Apple Laptops - Batteries and other Media Hype

KodiakStar

KodiakStar

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I figured I might as well ask here =-)

My wife is interested in getting a new Apple Laptop (not sure which model yet), but I have seen stories here and there about the batteries expanding, melting down, etc, which I am sure is due to some hype, and is probably not the case in all laptops.

Which of the laptops seem to be the most stable, best bang for the buck, etc?

This will be primarily used for images, web surfing... and other things of that nature...

Thanks for the input Apple Guru's!
 
sounds like a macbook for her, unless she needs the dedicated gfx card of the macbook pro (or if you have cash to spend and want a metal case)
 
The battery problems that you are speaking of are ones that were part of the previous models and all batteries since then that were affected have been recalled and replaced. If you buy a brand new macbook (pro) you will not have to worry about this problem, well almost as there is always a chance of a "bad egg" getting out. If you ever have problems though, make sure to get the Apple Care plan, this will pretty much fix ANYTHING. One of my class mates has a 3 yr old Powerbook that had a logic board go in it recently. He took it in to our local Apple Store and the swapped it out in a days time! They also checked for any other problems and replaced his keyboard as well. Now how is that for customer service! Hence, why I will be buying a Macbook shortly.
 
Lithium ion batteries exploding isn't even one in a million. Just because it happens, doesn't mean it will happen to you.

Edit: Also, you're not suppose to put an apostrophe in front of the S at the end of plurals.
 
Must agree with these guys, the odds are low, plus if something does go wrong Apple will help fix it. Macbooks are great & powerful, but if you do need the dedicated graphics you will be spending a bit more.

Also, Leopard is coming out in October, along with Santa Rosa in a few weeks, so there will be some nice options coming up to help you decide.
 
I've had a MacBook since October, zero problems with the battery. In fact, I like it so much that I'm parting out my PC and just using the MacBook.

As far as waiting for Leopard, it's hard to say. I'm rather fond of MacRumor's buyer's guide, which indicates you should wait for now.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
 
KodiakStar said:
Is it worth waiting on Leopard before making a purchase?
Click to expand...

If you need it now, buy it. If you can wait till Leopard in October, wait. You may want to hold off until June because they may be having new Macbooks at WWDC
 
I agree, thats kinda what I'm waiting for too is leapard. That and if they make a slimmer macbook pro that didn't cost a kidney I'd go for it.
 
skeeder said:
I agree, thats kinda what I'm waiting for too is leapard. That and if they make a slimmer macbook pro that didn't cost a kidney I'd go for it.
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fat chance of anything cheaper from apple, they dont do that.
 
My current employer is all Mac on the front end (as my last employer was) and I encourage you very, very strongly to get the Applecare extended warranty. Apple's quality control is pretty spotty, across all product lines, from laptops to desktops to displays.

When they're working, they can work great, but when there's problems it can get ugly. We have 50 laptops here and a few of them have been the spawn of satan in terms of repeat failures. Of the eight iMacs three have had to get logic board replacements, and one had the video die twice in a row. The cinema displays are not bad but one of the five has had all of its guts replaced three times now.

Warranty coverage will take alot of that pain away, at least in terms of the repair costs. Ten years ago I did not see these runs of failure with Apple products, but over the last five years it has gotten worse and worse. If you only own one or two machines you might never see it, but when you support them professionally in large numbers it can be unpleasant. :D
 
rbanzai said:
My current employer is all Mac on the front end (as my last employer was) and I encourage you very, very strongly to get the Applecare extended warranty. Apple's quality control is pretty spotty, across all product lines, from laptops to desktops to displays.

When they're working, they can work great, but when there's problems it can get ugly. We have 50 laptops here and a few of them have been the spawn of satan in terms of repeat failures. Of the eight iMacs three have had to get logic board replacements, and one had the video die twice in a row. The cinema displays are not bad but one of the five has had all of its guts replaced three times now.

Warranty coverage will take alot of that pain away, at least in terms of the repair costs. Ten years ago I did not see these runs of failure with Apple products, but over the last five years it has gotten worse and worse. If you only own one or two machines you might never see it, but when you support them professionally in large numbers it can be unpleasant. :D
Click to expand...


But then again the same can be said for PCs as well. I have run support for a small company that had about 15 desktops, 2 laptops, 3 servers and 1 NAS and I cannot tell you how many problems I have had between them during the 6 months I was there. Everything from mirrored harddrives dying to monitors going out, video issues, replacing optical drives, replacing ram etc. I think that this problem is more wide spread in PC specific facilities because there are so many variables. With Macs, I have quickly come to learn, there are much more limited variables. Macs only are using a specific amount of companies, brands and products so this makes things much easier.
 
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