan to use it for the usual things a college student does. I saved a good amount of money for a model that is just the same compared to a new one. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Duh! I completely forgot about apple refurbs and here I am typing on one!!
It definitely saves a bunch.
 
coday182 said:
My dad really wants me to get an economy laptop for under or around 1,000 but I will try to make up the difference.
Click to expand...

Get a stock 2 GHz Macbook and you will be very close to $1000. You can always add more memory later, but 1 GB will be fine to start. BTW if you live within 17 miles of anything (especially a college) you don't live in the boonies.
 
i'd agree about the refurbs, as well as the RAM. you may not even need 2 GB depending on your needs...i've been running Photoshop and Illustrator on only 1 GB, and everything's been fine.

i'd still recommend putting as much of your own money as possible toward the macbook...i think it's good that you're trying to make up the difference in price between a PC laptop and a macbook. i understand money is tight, but someday your dad won't be buying your electronics for you, and it's best to get in the habit of saving before you're on your own. trust me, i can vouch for that. :)

with that said, i'd suggest waiting until the end of summer to purchase your macbook. i know it seems like a long time, but we may see updates before then, and you may be able to pitch in more money than you had anticipated...or maybe you'll save up enough to purchase applecare. ;)
 
thanks for the advice. I'm not very tech savy and I think i would be afraid to take my laptop apart lol. I was already planning on updating the hard drive later on, so I guess I could try the ram too I guess lol....

...5 min later... Ok I'm lookin at a refurb and it is a 2.0 GHz core 2 duo with 1 gb or RAM. Can someone tell me how it is giong to compare to my 1.5 ghz mini solo with 512 mb ram. It's 1,099 which is a hell of a deal
 
coday182 said:
thanks for the advice. I'm not very tech savy and I think i would be afraid to take my laptop apart lol. I was already planning on updating the hard drive later on, so I guess I could try the ram too I guess lol....

...5 min later... Ok I'm lookin at a refurb and it is a 2.0 GHz core 2 duo with 1 gb or RAM. Can someone tell me how it is giong to compare to my 1.5 ghz mini solo with 512 mb ram. It's 1,099 which is a hell of a deal
Click to expand...

Yes, you'll notice what a difference that extra 512 of RAM makes almost immediately. I don't know what difference 500MHz will make as I'm stuck on a 1GHz TiBook, however, I'd imagine you'll notice it with certain processor-intensive tasks.
 
Shaduu said:
... I don't know what difference 500MHz will make as I'm stuck on a 1GHz TiBook, however, I'd imagine you'll notice it with certain processor-intensive tasks.
Click to expand...

It'll make a pretty big difference. The MB is a Core 2 Duo whereas the Mini is only a Core Solo.

I'm sure that you've considered this already, but since you are going to college, will you be playing games on your PC. I mention this because I never really got into games until I'd gone off to college.

At the refurbished price, though, I'm sure you'll have no problem convincing your dad about spending the extra $100.
 
I am also a university student with a Macbook C2d and 1 gig of RAM. I know it sucks to hear... but I would totally wait until later in the summer. Apple has been habitual with its updates of its consumer laptops right before school starts plus you will be able to take advantage of the free ipod and printer deal they always give out. Finally I cannot agree more with upgrading the RAM later. I waited out (instead of upgrading on purchase to 2 gig for $150) and just recently purchased 2 1GB sticks for $35 each . I'm no math major but that is less than half of what Apple is charging.
 
coday182 said:
Ok this weekend me and my friend are both going to the Apple Store. Any advice on helping my plead my case with my dad?
Click to expand...

Shock the monkey.

Go in there and fall in love with the 17" MBP. It will work best if you friend does the same and if he says something like, "my university recommended this in the literature. I'm getting one, aren't you?"

Don't even look at the MacBook.

Make sure your dad sees you drooling over the MBP and he sees the price.

Mention to him that it's more than you expected but if he gave you a loan you could pull it off.

He'll immediately point at the MacBook and ask what's wrong with that one for $1200 less. You make up a few excuses but say it might work for a few years but you won't look as cool and stuff. He'll say that he's not going to spend $2700 so you can look cool.

"You're just going to have to get that MacBook and be damn happy with it young man! I'm not made of money!"

Cha-ching!
 
majordude said:
Shock the monkey.

Go in there and fall in love with the 17" MBP. It will work best if you friend does the same and if he says something like, "my university recommended this in the literature. I'm getting one, aren't you?"

Don't even look at the MacBook.

Make sure your dad sees you drooling over the MBP and he sees the price.

Mention to him that it's more than you expected but if he gave you a loan you could pull it off.

He'll immediately point at the MacBook and ask what's wrong with that one for $1200 less. You make up a few excuses but say it might work for a few years but you won't look as cool and stuff. He'll say that he's not going to spend $2700 so you can look cool.

"You're just going to have to get that MacBook and be damn happy with it young man! I'm not made of money!"

Cha-ching!
Click to expand...

genius... although I would never buy a 17" laptop for the record
 
coday182 said:
genius... although I would never buy a 17" laptop for the record
Click to expand...

What ever... :rolleyes:

Just shock the monkey.

It works like that in business too. Your department needs three new computers, you tell your boss that you need five. He'll freak. You say that one might get by for another year and the other one you can give to the new guy or use for parts... so maybe three, but wow, that's really cutting it close... and, huh? I'm approved for three computers?

:cool:
 
No question you should wait for the updates. It's looking more and more like all the laptops will be updated pretty soon.

And don't buy RAM off eBay. Yuck. Just order from Crucial.com so you know you're getting good stuff that's compatible (or order the same part number from Newegg if you want and it's significantly cheaper).

Last I checked it would be around $130ish for two 1GB sticks for a Macbook.

And you don't disassemble anything. The hard drive and RAM are easily user replaceable on the Macbook.
 
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