Comments on: new laptop time….

By: tcarlson

tcarlson — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:32:48 +0000

I am an owner of the exact same machine as yours. Just can't get the beast to die so I can justify buying a new one.

Actually, I spend 90% of my time on my 2008 Mac Pro and the laptop is only useful when I travel… which isn't often these days. I'm hoping that the MacBook Air turns into a nifty 11″ pack-in-your-carry-on at a reasonable price. It's possible… maybe.

By: Michael M

Michael M — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:22:56 +0000

I bought the 17″ MacBook Pro last year. Sometimes, I wish had bought a smaller system, because it is a bear to find good bags for the larger systems and the weight is sometimes a bit annoying. I carry it on my back most of the time.

However, the kicker for me was the extra battery life. Since I fly cross country regularly, I know I can make it all the way with the 17″, even if use in-flight WiFi quite a bit. I wasn't so sure about the 13 and 15″ systems. If I really nurse the battery, I can use it for most of a trip from Europe, given some down time to snooze, watch a movie and/or eat.

By: PeteO

PeteO — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:24:54 +0000

For me, this is a great article to read. My 933 mhz iBook is getting futzy and needs replacing and reading this helps focus my thoughts on what to replace it with. I've used Win 7 and newer HP laptops and while I'd save money, that savings would be eaten up by frustrations with the OS and hardware and I doubt one would last as long as a Mac.

By: chuqui

chuqui — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:11:58 +0000

true, but these days, I refresh my drives instead of waiting for them to fail. That seems to be the best insurance against data loss (which is to me the key issue, not hardware failure); spending money on replacing the laptop drive every year or so instead of spending it on applecare seems a better option.

it's a personal decision. I rarely if ever buy extended warranties on anything because they tend to be high margin items for the manufacturer, which is one reason why they like selling them. I feel that if you look at all of the extended warranties I did NOT buy as a self-insurance pool for the time when something does fail, it ends up a net positive for me and I can use the money how I feel it ought to be used instead of letting them have it and then telling me what they'll do for me.

By: NeilH

NeilH — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:15:04 +0000

Great reasoning, well thought out and well written! I do also tend to keep PCs a lot longer than the typical 3 year corporate refresh, so the N-1 refresh is something I have done as well.

I have typically been a 15inch laptop fan for home (usually windows machines since I dump windows and install Linux) but am leaning, as you did, towards portability for my next laptop.

Thanks.

--Neil.

By: Evan Robinson

Evan Robinson — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:15:26 +0000

Regarding AppleCare, my experience is rather different: my previous laptop was a 15" MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU. Over the three years of its warranty and AppleCare, Apple replaced (at no charge) the optical drive, the logic board (for a fan malfunction), and the screen twice. My immediately previous laptop was a G4 iBook without AppleCare. A few days after the one year warranty expired, the logic board/airport card interface failed (an $800 repair).

My rule of thumb is that I purchase AppleCare for notebook computers but not necessarily for desktops. I generally do get AppleCare for desktop machines which are for other people, but not for myself -- not that it's going to be an issue, as I may never buy another desktop machine, since like you I use a 13" MBP and an external monitor.

It's a difference of opinion, nothing more, and perhaps a different set of experiences.

I generally read your stuff in RSS, so this is the first time I've seen your new layout & logo. I like it.

By: MacRat

MacRat — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:07:52 +0000

Reminder that the hard drive croaked on your 2006 Mac mini 1 month before the AppleCare ran out.

Never say never.