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megasad · Apr 24, 2004, 08:38 AM

Say someone dear to you, a boyfriend or girlfriend, bought you a brand spanking new 1.33GHz 12" PowerBook as a birthday present, along with 512MB extra RAM.

Would you rather they give you the two boxes, unopened, pristine, leaving you to your own devices as to how to transfer all your stuff / account details from your old machine (for the sake of argument, a 600MHz iBook)?

Or, would you prefer said boyfriend / girlfriend, to do all said transferring and setting up for you, installation of the RAM too, that they might present the PowerBook to you, in a tasteful box of some kind, ready to use from the get go?

Please vote in the poll, that my curiosity about this purely hypothetical situation might be sated.

mdc · Apr 24, 2004, 08:59 AM

me. i would rather have it pristine.
if i was giving it to some friends of mine i would do everything for them. i am selling my 12" to a friend next weekend and i have set it up for her, so all she has to do is open it and it is ready for her.

Snarf13 · Apr 24, 2004, 10:07 AM

I think is depends on the type of person you're giving it to. I would rather is was pristine, in the original packaging because opening something like that is very exciting to me, even if I know what it is. So, in short, if you're giving it to a big dork like myself, they'll probably enjoy getting it up and running. If I were giving it to my dad or something I'd end up having to set it all up either way.

PeterKG · 10:56 AM

I gave my cousin a 12" Powerbook for his college graduation gift. I carefully opened the box and installed an Airport Extreme card and 512 MB of ram. I installed MS Office X and totally brought it up to date, with iLife and Panther updates (it came with Panther but iLife had just come out). I have a PB so I used my power cord and did not open any other item in the box. After I was done, I put the Powerbook back in it's wrapping and into the box. You could not even notice I was there. Since he was not into installing or playing with it, he was thrilled. Plus his PB came loaded and he didn't have to spend a dime. I also bought him an iPod, wireless router, Waterfield Sleeve case, and a Crumpler bag. One lucky soon to be college grad, who is like my brother.

justinf77 · Apr 24, 2004, 10:45 AM

I would personally want it unopened. Let me know where we can meet up, and I will graciously accept your lovely gift.

However, it does depend on the person. My parents just bought a 14" iBook for a friend, and had me do the RAM / Airport card installation and full system setup before giving it to him. Then I packed it back up in the original box, hoping he could still get the effect of opening up the box for himself. Perhaps this is an option for you, in your purely hypothetical situation?

wtmcgee · Apr 24, 2004, 12:20 PM

we're all computer nerds, so we'd rather set things up OUR way. so, this poll may not be helpful if the person getting the gift is not so much of a 'nerd'.

Originally posted by megasad:
Say someone dear to you, a boyfriend or girlfriend, bought you a brand spanking new 1.33GHz 12" PowerBook as a birthday present, along with 512MB extra RAM.

Would you rather they give you the two boxes, unopened, pristine, leaving you to your own devices as to how to transfer all your stuff / account details from your old machine (for the sake of argument, a 600MHz iBook)?

Or, would you prefer said boyfriend / girlfriend, to do all said transferring and setting up for you, installation of the RAM too, that they might present the PowerBook to you, in a tasteful box of some kind, ready to use from the get go?

Please vote in the poll, that my curiosity about this purely hypothetical situation might be sated.

megasad · Apr 24, 2004, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by wtmcgee:
we're all computer nerds, so we'd rather set things up OUR way. so, this poll may not be helpful if the person getting the gift is not so much of a 'nerd'.

Exactly. And, whilst my ladyfriend uses her machine a whole lot, she uses it for actual college work, in Illustrator and Cobalt and such, not the obsessive Apple geekery that I indulge in. So, by confirming that the geeks want it unopened fresh, I'm not really any closer to deciding whether I should preinstall everything, copy all her files and settings for her (I've made some custom boot/about images she would find very funny) or not.

See, it's more like a present if she doesn't have to go through the hassle of setting everything up. But it's more like a shiny, fresh Mac if it's unopened.

All might be decided for me, should she answer the door to the delivery man rather than myself, but I'm hoping to be able to get there first.

Anyway, thanks to those who have voted. To really help me out, how about you all ask your own ladyfriends which they'd prefer? So long as it's not drawing close to a birthday of course...

wtmcgee · Apr 24, 2004, 01:22 PM

with that said, i think someone like her may actually think it's nicer that you went out of your way to set things up for her.

if it were for me, i'd want to format/install/etc.

for her, i'd recommend getting things started for her.

teknopimp · Apr 24, 2004, 01:29 PM

factory sealed, un-molested virginal condition. there's something romantic about the sound of my boxcutter running along packing tape. i'll do the set up myself, thank you, gives us a nice get-to-know-you session.

megasad · May 9, 2004, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by wtmcgee:
with that said, i think someone like her may actually think it's nicer that you went out of your way to set things up for her.

Due to various foolishness on the part of the Apple Store, I am now getting the purely hypothetical PowerBook delivered to my place of work, rather than my home. So, now I have decided to set it all up for her and present it like an actual present, in a pretty box no less, rather than a nerd toy. She will be angry, that I spent so much, but I'm counting on the fact that geting a brand new PowerBook for your birthday is quite a nice thing, to make that anger go away pretty quickly. Um, hypothetically.

diskgolfking · May 9, 2004, 01:16 PM

Why not do both? You can always include a card with the gift of:

"Services necessary to setup the laptop with your current account"

romeosc · May 9, 2004, 01:48 PM

Why not install everything and put a "loving picture" on the desktop and repack as unopened! Put it to sleep and the surprise will amaze her/him!

strokemouth · May 9, 2004, 02:23 PM

I just received a 15" 1.5 PB yesterday as a graduation gift. My father wanted to do something similar: get it all set up with a nice wallpaper, etc. Luckily my girlfriend convinced him not to. I mean, come on, half the excitement of getting a new Mac is turning it on and hearing the new "Welcome" song while you get it all set up!

kdixey · May 9, 2004, 02:38 PM

Either way I would so thrilled to get something like that. It wouldn't matter how I got it.

megasad · Jun 2, 2004, 01:16 AM

Just as an update, yesterday was my girlfriend's birthday and she liked the PowerBook very much. I decided to install the RAM, operating system, applications, all her stuff, myself, then seal it back up in the original box. That 12" PowerBook is one nice machine, and the screen is ludicrously bright. Um, that's all.

[EDIT - Oh, and now I have my 600MHz iBook back... Can't think what to do with it, but I have it back!]

d.fine · Jun 2, 2004, 01:41 PM

You're lucky. My GF would kill me for getting her something like that. She's a Mackie too but still ... even though I think it is a really nice gift !

BTW Happy Birthday to megasad's GF !!! And congrats with your new Mac PB ! Enjoy !

Beerman · Jun 2, 2004, 03:15 PM

Originally posted by PeterKG:
I gave my cousin a 12" Powerbook for his college graduation gift. I carefully opened the box and installed an Airport Extreme card and 512 MB of ram. I installed MS Office X and totally brought it up to date, with iLife and Panther updates (it came with Panther but iLife had just come out). I have a PB so I used my power cord and did not open any other item in the box. After I was done, I put the Powerbook back in it's wrapping and into the box. You could not even notice I was there. Since he was not into installing or playing with it, he was thrilled. Plus his PB came loaded and he didn't have to spend a dime. I also bought him an iPod, wireless router, Waterfield Sleeve case, and a Crumpler bag. One lucky soon to be college grad, who is like my brother.

Can I be in your family?

rambo47 · Jun 2, 2004, 08:27 PM

Pristine is nice. After lambasting me for my infatuation with Macs my wife finally decided she wanted one. All her girlfriends have computers and they conspire digitally to run our (the husbands') lives. She wanted in on that fun and now she's finally online and loving it. From ludite to Maclot in about one week!

I got her the 17" PowerBook and watched her open it like a kid on Christmas morning. There's something magical about the unwrapping process, especially with your first Mac. I coached her on how to do the basics, helping her set up email, showing her Safari, etc, and she was off and running. Once she was done for the night I updated her software and installed the extras she wanted, like MS Word. The thing is we look like the Yao Ming/Mini Me commercial. I'm on my 12" PowerBook and I'm 6'1", 275 lbs. She's 5"4 and 120 lbs with the big 17-incher. And of course she's grinning from ear to ear, fielding complements from all the girls on what an awesome computer she has.

TheIceMan · Jun 2, 2004, 09:12 PM

rambo47: Congrats to your wife for her new 17" PB. Hehehe. I'm picturing the Yao Ming/Mini-Me commercial in my head, quite funny!