[evrydayearthling]

Actually, my daughter is buying the MAC with her summer job. She asked for help picking it out. She'll be a senior in college this fall.

I'm pretty knowledgeable with PCs but I'm a total newbie with MACs. I'd really appreciate any advice especially knowing you probably get this kind of question all the time and some people are bored to death with it.

She will put MS Office for MAC on it. The other stuff will be what comes on it, like iTunes, which she uses, and she has lots of music. She's not into gaming. She's doing a double major in Spanish and International Affairs, which isn't a heavy computer laden occupation, so I'm taking into consideration that it won't need resource intensive programs on it when she graduates either.

She wants a MAC Book Pro.

1. RAM? I suggested 4 GB RAM, even though she could probably get by with 2. I would consider 8 GB but it's $1000 more! Whoa! Why so expensive? Would it be cheaper to add memory to it later if needed? I pop memory in PCs with no problem. Is it a lot different with a MAC?

2. GHz? 2.53 GHz versus 2.66 GHz for a $300 difference in price. She read somewhere that for what she would be using it for it wouldn't make any difference in speed. Any naysayers?

3. Warranty? Is the one year warranty worth it? I always get it for my PCs in case we get a lemon and need to send it in but I hate calling technical service and try to fix them myself. But I know nothing about MACs.

Any comments or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Everydayearthling

[exegete]

Howdy and welcome to the world of Mac, not MAC, which is an acronym unrelated to the computer.

1. Always get the most RAM you can. If the computer holds up to 4 GB, then get 4; if it holds 8 GB, then get 8. Software changes so quickly that what was considered modest 2 years ago would be barely minimal today. Be sure to get the RAM when you purchase the computer, not wait six months and then decide.

2. Differences in the speed are not that great. Save the money here and put it into the RAM.

3. I always get the three year Apple Care. Seldom does anything go wrong. In 19 years of using Macs I have only had to repair only two times. But each paid for the Apple Care when it happened. I just had a fan replaced on my Macbook Pro - free. BTW, Apple Genius Bar is absolutely great. I have the highest respect for what they offer. I only wish all companies had something like it.

[namenotfound]

Apple overcharges for RAM. What I always do when buying a new Mac is to get the lowest possible RAM option (makes the computer cheaper this way) then buy the RAM from http://www.crucial.com and install it myself. You can save a lot of money this way.

At the time when I bought my Macbook Pro, the default option was 2GB and for an extra $400 I could get the 4GB option on the Apple website. I got the computer with 2GB and later upgraded myself from crucial.com, got 4GB of RAM for $100, saving $300 that I would have had to spend if I bought from Apple!

[ferrija1]

1. I second namenotfound's suggestion, get the least RAM from Apple and buy elsewhere.

2. It will make a small difference but considering what she will be using it for and how fast the Core 2 Duos already are, I would not pay for and extra 0.13 GHz.

3. I just got a $1000 logic board in a MBP replaced for nothing. Yes, buy it.

4. She may want to look at the 13-inch, which is easier to take around. Go to an Apple Store to see one, where you can also talk to the very knowledgeable staff.

http://www.apple.com/retail/

Good luck!

[ranjithts]

Hi there,

I would like to suggest u with a couple of things..

1.Since ur daughter is not going to use the computer for resource intensive programs,i think a 2GB OR 4GB RAM should be sufficient.And adding memory is quite easy.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...ch_Mid2009.pdf
In the above linnk if u go to boost ur macbook pro section under that u have adding memory procedure...
2.And regarding the GHZ,i think the 2.53GHZ is enough since its not worth paying 300$ more for just a small increase in the speed.
3 And regarding the support,i wud like to say that APPLECARE is not like tech support which u have ever seen.they are professionals with adequate training.more than that since ur a newbie with macs i wud suggest u to go for a applecare since it extends the warranty for 3years so that u can call them any time for assistance and hardware replacement is also done at ur home if u have an applecare.And one more thing is APPLEcare costs u 169$ but u can get an educational discount of 50$ since ur daughter is using the computer for educational purpose....

[evrydayearthling]

We ordered the computer this morning. My daughter is so excited! We both felt more confident about her choices.

I really appreciate your taking the time for such basic elementary questions. I look forward to learning more about Macs. You never know, maybe I'll make the switch too someday. I hear everyone who tries them doesn't want to go back to a regular PC.

Thanks again,

everydayearthling

[ranjithts]

Its good to know that u have made a good decision buying a mac.I am sure u will switch to mac soon since u will love it once u start learning about using it..

Good luck..