Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Time For A Mac Upgrade

It is that time again...time to upgrade the ol' computer.


I haven't checked the balance on my credit card lately (yes...I'm one of those people. I have it set for auto bill pay and pay more than I usually charge per month, so I never really pay attention to statements...if I even open them), but it is time to purchase a new MacBook Pro. My old one is getting ready to hit 3 years old soon (if it isn't already, but I think I bought it in October).  It is starting to act up a little.  It keeps doing this thing where it goes to a black screen when I open it. I have it set to require a password on start up because I take it to work with me, and I don't want kids getting on it. Every once in awhile it won't show the log-in screen. I sort of wonder if it would stop doing that if I didn't have the password protection on it, but somehow I doubt it. 


Anyway (or "anyways" as the kids would say), I have to shut it off, turn it on (sometimes more than once), and sometimes even take the battery out to get it to work right when it starts doing that. I think it is some fluke my Mac has always had. I've talked to other people who never have had this problem.  It used to do it once every 3-5 months or so, but now it is doing it at least once a week for the past few months. It is nothing that I can't deal with, but it is annoying and I don't like that the frequency of the occurrences is getting higher.  So...time to buy a new one.


Now the only real question is if I'm going to get a 15" or 17". Okay, no one really believes that I'm going to get anything but a 17" computer... 


I went on and Configured a new MacBook Pro with the additions I need (not want) and it is under $2,400 (before tax). I buy mine through the Apple education store. Students and educators get 10%! Not a shabby deal. 

Still, I know that's a lot for a computer, but a Mac is worth it. It would cost more to get the same stuff on a PC. If you go to Dell and build a computer that will compete with a Mac, the Dell is usually a few hundred dollars more. It is just that you can't buy a stripped Mac, but you can easily buy a stripped PC with nothing on it you need and everything you don't. I have students with this problem all the time. Their parents buy a cheap PC and then they can't get anything they typed at home to open up on a school computer because they don't have a real word processor on their cheap PC and they certainly don't have Word.


I really want to get the newest Photoshop as well while I'm at it (or at least CS4). You used to be able to get it pre-installed, but they no longer have that as an option.  I'm wondering if I can claim both as an expense for my my photography business? Not that I made enough money to even really claim the business...mostly just expenses.


Not sure yet what will happen with my current Mac. I may try to sell it to a student or put it on Craig's List or something, not that I expect to get too much out of it. I may just give it to my mother...she wants a laptop...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Have you checked to make sure there are no recalls on it? There have been recalls on macbook pros that they will fix for free.

Gifts of Nature said...

@Micayla - Actually, right after writing this post, I discovered that my Macbook Pro has had problems with the video card and they did do free replacements on the video cards. I am going to check it out when I get home from my trip this week, but I have read that they were only honoring it if your Macbook Pro was less than 2 years old... Of course.

Unknown said...

My hubby (IT guy for a Mac office) also suggests this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379