About to Buy a Macbook

I am about to buy my first Mac. I have decided on the Aluminum 2.0ghz MacBook, 2GB, and 250GB HDD.

I have 2 questions:

1) Is there any need to upgrade the memory to 4GB? I have heard the OS works fine with the lower memory (as compared to most PCs). I dont really game on my computer, but do watch TV online some.

2) I start school in August, I have the money for the purchase, and would prefer to get it now......but is there any reason for me to wait until August? Just wondering if an insider has any idea of upcoming deals or upgrades expected in the near future.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Be sure to buy it with educational discounts, it'll take off about $100 I think. Apple will probably upgrade the MacBook Pro by then... they tend to upgrade very often. I'd wait as long as you can if your current machine is satisfying all of your needs at this point.

And I think 2GB would be plenty fine for OSX. It's ample for Vista and OSX is less of a system hog, so I wouldn't worry. And if you do feel the need to upgrade, I suggest not ordering the RAM from apple, I'd scurry over to Newegg for it.

 

1. You should be just fine with the 2GB. Leopard utilizes memory very well, and 2GB is more than enough. If you watch a lot of TV online, then it might be a good decision. If you only watch it some of the time, then I'd just stick with 2GB.

2. Well there might be a processor speed bump between now and then, and then there's Snow Leopard. If you could wait, then I'd wait. Snow Leopard is going to be released this summer, so I'd really hold off untill then. There might be some internal upgrades like the processor, backlit keyboard on low end, etc. IF you go to college/a university, then you can take advantage of the back to school deal, which you can get a free iPod and printer when you purchase one during that sale time. It's really a great deal. So when it's all said and done, I'd wait...

 

Thanks guys, I didnt even know about the free ipod deal (and that was the next thing I was going to save up for). I guess I'll have to wait.

Is the Snow Leopard going to be a lot better? I know the Leopard is known as one of the best OS around, but havent heard much about the Snow Leopard.

 

1) 2Gb will be heaps for your needs.
2) Holding of might not be such a bad idea for snow leopard (eta June @WWDC)...... and also there is often a back to school promo in August, normally its a discount on ipod's.
So combined this could save you about $2-300

a


ps there is a small outside chance of a cpu speed bump before then too.

 

If you're only running Leopard, 2GB should be fine. However, if you're planning on running more than one OS at a time, such as Leopard and Windows through Parallels/VMWare, then you really need to go for the 4GB, as that will allow you to dedicate a full 2GB to each OS.

However, I do agree with the above posts about not upgrading through Apple, as they charge you $100 for $40 worth of RAM. Check out newegg instead.

 

Not sure if it still applies, but there was a problem a while back around November/December where third party RAM caused lockups; the ones that Apple used when upgrading did not.

 

You only need 4GB if you run multiple intensive programs. For example, if you run virtual machines, lots of photoshop, and lots of audio and video editing, then 4GB is pretty sweet. If you just do basic internet and office stuff, 2GB is enough.

P.S. Try to upgrade at a store anywhere but Apple. Apple charges 2 to 3 times more than other stores.

 

if you use BT, 4gb is a must.

the same too when you do any video/audio/photo encoding/developing tasks

 

Bluetooth? Bittorent?

 

Agreed! Power (memory) and speed (CPU) are two things you can NEVER get too much of. So if you have the money, go ahead and upgrade now. Typically, saving money is the only reason to do otherwise.