Ultimate MacBook Buying Guide/questions

[pedro nicoli]

Hi,
I'm from Brazil and I'm a photographer.
for years i've been using windows to do all my work. Now i need to buy a notebook, so im going to switch to Apple.
After a week of web researches i found too many complaints on macbook.

here I'll list the most common:
1) Stains! pink, blue, brown, yellow...
2) Moo!! the CPU cooler makes too much noise ..
3) heat! brazil is too hot! i dont want a even hotter notebook...
4) baterry wont work..(only pluged...so...why is it a notebook?)
5) Shut down ramdonly! (u work is halfway done...and...it shuts down!!)


Has anyone found out if the latests MB are still showing this problems?
- wich serial number sould I look for? i heard that the ones made over week 25 are not showing stains...is it true?
- Is 512ram realy not good? (i do some light Photoshop work, ajust levels, curves and stuff on 6megapixels photos.)
- is a 60Giga hard drive too short? i heard after instaling OS X u'll have only about 35G left...is it true?

I'l going to buy a Mac cos it's supose to last longer than a windows notebook, it should't crash so often, and at its price range i cant get anything like it. and i'm tired of having to format my pc, having drivers problems etc...

Here in Brazil the white 2.0Ghz macbook costs about 1900 dollars (damm those tax, dutty and other crazy brazilian restrictions)
That's a looot o money to me, but I guess it will worth it IF i buy a good macbook. (replacing it will take about 30 days or more, cos Apple in brazil has no stock of macbook, they only get it by pre order.


Please help me out dudes! shoud i wait more? if so, 4 how long?
when and If i buy, what would be better to add on right away? more Ram or a bigger Hard Drive?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[pedro nicoli]

anyone??

 

[fatties]

i've my mac book for a month now. still no stains, doesn't shutdown randomly, doesn't moo, at all... if that makes you feel any better.

i would recommand to get a bigger hard drive as i have a stock one and once i stuck the music and pics on i only have about 14 left and apparently you need 10% free for the computer to work well or something... which means after 1 month, i have only 8 gigs of hard drive left!

oh and it seems to be a cosensus that you should get more ram on here... esp. photoshop is not running native... and my ms office (not native) is a little glitchy even at 2 gigs.

look around the site, because i know alot of people asked the same q re. photoshop work and what i found when i was researching to buy is that many recommand you to buy a older model- i.e. not mactel to use before all the adobe software etc becomes native (i assume you photoshop since you are a photographer).

but i am no expert on that, so may be someone can give you better info on that...

 

[Chundles]

I don't know about serial numbers and stuff but if you're working in Photoshop you will need at least 1GB of RAM, 2GB would probably be better. Macs love RAM, Intel Macs love it more, Rosetta apps like Photoshop NEED it so make sure you have plenty.

To save space on the HDD, do a fresh install but make sure you select "customise" and deselect all the languages you don't speak, printer drivers you don't need and the best way to save a lot of space is to not install Garageband and iDVD - the themes and loops from those programs take up a tonne of space.

 

[pedro nicoli]

thanks! whats your MB serial number? i mean...the production week?

i just remanbared, i have 18gigs of mp3...hueuheuh
what about an external harddrive later? would it be cheaper?

 

[Chundles]

thanks! whats your MB serial number? i mean...the production week?

i just remanbared, i have 18gigs of mp3...hueuheuh
what about an external harddrive later? would it be cheaper?

External HDD would be cheaper, bigger and faster and as such is a good option.

RAM, RAM and more RAM for your MacBook.

 

[pedro nicoli]

ok...hhehe
but...a 1g ram costs "only" 370 dollars in Brazil!!
is it ok if i use one 256 memory on one slot and 1g on the other?

 

[Chundles]

ok...hhehe
but...a 1g ram costs "only" 370 dollars in Brazil!!
is it ok if i use one 256 memory on one slot and 1g on the other?

Yeah, RAM costs a fortune here too. You should be fine with 1.25GB, Apple suggests using RAM in pairs but the gain in performance is only slight.

 

[pedro nicoli]

what would be better, an USB2 or firewire external HDD?

 

[dav]

Firewire.

Better for sustained transfers.

And don't think that MacBooks are terrible from all the noisy bloggers. Mine has never been stained, and has mooed once. Big deal.

 

[LastLine]

Yeah, firewire hard drive for Macbooks all the way, the 2 USB ports is somewhat limiting.

 

[pedro nicoli]

All right, so here is the deal:
after all you guys help I got to the folowing conclusion:

60G HDD : too small
512Ram: too short
4xDVD Burner : not worth it.

An External HDD looks like a nice option, but, i'll only be able to use it at home, or whenever i'm not moving around. I guess a 80G or 100G would be enough for a time. (if things get ugly, i can allways transfer file to my 250HDD on my desktop PC...

is 512 ram realy a problem? at least at first, will i'll be able to live with it?
my friend has a Macmini with coreduo, 512Ram. he says its ok for most aplication, it just starts to slow down when he uses Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time...
My use of it will me mostly Photoshop, internet and msn...

About the DVD Burner...well 4x realy is slow! my desktop pc has a 8x burner and I think it's slow! i guess 4x would freak me out!..hehe

now...is 2.0ghz realy better than 1.83?
Cos with the same money i'll use to buy a 2.0gkz standard MB, i could get a 1.83 with 1.25giga Ram, or 100Giga HDD

 

[Chundles]

All right, so here is the deal:
after all you guys help I got to the folowing conclusion:

60G HDD : too small
512Ram: too short
4xDVD Burner : not worth it.

An External HDD looks like a nice option, but, i'll only be able to use it at home, or whenever i'm not moving around. I guess a 80G or 100G would be enough for a time. (if things get ugly, i can allways transfer file to my 250HDD on my desktop PC...

is 512 ram realy a problem? at least at first, will i'll be able to live with it?
my friend has a Macmini with coreduo, 512Ram. he says its ok for most aplication, it just starts to slow down when he uses Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time...
My use of it will me mostly Photoshop, internet and msn...

About the DVD Burner...well 4x realy is slow! my desktop pc has a 8x burner and I think it's slow! i guess 4x would freak me out!..hehe

now...is 2.0ghz realy better than 1.83?
Cos with the same money i'll use to buy a 2.0gkz standard MB, i could get a 1.83 with 1.25giga Ram, or 100Giga HDD

The 1.83GHz model with more RAM and the bigger HDD is a much better buy than the 2.0GHz model in its stock configuration.

 

[Abstract]

Get:

Get this: 1.83GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM, but not RAM from Apple. You will need the extra RAM. I use a Nikon D50 and do play around with photos quite often now, so I know how it feels if you have iTunes, Firefox with like 10 tabs open, MS Word, Mail, iCal, Address Book, and Automator still running.


Get it. You won't regret it. Don't forget the way I said it.

 

[pedro nicoli]

Get:

Get this: 1.83GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM, but not RAM from Apple. You will need the extra RAM. I use a Nikon D50 and do play around with photos quite often now, so I know how it feels if you have iTunes, Firefox with like 10 tabs open, MS Word, Mail, iCal, Address Book, and Automator still running.


Get it. You won't regret it. Don't forget the way I said it.

I have the Nikon D50 too! i guess my use of the macbook will be the same as yours.
whats your configuration?
is the screen resolution fine to work with photos? (i'm used to my 1280x1024 17' screen)

 

[dav]

I have 2.0 GHz 2 GB RAM and a D50 as well

 

[pedro nicoli]

do you think the glossy screen afect too much the colors in a way that may lead to diferent result when u work in a photo?