MacBook Pro 15" spec choices help...

[fishbowlhead]

Macbooks' are more versatile and if you want a big monitor then you can always plug in something else and have a lovely dual display setup for when you're at home.

Is there an option of using different screens with the new macbooks/pros or do you have to use the Apple ones?

[egparadigm]

You don't have to use Apple screens, and you'd be foolish to do so because, from what I can gather, they are not good quality (especially for the price).

[VR46]

I've been using a 20" Samsung monitor with my Mini for almost a year, looks great, you might need to buy a DVI/HDMI lead or whatever but that's it

[Synthesthesia]

I've been using a 20" Samsung monitor with my Mini for almost a year, looks great, you might need to buy a DVI/HDMI lead or whatever but that's it

Not strictly true if it's a MacBook/ Pro. You need either a mini display> hdmi/ dvi adapter and a dvi/hdmi cable.

[Brad]

Yeah, new mac use display port so you need a monnitor with display port input or and adapter. I use a 19" samsung at 1440 x 900. That + the 1280 x 800 of the Macbook gives be a pretty nice development environment. I use the Samsung vertically so I can fit tons of code on the screen at once plus it doubles up nicely as a tate display for the PS2 (a useful diversion when a bug eludes me for too long and frustration hits).

[Synthesthesia]

Decided I would post an update on here of the troubles I've faced today dealing with Apple's retail store in Newcastle.

Me and my friend got to the store at around 10am yesterday morning after ringing the day before and confirming that they sell 15" i7 MacBook Pros with a Hi Res Glossy Screen. So I get the sales assistant to help me out, tell her I want a 15" i7 with hi res glossy screen. She goes off...comes back. I ask "Is that definitely an i7 with a hi res glossy screen?" "Yes definitely!" I joked with her that I thought the anti glare screens looked horrible compared to the standard ones, to which she agreed and we laughed about it. So I paid for everything, got the ipod/printer for rebate etc. and off we went back home.

On the way back, I open the box and joke to my friend "I bet there's something wrong with it" (i've had a terrible week to do with getting results certificates, banks, and now apple).

So...I close the box and look at the sticker on the side:

15" Core i5 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro with Hi Res Anti Glare Screen.

W

T

F.

So I ring the store, ask them if I can change it over for the hi res glossy version that is actually i7, like I asked them for originally. "Yes we have plenty of those in stock that will be no problem". (Now the third time I've been told that the store does Hi res glossy screens)

Get back to the store..."Oh we don't stock the Glossy Hi res screens." "So why have I been getting told 3 times now that you do, and even been sold a Macbook that apparently had one in it?"

"All I can do is apologize, I'll give you the rebate for the iPod and the Printer now as a good will gesture. I'll have to refund the payment for the iPod and the Printer first and then you'l have to pay £42 for them off your debit card."

Right! This sounds pretty decent of them I think. They'll sort all of this out.

No. The idiot refunds the entire amount, so I now can't buy any MacBook Pro until the bank decides my money has been refunded.

I check my accounts, see that the money might not have actually left my credit card, so my friend offers to lend me the rest until it comes back into my account. So I ask a different assistant to help me. She goes off to get me a standard i7 macbook pro (at this point I wasn't bothered about the hi res screen, I just wanted my macbook that I could upgrade to 8gb ram and a faster hard drive myself). She comes back with the i7 Macbook pro. "This is definitely an i7?" "Yes, definitely!" scans it through, with discount, £1400. "Err that doesn't sound right the i7 is at least £100 extra, you're sure it's an i7?" "Yeah!".

So...I check the box. "Core i5 Processor" "Ohh....sorry about that!" At this point I'm beyond pissed off with this ridiculous shop, and it turned out the money had gone out of my credit card anyway.

So I rang the store to put a complaint in about the frankly disgusting way they'd treated me when I got home, and the manager basically said that fault was on both sides.

EXCUSE ME?!?! How the F**K is any of that MY fault? I expressly said all THREE times that I wanted an i7 Macbook pro 15" with a hi res glossy screen. All the retarded manager would do for me, is say he would keep a 15" i7 for me until my funds clear, and says that they have given me the rebate when I ask about any form of compensation for wasting 4 and a half hours of my day and my friend's petrol. How, exactly, is a rebate that i'd be getting anyway, compensation? I'll take getting the Macbook Pro hassle free over this bull**** any day of the week. We didn't leave the store until 2:30.

So now, I don't have a MacBook Pro which I did have for a few minutes, and I don't have £1875 of my money which I used to pay for it all because of THEIR mistakes. I'm paying for their mistakes...what a great store.

I would have just gone online but I needed to split the payment across my credit card and debit card. I certainly won't be going back there after I get my MacBook Pro.

[NW2013]

Oh dear, that sounds like a lack of understanding from the staff about the product. Hope you get it sorted. I live in Newcastle too so I'll be wary now if I deal with them.

In a related question is the 13" MacBook Pro due for an upgrade? I notice on the website that it's still rocking a Core 2 Duo.

[wakka]

Tragic tale Synesthesia those staff are idiotic from the sound of it, I'd be furious too. The fact that they just kept blindly agreeing to whatever you asked, clearly without even understanding what you meant by 'hi-res screen' and 'Core i7' just makes it all the more infuriating.

[Synthesthesia]

They're more than idiotic. I mean, they were all lovely (bar the manager who was an utter toss rag, accusing me of being wrong about things too?! Honestly I don't know where he gets off) but they clearly had no clue what they were talking about.

The first girl tried to tell me that with education discount a warranty is only £58 or something like that. And I told her that it's free for 3 years if you buy it with a student discount...she was like no it's not you have to pay. "no, that's for 3 years phone support for software" "it's not" "Okay, check your website"...."Oh...sorry about that you're right!"

Really?! You mean the tech literate person talking to you knows more about your products than you do?! WOW.

The second girl who tried to sell me a second i5 macbook also tried to tell me the warranty was £58 but at this point i'd give up and just said I didn't want it.

They just really have no idea about their job. "SHINY!!" Sums up how they must view apple products, and any will do for them.

I mean, how hard is it to know your products when there's so few of them? It's not like PC world where they have lots of different configurations/brands of laptops and computers.

I think a lot of the problem is the guys in the stock room, since 2 different girls gave me the wrong machines twice, but at the end of the day they should have checked everything when I was asking them that it was definitely what I asked for. I mean it'd come up on the screen as soon as they scanned it in.

I really hope my money gets back to my account by tomorrow so I can go get it but I can't see it tbh.

Worst of it all was having to go back to the White macbook i'm on now. It feels slower than ever, and safari crashed twice in a row just before off youtube.

I'm going to try and jip them when my money goes in. Since they've already sold me an iPod and Printer for £42 without having a macbook pro...I'm going to try and get another ipod and get the rebate on that when I buy my macbook pro.

ARGH. It's just not my week. Hopefully monday will bring a better one. Rant over.

[Lyris]

At the Glasgow Apple Store, I took my 2007-2008ish Macbook Pro back for repairs after I dropped it on the floor with something plugged into the USB port. The side of the case was dented and the port no longer worked, so I had them repair it (cost about 150 pounds IIRC).

I was a little bit irritated that they wouldn't let me keep the old dented case so I could eBay it for profit - why should they charge me a large amount of money then keep what was originally mine? Anyway, what really pissed me off was that when I was inspecting my freshly rejuvinated machine, I noticed a little scrape on the top lid (the screen) which wasn't there before. The top of the lid did have a dent in it (my fault), but the scrape was new.

The Apple plebs at the store told me that I must have damaged it myself, because there is just no way that could happen while the machine was with them. They pointed to the pre-repairs assessment that said "light damage", but this referred to some scratches on the bottom of the case, which again, were my fault. They should really have a detailed top/left/right/bottom way of detailing the condition, but Apple just have a standard "one line" approach.

Anyway, it was such a slap in the face, considering that I was totally honest about who's fault the other damage was. I mean, did they think I was trying to screw them? What sense would that make? "Oh, I'll just cause huge damage to one of the USB ports and bottom case, and pay to have that repaired and replaced, so I can ACCUSE them of making a scratch on the top of the screen when I'm picking it up after the repair!" - get real.

Long story short, they agreed to give me 10% off my next accessory purchase. Wooo. So when I want to buy some overpriced Bose speakers or some cheap tinny white headphones, I'll know where to go to get a bargain deal!

It seems that somehow, the people working at the top of these stores have a "never admit you're wrong" mentality.

[Synthesthesia]

Does anyone here know if it's worth me getting a hybrid drive instead of a 7200rpm?

I've been reading up on them and they seem good, but I can get a 7200rpm drive for £55 for 500gb and the momentus xt is gonna cost me £108 for the same thing with the SSD drive in it... if it's gonna give me great app launch times etc it's worth it but I duno. Seems a big hike from £55.

[xXIShadowIXx]

If the difference between the standard drive and 7200rpm is worth ?50, I would say the difference between the standard drive and the hybrid SSD drive is well worth ?100 or so. Considering that you would be paying around that mark for a 64GB SSD, you get the majority of SSD speed, with the capacity and (slightly higher) price of a 7200rpm drive.

Another thing to think about... when you're spending the best part of ?2000 on a laptop, what is an extra ?50 to give you such a substancial speed boost

[Synthesthesia]

I've ordered it, you're right. Just looking at boot times for the macbook pro with it/ application launch times and they're much much better after a few uses. Worth £50 extra.

[Brad]

Worst of it all was having to go back to the White macbook i'm on now. It feels slower than ever, and safari crashed twice in a row just before off youtube.

Youtube crashed Safari? Sounds like a hardware failure to me, best get a new Macbook

[Synthesthesia]

It frequently crashes safari. Chrome is fine with it, as is Firefox (when i use it) although runs it slowly if there's lots of stuff open.