Apple MacBook?

I finally had it with pc’s…I think. I’m just tire of having to figure out something or fixing something on Windows XP. I was thinking of getting a student loan (the only way I can afford one ) and buy a Mac Book. But first I wanted to know. I saw that now you can run Windows XP in a Mac (with boot camp) but do you need to buy the Windows XP disk from Apple or Microsoft? I know for a fact that the one I have on this Inspiron 6000 won’t work since it is a Dell reinstallation disk. And after I install Windows XP, can I install Microsoft Office? I know that now you can buy Office for Macs but I already have the Office 2003 XP Pro disk. But will it work. I know some of you are thinking…Why does he want Windows if he just said he hated them? I only plan to use it when I need it. Like things that Mac won’t let me do for school or something like that. Thanks in advance for any replies. I almost forgot. How much does Apple take off for students? Is it like 6% or 10 %? I was thinking about getting the black Mac Book because I heard the white ones go yellow after some time but cost less. And did they (Apple) ever fixed the extreme heating problems they had and the system shutting off by itself at some point with out giving you time to save anything? I heard about these things but they go some time back (when Mac Books first came out) and I wasn’t sure if anyone heard that they took care of these things. First generation of anything will almost always go bad, so did they fix this on newer Mac Books?

 

I know the aussie apple store gives students 10% off to students and teachers.

You can install a retail version of Windows XP on the MacBook. If the disk you have is an existing OEM copy, then you can't transfer that over.

And yes, MS Office 2003 runs fine in bootcamp on a MacBook.

Some apple software updates have used the fans more aggresively lately, so the chances of it shutting down on its own are slim.

However, here's an alternative suggestion. If you're sick of windows, you could keep your existing notebook and simply install Linux on it. Costs nothing and it runs Office 2003, without needing XP installed.

 

Go for the Macbook because I am. The CD MB had heat issues, etc. Owners of the C2D MB on MacRumors.com have not complained about this issue. I almost have enough funds to purchase a new one (2.0 Ghz C2D) but need to wait about one more week. I've played around with my friends (they all converted from Windows to OS X) and I love it. It's so portable too. I can't wait!

 

With universal binary Office for mac coming out somewhere like Q1 next year, you should be able to go completely windows-free. I'm looking into switching sometime this week and I plan to hold out with OpenOffice until the universal binary version comes out.

The Gen2 Macbooks (with Core 2 Duo by the way) don't have the heat problems and what not with the Gen1 Macbooks, so you should be covered on that point. AppleCare has one of the best customer service departments out there from what I've heard, and Macbooks in general are top notch.

The student discount by the way is about 10% off of the MACBOOK PRO base price, and about 8-10% off of upgrades on the Macbook Pro. Not sure about Macbook, but it was definitely less than 10%. Upgrades, again, are between 8-10% off of retail price. I think the base Macbook starts around $1049 and the base Macbook Pro starts around $1799.

Good luck switching to mac...

 

The gen1 MB don't have heat issues any more. There was an SMC update that drastically reduced the heat.

You could also look at refurb MBP, they're pretty cheap. You would mainly miss out on 64 bit processing (not a huge deal), a larger standard HDD, a DL dvd drive, and firewire 800.

BTW, you could use open office. It's pretty good on Mac. And you also have the option of using parallels instead of bootcamp. I prefer it to bootcamp, but it unfortunantly doesn't have access to the video card.

 

Office 2007 for Mac will likely not be released until late next year.

 

Plus, it probably won't have VBA scripting capabilities. MS knows how to play its game.

 

You'll be able to do pretty much anything you need for school on the Mac. For office, I would definitly go with NeoOffice or OpenOffice which are free than to pay several hundred dollars for Microsoft Office for Mac or to spend a hundred dollars on a retail XP cd. Even iWork is only like $79. The education discount on the midrange Macbook(white 2 gig C2D) is $100. And to echo what everyone else has been saying; no, they don't get very hot.

My Macbook runs flawlessly. The only problems I've had with anything is it wouldn't shut down because firefox wasn't responding. A quick "quit process" and I was good to go again. No "program is not responding" error messages with endless "end now" clicks.

 

The problem with that is if you have to do collaborative work, NeoOffice and OpenOffice will present a problem. Their compatibility with Word is sketchy at best, I would not rely on it. Office for Mac Student Edition is only $149. which is not too bad considering what some of the other Office editions cost and you are guaranteed it will work.

As for VBA scripting, Office 2007 for Mac will not have it. The idea is to make it more scriptable with Apple Script and one assumes Automator.

 

So I found the apple refurbished website and they do some cheap MacBooks. I saw the white one for 799.00 and the black one for 999.00. I would go for the black one because I would be able to burn CD’s and DVD’s, and also because it won’t turn yellow after some time.
The only deference I see in the refurbish MacBook is that it does not have Core 2 Duo but the Core Dou processors, which I don’t think is a big deal, is it? I would only like to multi-task with out a problem. It looks like it’s the same weight and size as the 2nd generation 2 Duo. I am not sure if it has Magnetic Attraction lid and MagSafe Power Adapter.
So they did fix the heat issues even on these refurbished Mac Books? On Apple’s website it states that a: SMC Update improves the MacBooks internal monitoring system and addresses issues with unexpected “shutdowns. But the only way to install the update is by having Mac OS X 10.4.8, the refurbished Mac Books comes with Mac OS X 10.4.6, does it cost anything to do the upgrade? But it does not mention the heat issues.
I would love to buy the white MacBook for 799.00 but do they still have the turning yellow issues? I know I can get the plastic cover thing but thats not practical.

And finally, I'm scare of buying refurbished. I’ve never bought anything refurbished before. I heard that refurbished are sometimes better than new items because it goes through intense testing and all that to make sure whatever was wrong is good to go. But I’m scare because I know it would work but how about if the screen is scratched or something else, any physical damage big or small like plastic scratched, would they fix that too before deciding to sell it as refurbished or do they just fix the major things?

Check out this and let me know if that includes taking care of the above:

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/apple_certified.html

Thank you guys sooooo much and I’m so sorry for all the questions. I just want to do this right and not buy another laptop for a long time. I am not a big heavy hitter gamer but I do a lot of multi-tasking so would the Intel Core 2.00 GHz (Black) or even the Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz (White) would do for this? Or should I maybe get the Dou Core 2 if any different for the full bigger price tag?

 

I bought a refurbished macbook- black. It looks brand new and saved me a lot of money. With it I also bought the apple Care plan just in case.

 

-The Core 2 Duo has slightly better performance and 64 bits capability;
- The Core Duos are more than capable of multitasking;
-update to 10.4.8 is free;
- Core Duo Macbooks also have Magsafe and magnetic lids.