How long would a macbook last me?

T

thecomputeraddict

Limp Gawd
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Apr 27, 2008
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So, I'm going to be going to my grandpa's farm soon for a week or two to work for him (I'm 14,btw) and instead of him paying me cash, I might be able to talk him into me doing the work for a macbook that would help with my school work. So how long would a macbook last me? I'm in grade eight but doing grade eight and nine in one year. A macbook should last me a good 3-5 years depending on how much I take care of it. I was planning on getting the base model with a wireless mighty mouse. and maybe apple care and a mini-dvi to vga adapter. I already know to get my ram from crucial or somewhere besides apple. I plan on talking to him when I'm up there and maybe he'll use his credit card to buy it from apple's site so I have a nice, hard earned toy when I get home. So is this a good idea to get a macbook? It would be mainly used for school, IMing, web surfing, video chat with friends, and maybe some minor video production/live streaming here and there. He bought me a pc about a year ago but I need something that I can take on trips and stuff and to friends house to work. I'm in correspondance and its all done online. So the mini-dvi to vga adapter would be to hook up one of my current 17" displays from my pc to the macbook as a secondary screen.

Sorry for the long post, any help is appreciated.
 
Everything you said sounds fine. My only advice is to wait a month since Macbook upgrades are coming up soon.

I myself kept a Powerbook G4 for four years. A Macbook should last you pretty long, especially for the kinds of things you describe.
 
I think you've done your research and I agree with almost everything that you have come up with. I think you would be much better off going with something like http://store.apple.com/us/product/T...c/mac_accessories/mice_keyboards&mco=MTA4MjI0 to use as your mouse. I have used the Mighty Mouse extensively and much prefer the Logitech bluetooth model I just linked you to. You'd save $20 and wind up with a better product. Just do a search on this forum on the Mighty Mice; most people do not like them.

Good luck with your studies, mate! And yeah, I'd suggest waiting a few weeks to see if there's something coming around. The current Macbook has been around for over two years now, so the line is due for a change.
 
another question on this, The macbook I plan on getting if my grandpa agrees with the deal has a 120gb Hard drive. Now with me, I filled my 160gb hd in my pc up in about a month. Is there anyway I could use my new 500gb hard drive in my pc and back up my files to it. I was thinking of choosing an external enclousure but I'd more preferably back it up on my pc so I can use the pc as a server somewhat.
 
I got my macbook in September of 06' and its still going strong. The only thing I have done was swapped out the hard drive for a bigger one and upgraded the ram to 2gbs

it has never given me any problems and its the only computer I use on a daily basis.
 
First, pat yourself on the back for being young, but also well spoken and hard working. Keep up the good attitude, hard work and schooling and you'll do great for yourself.

A Macbook if treated well will last a long time. The only challenge comes when its out of warranty and something big fails like the logic board. With Applecare, you get a good 3 years and the laptop will still be worth probably $6-700 if in good working order. I would suggest you get it and keep it for 3 years and sell it just before the Applecare ends. People will have less risk when buying it. Also, get the model with a DVD player so that you'll have an easier time with resale. You can always delay getting the ram for when you have more money.

In terms of the hard drive, newegg sells external hard drive enclosures. You just put your 500GB hard drive in it and it will connect to your USB port.

It would probably be a good idea to sell your old PC too. You could use that to put money towards the Macbook or get some software to go with it.

Best of luck.
 
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