[gooser]

in the first quarter of next year i will start drawing on some of my retirement and i'm being tempted to get a laptop. i'm looking at the mid year 2009 macbook, 2.13ghz, the most powerful one i can get that meets all of my requirements. that is 1. it is white 2. has a firewire 400 port 3. has at least a combo drive. the following two items would be nice but would not be dealbreakers: 1. an easily upgradeable hard drive 2. apple remote. my question is this: was this laptop generally considered reliable? any recurring problem areas? any comments?

[Waragainstsleep]

Its the last of the original MacBook for factor so many of the issues had been worked by then. It should be fine.

[gooser]

thanks waragainstsleep. i've been also looking at the apple forums on this model and the only recurring problem i see is that the case sometimes cracks. how serious a problem is this?

[Eug]

The good news is this model supports Mountain Lion.

http://forums.macnn.com/0/forum/458897/os-x-v10-8-mountain-lion/200#post_4177068

Greetings. I am unable to delete my posts, and apparently you moderators are on some kind of a strike.

Therefore, I have removed the content of the original post by hand.

I am asking for this post to be deleted, since I don't seem to have the option to do that myself.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by gooser 

thanks waragainstsleep. i've been also looking at the apple forums on this model and the only recurring problem i see is that the case sometimes cracks. how serious a problem is this?

My daughter's MacBook developed cracks along the leading edge of the keyboard deck. Apple replaced the deck twice. Yay, AppleCare.

The deck cracks were pretty severe, in my opinion. You could easily snag a loose piece and break it off. We resorted to using box tape to cover the areas until we could get it in for replacement.

It also has slight hairline cracks around a couple of the ports on the side. But, it keeps chugging along, all through college so far.

Definitely get a protector as Andrej suggests.

[shifuimam]

The unibody white MacBooks also have a tendency to develop cracks at the base of the lid, near the hinge, like this:



It is, however, covered under warranty.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Originally Posted by gooser 

thanks waragainstsleep. i've been also looking at the apple forums on this model and the only recurring problem i see is that the case sometimes cracks. how serious a problem is this?

My daughter's MacBook developed cracks along the leading edge of the keyboard deck. Apple replaced the deck twice. Yay, AppleCare..

That's not AppleCare.

Apple provides extended repair programs on occasion. In e case of the pre-unibody MacBooks, they will replace the top case (wot houses the keyboard and trackpad) up to three times per machine, regardless of age.

[SierraDragon]

Way back there was an ongoing argument, some folks arguing that plastic cases would prove more durable than aluminum. We now know aluminum won, by a lot.

Why do you want a MB that old and of known-to-crack plastic? Except maybe because they are cheap because they are about obsolete and made of known-to-crack plastic? Cheap is good, that I understand. But as long as you are looking, I would not arbitrarily exclude more modern laptops. From a life-cycle-cost basis a more modern MBP may present that is better value.

-Allen

Greetings. I am unable to delete my posts, and apparently you moderators are on some kind of a strike.

Therefore, I have removed the content of the original post by hand.

I am asking for this post to be deleted, since I don't seem to have the option to do that myself.

[gooser]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

Way back there was an ongoing argument, some folks arguing that plastic cases would prove more durable than aluminum. We now know aluminum won, by a lot.
Why do you want a MB that old and of known-to-crack plastic? Except maybe because they are cheap because they are about obsolete and made of known-to-crack plastic? Cheap is good, that I understand. But as long as you are looking, I would not arbitrarily exclude more modern laptops. From a life-cycle-cost basis a more modern MBP may present that is better value.
-Allen

pretty simple reason really. i want the color white with an optical drive and firewire. but cracking plastic isn't too cool. ahhhhh, decisions to make.

[SierraDragon]

It is not the same, but tight-fitting hard plastic sleeves are available in various colors including white if you need them. My friend's son has one one his MBP.

[gooser]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

It is not the same, but tight-fitting hard plastic sleeves are available in various colors including white if you need them. My friend's son has one one his MBP.

wasn't aware of those things but that would open up some more possibilities.

Greetings. I am unable to delete my posts, and apparently you moderators are on some kind of a strike.

Therefore, I have removed the content of the original post by hand.

I am asking for this post to be deleted, since I don't seem to have the option to do that myself.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by Andrej 

Alternatively get a sleeve.

Which will do nothing. When I worked at Apple, there were plenty of people who took meticulous care of their unibody MacBooks. It's a design flaw and a weak point of the plastic enclosure. Cracking around the hinges is more likely than you want to believe, just like the top case cracking of non-unibody MacBooks, which happens regardless of how careful you are with the machine, due to an inherent design flaw.

Originally Posted by gooser 

pretty simple reason really. i want the color white with an optical drive and firewire. but cracking plastic isn't too cool. ahhhhh, decisions to make.

I'd go with the white non-unibody MacBook, then. The newer top cases crack less frequently.

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

It is not the same, but tight-fitting hard plastic sleeves are available in various colors including white if you need them. My friend's son has one one his MBP.

I would highly recommend against the hard plastic snap-on cases. They trap dirt and grime and will scratch up the computer like crazy. They also tend to trap heat, which is bad for the electronics (obviously). Similarly, if you get a neoprene sleeve, don't use the laptop while it's sitting on top of the sleeve - the fabric traps heat far more than a hard surface.

[americandigital]

yes that would be fine, but if you want more on the latest you can get the latest one today.

[Doc HM]

I would stay away from the non unibody MacBook, purely because it's already missed the cut on the current OS and it's only going to fall further behind. At least the unibody MacBook can run 10.8. I would however doubt it will make it to 10.9 whenever that comes out.

I would go for a 13in MacBook Pro, avoid the earlier MacBook aluminium unibodies as they are very unreliable. The Pro's are built like tanks in the same way that the old Pismo and Wall Street were. You will get many more years out of one than a white MacBook of any version.


Also, original MacBook has Firewire, unibody and alu macbook do not. If you want firewire its an original MacBook or a MacBook Pro. I know which way I would jump.

[nexlar]

Yes I agree with you.