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Question

MacBook Purchasing Advice

Mar 12, 2016 12:11PM PST

I am looking for advice and opinions on purchasing the 12in Apple MacBook. After spending the last several weeks reviewing laptops I have become very interested in this one, especially after seeing it go on sale for $300 off the price on the Apple store at Best Buy.

After reading and watching dozens of reviews it seemed like a lot of people liked it but were reluctant to recommend it due to it's $1300 price tag. Does $300 off make this a decent buy? I am aware that it is by no means a work horse, or power house. Will the standard specs listed below be enough to allow me to use microsoft word, netflix/youtube/spotify streaming, web browsing, and online college classes?

I am looking for this to serve as my secondary machine for these uses at work or whenever I'm not home. I am NOT getting it to do anything crazy like video/music/photo editing or gaming. I rarely use Skype. On my current MacBook Pro I rarely use any sort of peripherals so lack of ports doesn't really bother me. It's small RAM is becoming a bit of a nuisance at times. Aesthetics are really important to me, which is one of the reasons I really like Apple products. I know this may seem silly to many, but it is a very important factor for me.

The other product I have been considering was the Dell XPS 13, which I am not opposed to Windows but it wouldn't be my first choice. It is also a beautiful laptop with good functionality but I know it is a bit more expensive for similar specced memory/storage to that of the MacBook. Right now this is by far my second choice.

Long story short, does a price reduction warrant purchasing the MacBook? Would it be able to perform the simple basic tasks I do? Should I wait and see what next gen MacBook has to offer this year? Or should I look more into the XPS 13? Specs on the MacBook i'm considering below.

1.1GHz Intel Core M with Turbo Boost
8GB Memory
256GB PCIe Flash storage
Intel HD Graphics 5300

As I said any insight is appreciated! If anyone owns either of these please let me know what you think.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Well, I do like you skipped the 120GB or so size.
Mar 12, 2016 12:55PM PST

My advice on basic SSD size is 240 and up GB. As to value, I can't weigh in. I do see folk get more years out of most Apple laptops so in the aspect it's a good deal. They also don't spend as much time dealing with malware.

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Answer
Mac Book - expensive to buy, disastrous to maintain - AVOID
Mar 14, 2016 6:50PM PDT

Bought a Mac Book Retina in Sept 2012 for $2,500. In Dec 2015 required a battery replacement. Apple Store quoted $500 and would need my laptop for 7-10 BUSINESS DAYS (translation - 2 calendar weeks if all goes well)!!!

First, the cost was extortionate (20% of original purchase price) and nearly enough to buy a comparable brand-new non-Apple laptop. Secondly, can you imagine operating without your laptop for TWO WEEKS!?!?

Reason given - Apple engineers (accountants?) thought it was a good idea to GLUE the battery to the underside of the top - requiring it and the perfectly good parts attached thereto, such as the track pad, to be trashed too. Hardly a candidate for the Green Product of the Year award is it?

For comparison, I replaced the battery in a 5 year old Dell Studio laptop with a $55 higher capacity aftermarket part delivered to my door in 2 days, that I changed in 12 minutes (would have been faster, but I was tired). During the two days I waited for the part, I could still use my laptop.

It's a good thing Apple doesn't make $30,000 cars, because when the battery needs replacing in 3 or 4 years it would cost $6,000 and take 2 weeks. Plus, the hood, dash, windshield and steering wheel would all have to be replaced too.

Also, the four foot pads underneath the bottom of the case had fallen off and we were quoted $10 EACH plus $100 labor to replace these (total $140!!). Reason given - these are a "special" two-piece Applesque design with an inner piece that fits through a hole drilled through the bottom of the case and glues to the outer foot piece - supposedly to make it more durable than other readily available simpler, lower cost designs. Replacing these requires opening up the case and moving some components. Clearly it wasn't a superior design because they all fell off in 3 years.

Were told that because of the four holes Apple had drilled through the bottom case, we had to cover these or moisture or debris could enter, and no cooling air could circulate under, the Mac Book. So we bought some 3/4" stick on pads at the hardware store for $3 a dozen and installed four of these in 30 seconds. Expect these should last at least as long as the originals. And if some fall off, we have 8 spares on hand to replace those in a matter of seconds.

Based on this, one could easily be led to believe that Apple deliberately and cynically designed its product with short-life planned obsolescence and expensive lengthy repairs costing 20% of the original purchase price to boost revenues and prey upon its own customers' wallets.

It would also seem they wish to propagate the "it’s an ultra sophisticated high technology mysterious black box that is beyond your tiny brain to maintain" Wizard of Oz patronizing attitude towards its customers. Well, time to wake up Apple - the curtain was pulled back long ago.

There was another business that tried a 3 to 4 year planned obsolescence and "so-expensive-to-repair-might-as-well-buy-a-new-one” strategy. It was called the American Auto industry. That went well.

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Funny you should mention 3 to 4 years.
Mar 15, 2016 8:34AM PDT
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Laptop failures in 2 to 3 years
Mar 15, 2016 8:20PM PDT

The problem I experienced with the Mac Book Retina was the rechargeable battery had exceeded the 1,000 recharge cycle design life. This number basically gives a 3+ year life cycle for the battery if you do a full recharge every 24-36 hours. The rest of the Mac Book was still running fine.

No problem if it is easy for an owner to swap out, with reasonably priced and readily available OEM or aftermarket battery. Instead it was glued in and cost an arm and a leg, plus would take an Apple genius team with PhD's in battery replacement 2 weeks to replace.

If manufacturers continue to force their customers to replace expensive laptops every 2-3 years through planned obsolescence, then some competitor will observe that customers would rather have root canal than purchase and commission a new system so frequently, and will build one that lasts much longer. It might cost a bit more, but people will pay for it. Just ask Toyota.