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abeato6 · Jun 11, 2007, 07:46 PM

heey guys... it's been long since i was here...anyway... I'm going to travel to the US around June 28th or so... I'm going to Orlando, Los Angeles and Las Vegas and I'm planning on buying my MacBook when I'm there... anyway I might just buy it right when i get there (Orlando) or should i buy it on the other states?

also... I'm thinking about buying 2 gigs of RAM from OWC: Apple Mac G4 upgrades, Laptop Batteries, Memory, Drives that costs US$97.. AND I'm also thinking about buying it with the 160 gigs HD....any suggestions, comments or experiences?...

anyway that's about all... I'm buying a Samsonite case and the mini-dvi to video cable.. and also I'm going to buy the sims 2 while I'm there... I'm pretty excited haha

any advise will be taken.. thanks in advance guys

abeato6 · Jun 12, 2007, 12:50 PM

come on guys!... nobody is going to reply?

mduell · Jun 12, 2007, 03:05 PM

Look up the state and locality sales tax rates; buy wherever is cheap.

Crucial has the memory for $88 with free 2day shipping within the US (send it to your hotel or whatever).
For hard drives I recommend Seagate ($120), but if you're pinched for cash WD ($95) will do.

abeato6 · Jun 12, 2007, 06:20 PM

is Crucial good for memory?.. and one more thing.. the hard drive i decided to buy my MacBook with the 160 gigs inside

peeb · Jun 12, 2007, 06:36 PM

Crucial is fine.

abeato6 · Jun 12, 2007, 06:59 PM

well i dont know.. something inside me tell sme that the one in OWC: Apple Mac G4 upgrades, Laptop Batteries, Memory, Drives is better.. that's just me

peeb · Jun 12, 2007, 07:36 PM

It might well be better, but Crucial is fine.

the1sttransport · Jun 12, 2007, 09:54 PM

Find a reason to go to Delaware, NO sales tax.

You could visit a screen door factory, pass through the miles of corn and chicken farms.

(FYI, Florida has 6.5% sales tax)

mavherzog · Jun 12, 2007, 11:14 PM

If it was me, I'd buy it right away... (simply because I'd want the new toy with me for the remainder of the trip).

seivad · Jun 13, 2007, 12:49 AM

i got the white macbook with an upgraded 160gig hdd, i havent upgraded my ram as of yet, but that was the goal to put it up to 2gb. You really need it for VMWare, like its useable but it sucks going from mac at full speed to half speed windows or *nix.

The hard-drive is only $100 (australian) more and its worth it, i was happy to pay an extra $50 for an 80gb 2.0ghz macbook! it was lucky they brought out the new ones two days before i purchased mine with a 160gb hdd and 2.16ghz for $50 less! black looks really nice if you can afford it, but its got the black tax OUCH!

abeato6 · Jun 14, 2007, 05:41 PM

well guys thanks all for your help

anyway... as of today i made up my mind.. (for now)

MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.16, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, white
Mini-dvi to video
Mini-dvi to VGA
Samsonite L35 Case
Western Digital My Book Premium 250GB External Hard Drive

Download couple of games...

Sims 2 and Seasons Expansion
Age of Empires III
Call of Duty 2
and others...

I'm going to use the hard drive for backups... probably going to backup once every two weeks and also for storing movies and stuff that dont fit on my MacBook...

neverskatewsandles · Jun 15, 2007, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by the1sttransport

Find a reason to go to Delaware, NO sales tax.

You could visit a screen door factory, pass through the miles of corn and chicken farms.

(FYI, Florida has 6.5% sales tax)

Just to let u know I live in DE and its nothing like that. lol

seivad · Jun 19, 2007, 12:06 AM

now i can be magically whisked away to Delaware.... (Waynes World)

Those western digital drives are sweet! i've got the 2.5" portable 160gb drive. The usb 2 works really well, plus its formatted for mac n pc out of the box! Giggidy!

glad you went with the bigger hdd, and didn't pay the black tax...its a great computer!

did you bittorrent your games? if anybody is willing to pm me with sum help i'd greatly appreciate it. I can only get around 45kb from transmission...

abeato6 · Jun 19, 2007, 08:19 AM

PM Sent Seivad

Stockcerts · Jun 20, 2007, 03:31 PM

I am buying a MacBook soon as well. Would you suggest buying it from Apple with one gig of memory and buying the additional gig from a third party vendor? If the savings isn't significant I will probably get it at the time I purchase the unit.

Thanks!

abeato6 · Jun 20, 2007, 03:35 PM

Buy Crucial RAM, I've heard it's really good

besides, i think that 175$ is too much for 2 gigs ram (Apple), righ tnow i'm undecided about getting 2 gigs but if i do, it'll be Crucial

Stockcerts · Jun 20, 2007, 03:39 PM

Do you have the URL to purchase Cruicial ram? Thanks!

mduell · Jun 20, 2007, 05:10 PM

$90 2GB kit (1GBx2), 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 upgrades for Apple MacBook 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (13-inch White) Laptop/Notebook, CT685397 from Crucial.com

Stockcerts · Jun 20, 2007, 09:51 PM

Thanks for the info regarding memory. Is it easy to install memory in a MacBook? I've done it many times in full size units. The price seems so much less than the Apple upgrade.

mduell · Jun 21, 2007, 06:06 AM

Yes; all you have to do is remove the battery. ifixit.com has a guide if you really need it.

Stockcerts · Jun 23, 2007, 06:19 PM

I have an external USB hard drive with my PC. I keep my digital photos on their, and MS Office files. I am hoping to buy a new MacBook in the next week. Will my new MacBook recognize my external drive along with the files?

Here's hoping!

mduell · Jun 24, 2007, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by Stockcerts

I have an external USB hard drive with my PC. I keep my digital photos on their, and MS Office files. I am hoping to buy a new MacBook in the next week. Will my new MacBook recognize my external drive along with the files?

Yes, you'll be able to read the files from your external drive, but you may not be able to write to it depending on how it's formatted.

Jawbone54 · Jun 24, 2007, 10:11 AM

abeat06, I can't encourage you enough to go through Crucial and max it out to 2 GB of RAM. Tiger really requires about 1 GB to run really smoothly. Imagine the additional stress that Leopard will put on your system.

Go with the full 2 GB.

zenwhen · Jun 24, 2007, 10:20 AM

Newegg.com - mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Memory for Apple Notebook Model 976504A - Retail
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Memory for Apple Notebook Model VSA2GSDSKIT667D2 - Retail

Both of those sets will work perfectly in your Macbook and are very cheap. I went with the Corsair.

mduell · Jun 24, 2007, 11:12 AM

The Corsair is actually more expensive than Crucial, since it doesn't have free 2day shipping.

jamil5454 · Jun 24, 2007, 02:43 PM

Those games you mentioned (Call of Duty 2, Sims 2, etc) might run better on the Windows side of things through BootCamp instead of OS X.

abeato6 · Jun 24, 2007, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Those games you mentioned (Call of Duty 2, Sims 2, etc) might run better on the Windows side of things through BootCamp instead of OS X.

Are you asking me or telling me?... if you are telling me, thanks

that's what I'll do to play games

mduell · Jun 25, 2007, 03:54 PM

Buy.com has 2x1GB Crucial for $80 less $25 MIR (and $10 discount if you're a new Google checkout user).

Buy.com - Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-5300 667MHz 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 Laptop Memory - 112995