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need some quick help!Macbook related

post #1 of 7
7/12/07 at 11:09pm
Thread Starter 
Alright my dell I9100 after 3 years is about to die. Its making a weird crackling noise than shutting off its barely usuable im lucky to be on right now! I have no idea what is up with it

So basically i need a new computer, i need it for school. My dad is trying to get me to buy another dell, a really cheap model. I have been looking at macbooks, my needs are Multi-tasking, such as word documents (I would like to run office 2007 in bootcamp), itunes, internet, email, Pictures,No Games. So basic stuff. I have been looking at the base macbook and the middle model. My current PC doesnt have a DVD burner and I'm trying to figure if i would ever even use the dvd burner. If someone could help me make a decision that would be great!
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post #2 of 7
7/12/07 at 11:19pm
Sounds like the MacBook would work nicely for you. You'll be able to do what you want to do fine on the base MacBook. A DVD burner is nice if you ever get into movies ... or want to load lots of Pics or make back-ups, but it's not essential. The regular Combo drive will play DVDs, just not write to them.

Office 2007 will run in Bootcamp, but you may find it's a bit of a pain to boot back and forth, so you may also want to try one of the free Office Apps like NeoOffice.

Good Luck with your decision.
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post #3 of 7
7/12/07 at 11:43pm
Thread Starter 
have you ran Office 2007 on there? Also I will be doing some downloading will this effect anything? Also will i see any big difference between the base model and the next one?
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post #4 of 7
7/13/07 at 4:55am
Macbook sounds right. Id go for the mid one, (infact I did) you should be ok, especialy if you load it up with ram down the road, its been good for anything but gaming.

You could probably get lower model and up the ram to two gigs via newegg or even apple if the lack of DVD burner dosent bother you.

As for office, can you go with 2004? if so Id go with that, if you need to run 2007 Id say go with parrallels or VMfusion, as these wont make you have to restart everytime you need to use it. (Bootcamp will..as shazza said) or you could check out the free alternatives. (again, as shazza said)

Luck on yer purchase and switch, I did it a couple months ago and am honestly glad I did.

-Luis
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post #5 of 7
7/13/07 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patm34 View Post
have you ran Office 2007 on there? Also I will be doing some downloading will this effect anything? Also will i see any big difference between the base model and the next one?
Yes, I have run Office 2007 in both XP and Vista on my MacBook and it runs just like it does on any other Windows system. I do however second the recommendation for Office 2004 or NeoOffice. Installing Windows just for the sake of Office, if it is by using Boot Camp or Parallels, is a little silly in my opinion. Now, admittedly, I have Windows installed in Boot Camp just for the sake of games, and in VM for the sake of Netflix Streaming Movies, and Google SketchUp (The OS X client is buggy). I have found my external DVD burner useful for things like backups and what not so if you forsee that need then you may want to go for the midpoint MacBook since it does have the DVD Burner. Performance wise you won't really see any major difference between the base and mid-range models, The midrange does have the larger hard drive and that is a bonus, so consider that. I have usually found that if you don't want to upgrade too often, then figure out how big of a hard drive you think you will need, and then go for the next largest size.
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post #6 of 7
7/15/07 at 2:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patm34 View Post
Alright my dell I9100 after 3 years is about to die. Its making a weird crackling noise than shutting off its barely usuable im lucky to be on right now! I have no idea what is up with it

So basically i need a new computer, i need it for school. My dad is trying to get me to buy another dell, a really cheap model. I have been looking at macbooks, my needs are Multi-tasking, such as word documents (I would like to run office 2007 in bootcamp), itunes, internet, email, Pictures,No Games. So basic stuff. I have been looking at the base macbook and the middle model. My current PC doesnt have a DVD burner and I'm trying to figure if i would ever even use the dvd burner. If someone could help me make a decision that would be great!

i've been perusing craigslist of late to see what's available in my area. i've seen a few macbooks listed for ~$800-900 that are in warranty. this might be an option to look into. if it's local u can check the machine out and make sure it's up to snuff in re: to "like new" condition that you see in the ads.
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post #7 of 7
7/15/07 at 2:21pm
You can run office 2007 in a virtual machine if you have enough ram. I have installed windows vista in a boot camp partition but it is a hassle to reboot every 5 seconds so I run parallels to access my boot camp stuff and run it there. At best you won't have aero but it works.
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