The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb MBP" thread [Merged]

[jesus-wept]

I ordered a MBP 13" 2.23 and upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 320 GB HD last Thursday at the 1-800 Apple shop. With a "free printer and free 8GB touch". Plus the usual student discounts on Apple care, iWork 09, memory etc. Saved over $550, including about $120 tax as it was tax free in GA last weekend. MBP and Touch (with free engraving) left Shanghai and some other Chi-com city Saturday night and arrived at my door by Fed Ex with free shipping @ 36 hours later just before 8am Monday morning. Printer, Mac care and other stuff arrived in various packages the following day. Have purchased a superb Timbuk2 13" MBP compatible all black laptop bag from REI outlet for $60. Got a Seagate Free Agent Go 320GB Mac 800 Firewire external HD with free dock and cables from Best Buy for $75. Just bought The Missing Manual for iWork 09 from Amazon. Also ten days ago I bought a Samson CO1U Podcasting kit with aluminium case, mic stand etc for $108 off Amazon. That arrived with printer. Also got an Apple adapter to connect my Samsung 22" LCD screen to the MBP, which works on VGA without any driver problems.

Now begins the sharpish learning curve to master the OSX thingy. Bought the MBP primarily for Garageband podcasting capability to mix and produce professional sounding CD's to flog to discerning punters. Plus the Apple version of Powerpoint **gentle smirk**. After the new Mac OSX upgrade is released wil maybe have to get a book on that to learn how it all works. Have been a steadfast, increasingly unhappy windows user for 15 years. Hopefully no more Blue Screens of Death for me. Although 64 bit Vista has been quite stable.

The MBP is a very cute cutting edge (until the next upgrade) toy, with clearly a great deal of potential for productivity and fun. Have never had a webcam thingy before. Funny how there are so few steps to doing most things - unlike before. Its a totally different mindset. A bit pricey like - but U get wot U pay for http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/icons/icon12.gifhttp://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

These smilies "work" very differently to ones on English footy web sites.

 

[DoFoT9]

If you took the laptop stand off of the external drives, it seems the laptop monitor would be a better height beside the ACD, or is it just the way it looks in the photos? I will probably set mine up so that the macbook monitor is lined up with the top of my 23" monitor, or perhaps equal distance from top and bottom. I suppose I will decide once I see how the cross monitor action is, in the sense of where the mouse enters the larger screen (if that makes sense).

i put my external monitor above my notebook i find it ALOT easier to use and i dont have to worry about the height of anything, just the width.

I ordered a MBP 13" 2.23......

congratulations! i hope you LOVE it

Now begins the sharpish learning curve to master the OSX thingy....

thats why we have tutorial based sites, aka:: here (courtesy of uaecasher) & here(courtesy of r.j.s). they are very good for beginners and advanced users alike

These smilies "work" very differently to ones on English footy web sites.

the smilies are easy to manage. e.g.

":" + ")" =
":" + "p" =
":" + "eek" + ":" =
etc.

 

[jesus-wept]

Cheers M8 for the learning sites. Will be quite useful.

Watch out for Freddie Flintoff ... he's really wound up for the last two tests.

 

[DoFoT9]

Cheers M8 for the learning sites. Will be quite useful.

thats cool, goodluck with it all!!

Watch out for Freddie Flintoff ... he's really wound up for the last two tests.

wound up in crotches

 

[afters]

Just got my new baby! Ordered last Wednesday.

I got the 24" Cinema Friday and the MacBook Pro 17" came in last night. The 17" is 3.06GHz and 7200rpm 500GB HD. I also have 2 Western Digital 1 terabyte eSata drives and a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is not pictured. It's setup with my HT.

I LOVE IT! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!!!!!

*snip*

Congrats on your new purchases. Looks like you've really gone all out with the credit card.

However, I would recommend at least putting the Xstand on a more 'stable' surface. Put the hard drives elsewhere, you have enough space on your desk

 

[jesus-wept]

Cheers ... should be fun learning all the new stuff. Gotta go put me dogs up for the nite now - had a 3ft copperhead yesterday evening coiled up asleep by one of the kennels. But my .357 sorted that out very swiftly. That doesn't EVER happen in England of course.


"wound up in crotches"

Bollocks!!! At least Freddie doesn't constantly snivel like Ponting

Hope U can "bollocks" on here - of course.

 

[DoFoT9]

Cheers ... should be fun learning all the new stuff. Gotta go put me dogs up for the nite now - had a 3ft copperhead yesterday evening coiled up asleep by one of the kennels. But my .357 sorted that out very swiftly. That doesn't EVER happen in England of course.

sound like a good experience

"wound up in crotches"

Bollocks!!! At least Freddie doesn't constantly snivel like Ponting

Hope U can "bollocks" on here - of course.

we aregoing thru a tough patch, ponting is getting old, give us a few years to rebuild! bollocks is fine to say as far as i know...

 

[hazza.jockel]

Hi all.
Only a few post above I said my MacBook was going fine and must have jinxed myself. Just out of know where my laptop would get stuck on the blue screen at start up. Tried various things such as archive install etc but all failed and eventually no command keys would work.

Lucky for me it was still in the DOA return period and got an exchange on the spot at Myer. And even more lucky was that I had invested in an external HDD for time machine something i wouldn't usually do.

 

[Carlos E]

Congrats on your new purchases. Looks like you've really gone all out with the credit card.

However, I would recommend at least putting the Xstand on a more 'stable' surface. Put the hard drives elsewhere, you have enough space on your desk

I know the stand is in a bad position. I have to figure something out to put underneath it. The stand is too short. I want the laptop the same height as the 24" display.

 

[SecretAznMan7]

These smilies "work" very differently to ones on English footy web sites.

The ones I browse have ones that are like :smiley20: :smiley14: :smiley5: : ) is much easier to manage IMO.

Anyway, just ordered my 15" MBP 2.66 for college, as it's tax free weekend. Looking forward to it!

 

[3N16MA]

Well I decided that I am going to pick up a base 13" MBP after my final next week (why do I take summer classes ). My 09 Mini has been great acting as my main machine/HTPC/media server since I purchased it in March. Funny thing is I bought a late 08 Macbook back in February and it was over $1850 with tax here in Canada, I did end up returning it because of the bad screen quality. The only reason I chose that model was for the back lit keyboard (I know foolish of me), the new base 13" MBP + 09 Mac Mini will only be $240 more for both once I sell the iPod Touch. I was thinking about holding out to see what the tablet might look like but I really want a full fledged notebook. The mini will now take it's place as the king in my HT setup (along with the PS3 ).

 

[catbirdee]

newbie 2 mac

I ordered and am patiently waiting, (ok, not so patient) to get my new 17in MBP
I started with mac over 20years ago and switched to pc for types of software I needed to use. But I'm SICK to death of B. Gates and the computer Dark Side. I am going bac 2 Mac, but need to run some pc programs, like on my iPaq PDA for one. I've been looking at VMware Fusion 2. Is it worthwhile? Is it going to slow my system too much? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[DoFoT9]

I ordered and am patiently waiting, (ok, not so patient) to get my new 17in MBP
I started with mac over 20years ago and switched to pc for types of software I needed to use. But I'm SICK to death of B. Gates and the computer Dark Side. I am going bac 2 Mac, but need to run some pc programs, like on my iPaq PDA for one. I've been looking at VMware Fusion 2. Is it worthwhile? Is it going to slow my system too much? Any advice is appreciated.

congrats on the switch!!!! its about time

the thing about VM (virtual machines) is that they only slow down your system when they are active, if they are turned off then all they do is take up disc space (you can specify how much). i rather Parallels over VMWare, but its up to you.

goodluck!

 

[catbirdee]

vmware and newbie

congrats on the switch!!!! its about time

the thing about VM (virtual machines) is that they only slow down your system when they are active, if they are turned off then all they do is take up disc space (you can specify how much). i rather Parallels over VMWare, but its up to you.

goodluck!

Thanx! What is it about parallels that you prefer?
(Also, I don't know what I'm doing on this discussion site, so excuse booboos)

 

[highertechnology]

My MB985LL/A was shipped today!!!!!!

 

[DoFoT9]

Thanx! What is it about parallels that you prefer?
(Also, I don't know what I'm doing on this discussion site, so excuse booboos)

on my older MBP Parallels just runs smoother and more efficiently then VMWare - which seems to use more resources. another main reason - Parallels works flawlessly with my dual monitor setup, with VMWare it just hates it...

just my personal preference

 

[designed]

Just got my 13" MBP today (finally had the time to go pick it up) and it's sweeeeeeet. The power difference compared to my MBA is quite noticeable and even the extra bulk seems to be of the 'good kind', making the computer more assuring to haul around.

 

[catbirdee]

on my older MBP Parallels just runs smoother and more efficiently then VMWare - which seems to use more resources. another main reason - Parallels works flawlessly with my dual monitor setup, with VMWare it just hates it...

just my personal preference

Thank you twice... Can you run a pda with pocket pc? I use it at work and I've not seen a lot of medical apps for ipod. Ipod seems more like an entertainment toy than a work thing- no offense meant...

 

[DoFoT9]

Thank you twice... Can you run a pda with pocket pc? I use it at work and I've not seen a lot of medical apps for ipod. Ipod seems more like an entertainment toy than a work thing- no offense meant...

i have no personal experience with using Pocket PC - but i am definitely sure that it will work. on parallels: install the software by putting the CD in as you normally would blaablaa, then plug in your device via USB - parallels by default will prompt you if you wish to connect the device to Parallels (so windows/Pocket PC can use it) or to OSX (incase you wanted to use it there).

very simple to do.

 

[EricksonPhoto]

Yeehaw!

I'm now the proud new owner of a base model 13" MacBook Pro and a 24" LED Cinema Display! Only about a week or so before they should arrive. Not only did I score a free iPod Touch, but my school threw in a free printer. Nice. Also, my Cinema Display was a refurbished unit that I could still cover with 3-year Apple Care so I saved $300 on that. Very nice.

I did however just learn that I probably did not need to buy separate Apple Care for the display since I already bought it for the MBP. Is this true? It was $80 and seemed like a wise investment for a refurbished unit. I am also hoping that some of the negative reviews I read of the new Cinema Display and the Mighty Mouse turn out to be untrue, as I intend to edit photos with this gorgeous machine.

Giddyup

 

[Alag28]

heres the awesome part i bought this from bestbuy as an openbox they thought this was the 1200$ mbp 13inch but its the 15inch 2000$ version so i got this for 954$ after takes i saved 1050$....so happy poor bestbuy

 

[Carlos E]

I'm now the proud new owner of a base model 13" MacBook Pro and a 24" LED Cinema Display! Only about a week or so before they should arrive. Not only did I score a free iPod Touch, but my school threw in a free printer. Nice. Also, my Cinema Display was a refurbished unit that I could still cover with 3-year Apple Care so I saved $300 on that. Very nice.

I did however just learn that I probably did not need to buy separate Apple Care for the display since I already bought it for the MBP. Is this true? It was $80 and seemed like a wise investment for a refurbished unit. I am also hoping that some of the negative reviews I read of the new Cinema Display and the Mighty Mouse turn out to be untrue, as I intend to edit photos with this gorgeous machine.

Giddyup

Apple care will cover the laptop and the display if they were purchased together at the same time. You didn't need to pay for it twice. See if they will give you a refund.

 

[Carlos E]

heres the awesome part i bought this from bestbuy as an openbox they thought this was the 1200$ mbp 13inch but its the 15inch 2000$ version so i got this for 954$ after takes i saved 1050$....so happy poor bestbuy

Wow! Nice

 

[rme]

Can't wait for my mbp to arrive.
Ordered the 17"/matte (of course ;-))/128GB SSD.
It arrived at Shanghai airport friday evening, but since TNT is useless and doesn't do anything during the weekend it means it probably won't arrive here till wednesday.

 

[missmoneypenny]

ALAG28 Very nice,your so lucky
I'm awaiting a mbp 13,this will be my 8th mac,i've been a little careless over the years, but hoping things change now.I still have a macbook air,but its on its last legs,no sound,hinge makes a terrible sound and it wont go to sleep,all this after its screen got cracked under a chair.so im very excited about the mbp,my only concern is that it has a glass screen,and its heavy compaired to mba, i may get another mack book air,or wait for the new tablet? that may come hopefully soon.