Would it be unwise to buy a Macbook?

[matty-hodgson]

As most of you know, I won quite a large sum of money at the weekend, and I've wanted a Macbook for a very long time. I've put £5100 of the money into an ISA, so now I have some leftover that I'd like to actually spend.

I've been looking at the 13" Macbook and the 13" Macbook Pro, I'd mainly use it for browsing the internet in bed, some photo editing in the car, and just general "work". I know they're expensive when compared to a Sony Vaio or a Dell 13z but they have a huge battery life, they run Mac OSX which is lovely and they look amazing.

Would it be unwise?

[jimborae]

I definitely don't regret buying my 15" MPB and use it for much the same things you do. However I bought secondhand for a very good price. Not sure they worth price new but if you can get a secondhand bargain with some Apple Care warranty left on it then go for it.

[Fraz]

If you've got the money and want one, then just buy one. As you say, they are very good, and you won't regret the purchase. Personally, I'd skip the plastic Macbook and go for an all-metal one instead (i.e. MacBook Pro).

Don't know if you're likely to use it for gaming at all, but bear in mind that Valve will be making all of its games run natively on the Mac in the next couple of weeks.

[Fraz]

Also, you might want to see if they are likely to be updating their 13" Macbook Pro line sometime soon, as they have just updated the 15" - 17" Macbook Pros to use i5/i7 CPUs.

Edit: I'm incorrect - it looks like they updated the entire Macbook Pro line, but the 13" ones are gonna stick with Core2 CPUs: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...book_pros.html

[Terbinator]

As most of you know, I won quite a large sum of money at the weekend, and I've wanted a Macbook for a very long time. I've put £5100 of the money into an ISA, so now I have some leftover that I'd like to actually spend.

I've been looking at the 13" Macbook and the 13" Macbook Pro, I'd mainly use it for browsing the internet in bed, some photo editing in the car, and just general "work". I know they're expensive when compared to a Sony Vaio or a Dell 13z but they have a huge battery life, they run Mac OSX which is lovely and they look amazing.

Would it be unwise?

Unlike the guys above I'd say skip it. For the stuff you mentioned you would be using it for, is it really worth the outlay. IMO no, just because as mentioned all the stuff you would be doing can be done on a lowly laptop and then anything up to the Vaio series as you mentioned.

As a side note, and a minor gripe of mine, is battery life *that important* to you? Admittedly I've had a Packard Bell laptop that had around a hour and half battery which wasn't enough, but surely a 4 hour battery would suffice - this and i find that most people use laptops at the same place any

On the other hand, if you just want OSX then go for it.

[matty-hodgson]

Yeah, a big battery life really is a good thing, I'd use my laptop when out and about, and in bed and stuff. But I'd much rather be able to use my laptop for a couple of hours each day and go for 3 or 4 days without charging it.

I'm seriously tempted to just go for it and get the MBP 13" but I think I might wait until next Monday and see if I still want one.

[Terbinator]

The 'new' 13" seems a bit of a sham to me personally, without trying to be a philistine - I've read the various reasons/theories why its still rolling on Penryn etc.

[kalniel]

I'd agree with terbinator here.

It is massively overkill for your uses. OSX maybe nice, but is it worth say a months roof over your head for?

If you want the mac user experience.. then.. and I hesitate slightly.. I think an iPad might be ideal for you. Photo editing is the only thing they're not suitable for, but I'd argue no laptops are going to be within a reasonable sum either.

[jim]

My laptop in my sig could do 4 hours on a single charge, and it's not even close to being a low power machine - Radeon graphics, standard dual-core processor. Standard 6-cell battery as well. I reckon any low power pentium laptop would have a decent battery-life in comparison to the macbook.

I'm with the others to be honest Matty. Forget where the money came from a minute, and imagine you'd worked 6 weeks on a decent wage to earn that cash... would you want to blow it on a device largely for the cool factor? You were talking about moving out and so on, there's a lot of stuff that money can buy!

[scaryjim]

I'm with the no camp I'm afraid Matty. Macbooks look lovely and are great for mac fans, but you could get an ample laptop with good battery life that will meet all your requirements for a lot less. Just take a look at ebuyer's range of 13" laptops - there are more than 30 available cheaper than a Macbook.

How about this Lenovo Thinkpad Edge - it's got a dual core Turion Neo, 4GB RAM, a 320GB HDD, HD3200 graphics, and claims 5hours of battery life from a 6cell battery, with a total weight of 1.7kg - and it costs about £200 less than a macbook. Or, if you're happy spending £700+ on your new toy, you could even get a 12" convertible tablet with discreet graphics for the cost of a macbook! I suspect that might suffer on battery life though

[jim]

Or, if you're happy spending £700+ on your new toy, you could even get a 12" convertible tablet with discreet graphics for the cost of a macbook! I suspect that might suffer on battery life though

Ooooh wow, that's a beauty!

I wish I hadn't seen that link now

[abaxas]

Yes yes and yes.

But..

Dont buy new, wait for a good deal on the refurb site. Often some good deals on what are basically new machines.

I paid 1079 for my 4gb 320 unibody 2.53 about a year ago. Just wait a little and something always turns up.

[matty-hodgson]

Right, I've bought a Macbook Pro 13".

I know a lot of you said I shouldn't but I've wanted one for a long time, over a year now, so I decided to go for it.

Now I can't wait for it to turn up . They say next Thursday to expect it, so hopefully it'll be before then .

[kalniel]

Right, you are never allowed to complain about being poor on Hexus again

[scaryjim]

I wish I hadn't seen that link now

You and me both *sigh*

@matty - eh, it was always your choice and it sounds like you really wanted one! Have fun with it

[kmac]

My work laptop is a Mac Book pro 13" ( could have got the 15" or 17" but wanted something light)

What I would say about it is:
1) For something so small it is extremely heavy
2) Stock HDDs are puny
3) The @ and " keys are in the wrong place and there is no "delete" key
4) You have to buy special connectors to say connect an external screen
5) The slinky Apple wireless mouse is £70

If I could have chosen any laptop I would not have chosen a Mac Book Pro but the other choice was a Dell budget range.

Apart form the above it is okay.