Need Help

[Lucascsula]

Hello,

My wife and I are thinking about purchasing 2 Macbooks. We will be using the student discounts. I have allocated 1200.00 US dollars.

I have a few of questions:

1. I am a graduate student that will primarily use this for Internet and Papers.
Does the MacBook come with a writing tool similar to Word? (Silly Question)

2. How does the Apple 3 year Service Warranty work? In other words, if something goes wrong with my Mac, do they fix it under the service plan?

3. Will 1200 US dollars be enough for my basic Mac needs? What else do you suggest I allocate funds for?

Thanks for the help!

 

[kolax]

1. Yes, it comes with "Text Edit".

As you can see, it is very basic, but offers formatting options etc. Your best option is to download Open Office which is FREE and is practically as good as MS Office.


2. I only have the 1 year warranty, so don't know enough about the 3 year to comment.

3. Wireless internet (buying an Airport Express/Extreme, another $150-300), external hard drive if you plan to store a lot of data (this can be setup on the Airport Extreme to be shared so both you and your wife can access it; great if you want to share music and photos).

 

[Lucascsula]

Open Office. Got it. Thanks!

I also need to use the $100 Rebate Printer Voucher.

 

[amoda]

2. If you opt to buy AppleCare (which you should with laptops and, if you didn't know this already, can be purchased within a year of the laptops purchase date. So you can buy your laptop now and in 11 months buy AppleCare after you get some more cash) it will extend your warranty to 3 years. The warranty basically covers any hardware failure that isn't caused by you. So if all of a sudden your screen dies out they'll replace it for free. But if you spilled water on the laptop which then caused the screen to die out they won't replace it and it'll probably nullify any remaining warranty . But that's a business standard.

 

[Lucascsula]

2. If you opt to buy AppleCare (which you should with laptops and, if you didn't know this already, can be purchased within a year of the laptops purchase date. So you can buy your laptop now and in 11 months buy AppleCare after you get some more cash) it will extend your warranty to 3 years. The warranty basically covers any hardware failure that isn't caused by you. So if all of a sudden your screen dies out they'll replace it for free. But if you spilled water on the laptop which then caused the screen to die out they won't replace it and it'll probably nullify any remaining warranty . But that's a business standard.

Sweet! That'll save me some cash indeed! I can buy a mouse and case.

I'm starting to become convinced.

 

[sfisher]

1. I am a graduate student that will primarily use this for Internet and Papers. Does the MacBook come with a writing tool similar to Word? (Silly Question)

Since you're in school and will be probably be writing a lot of papers, I recommend buying Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac. The student edition is on sale at Apple's site for $124.95 right now ($25 off normal price).

2. How does the Apple 3 year Service Warranty work? In other words, if something goes wrong with my Mac, do they fix it under the service plan?

Yup, they will provide phone / in store / mail in support for any issues you encounter for the first three years. It is a good thing to have and a pleasure to use if you have to.