Gotta buy a *gulp* apple mac for son

[Bird]

... well my second worst nightmare is coming true....

Son needs a laptop for school next year - and the choices are - Acer, Lenovo, I.. I cant say it... an , or Microsoft Surface..

My only experience of Acer wasn't good.... and haven't touched Lenovo's since IBM got rid of them.


So it came down to his choice - so I have to buy a .. ...

but I know Jack Schitt about them.

1 - So, it has to be a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.
Whats the difference. Is one better than the other...

2 - Where's the best place to buy one of these things - I see Kogan has them
http://www.kogan.com/au/search/?keywords=apple+13%22+macbook

3 - Software for them, where do you get it, are there torrents for it? as I have a distinct allergy to paying for software and have only bought one program in the last 15yrs...

I'll think of more later..

[paceman]

depending on his requirements:

the macbook pro is more for 'heavy lifting' applications like video editing, application development, etc

the macbook air more for run of the mill word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, email, etc.

macbook pro's tend to have higher spec processors, ram, hdd's, etc.


torrents abound, but are not as prevelant.

kogan's would be overseas stock, and thus may have issues with warranty.  i would stick with buying from the australian apple store.  look for the education discount store here:

http://store.apple.com/au-hed

discount is not huge, but better than nothing...

pity he doesn't want a surface.  surface pro 3 is a beast.

[paull]

I've bought both my iMac and Macbook Pro from JB Hi-Fi.
They tend to get offers on every so often and seem to be one of the few places that ever has offers on Apple stuff.

Make sure you get the extra Apple Care warranty.
I know it's painful paying for it in the first place but it is good.
It gives you access to 24/7 trouble shooting but they will replace anything that is needed, no questions asked.
I have it and it's paid for itself a few times over. I had the screen replaced on my iMac and they even came to my home to do it. Didn't cost me a cent.
One of the few warranties that are definitely worth the money.

[Bird]

depending on his requirements:

the macbook pro is more for 'heavy lifting' applications like video editing, application development, etc

the macbook air more for run of the mill word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, email, etc.

macbook pro's tend to have higher spec processors, ram, hdd's, etc.


torrents abound, but are not as prevelant.

kogan's would be overseas stock, and thus may have issues with warranty.  i would stick with buying from the australian apple store.  look for the education discount store here:

http://store.apple.com/au-hed

discount is not huge, but better than nothing...

pity he doesn't want a surface.  surface pro 3 is a beast.

good info.... just looking at the store, 12mths interest free etc... sound appealing.

[Bird]

how much space does the OS and say Office take up - is 128gig a fair sized HD on them?

[DannyG]

3 - Software for them, where do you get it, are there torrents for it? as I have a distinct allergy to paying for software and have only bought one program in the last 15yrs...

I'll think of more later..

I have the same allergy, I am exclusive Mac and I have all the top line programs I used to run on windoze

[paceman]

how much space does the OS and say Office take up - is 128gig a fair sized HD on them?

i think 128G would be more than adequate for operating system and office...

[DannyG]

Oh and welcome to trouble free computing
Even with all the sites a teenage boy will visit you won't have any issues lol

[Bird]

I have the same allergy, I am exclusive Mac and I have all the top line programs I used to run on windoze

so they are burning to DVD at moment and being posted??

[paceman]

so they are burning to DVD at moment and being posted??

or you could just get a copy of vmware fusion and run both windows and mac... one three-finger swipe to change OS's...

[Bird]

or you could just get a copy of vmware fusion and run both windows and mac... one three-finger swipe to change OS's...

****ed if I know......
One of them 2E was the last one I sat infront of in 1981

[paceman]

****ed if I know......
One of them 2E was the last one I sat infront of in 1981

vmware fusion sits on top of the osx install and allows you to then install a copy of windows as well on the same hdd, then you can use a swipe on the trackpad to move between OS's...

http://www.vmware.com/au/products/fusion

[kylarama]

****ed if I know......
One of them 2E was the last one I sat infront of in 1981

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego.

That's all I know about apple.

Sent from my GT-I9507 using Tapatalk

[paceman]

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego.

That's all I know about apple.

Sent from my GT-I9507 using Tapatalk

aahhh, memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEB9M_1XOP0

[DannyG]

so they are burning to DVD at moment and being posted??

You would need to tell me what software you intend to use.
In some cases I no longer use the old windows software because I like the Mac version better.
All Mac software is packaged as a dmg files, there are no executables as such. You can burn to DVD if you wish.

[bodgie]

Buy a bigger disk than 128GB, this is way to small IMO. The 512GB SSD is a good way to go, reasonable capacity, excellent disk performance. I wouldn't buy an Air unless size is an issue.

I've found Mac hardware and OS to extremely reliable. Good thing is if you have an issue you can go to your local Apple store and get them to fix it for you, free of charge.

[DannyG]

And you get a free OS everytime they release a new one

[paceman]

Buy a bigger disk than 128GB, this is way to small IMO. The 512GB SSD is a good way to go, reasonable capacity, excellent disk performance. I wouldn't buy an Air unless size is an issue.

I've found Mac hardware and OS to extremely reliable. Good thing is if you have an issue you can go to your local Apple store and get them to fix it for you, free of charge.

depending on requirements, i've found that 128GB is adequate for most student usage.  more storage is always great, but the 512GB SSD is a $800 option on the entry level macbook pro...

i would rather use that $800 to choose the 'retina' screen option instead.

you can always get more storage via usb or thunderbolt, but the screen is for the life of the laptop.

[Bird]

depending on requirements, i've found that 128GB is adequate for most student usage.  more storage is always great, but the 512GB SSD is a $800 option on the entry level macbook pro...

i would rather use that $800 to choose the 'retina' screen option instead.

you can always get more storage via usb or thunderbolt, but the screen is for the life of the laptop.

do they use normal SSD's??

[Bird]

aahhh, memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEB9M_1XOP0

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/download/Where-in-the-World-is-Carmen-Sandiego-,0301-45231.html

[loanrangie]

If you need an office suite just download Open office, its free .

[paceman]

do they use normal SSD's??

non-retina macbook pro uses ssd's (as an option), retina pro's use pci-e flash storage.  same concept, better performance from pci-e...

http://store.apple.com/au/buy-mac/macbook-pro


pci-e is non-replaceable....

[Bird]

how ****ed school is, work is part of a global pricing scheme for Dells' which I can get a Very good price on since our Rep owes me...

anyway call the school IT person and apparently they cant use HP/Dells/anything.they.dont.get.a.backhander.from cause they need IE11, Office 2010 pro, acrobat.. to which I replied - yea they come with all that.. to which the reply was "no still no good as we only have 1 image due to drivers"...
so I asked what bout the Apples, he said we have different images for those.

so has to be an apple newer than 2010.. maybe crime converters is the go...
using Yosamite or something like that

[Mace]

I got an ebay email today on 11inch Airs for $899.

[Jacko]

Gotta do the same for the eldest, they used ipad for years 7&8 but now need MacBook whatever for year 9 as well as the iPad, still waiting to find out which one she requires from the school but guess what she's getting for Xmas!