How to get my parents to get me Mac? Which one is the Cheapest but still a good one and it has to be a laptop.

Old enough to need a Mac; old enough to get a job.

get one off ebay!
no seriously, macs these days, overpriced for what you can get in comparison. You can get a (i know you don’t want another PC, but just hang on with me with this one), you can get the same specs as a mac for less than half the price from say dell or anywhere else.
Now, look at used (or even refurbished), all the same stuff, maybe a tad bit slower (honestly… it’s a mac, when is it EVER slow???), maybe a little less hard drive space (hey.. you can always upgrade, it’s ridiculously cheap nowadays anyway it doesn’t matter), and you’re ready to go.

so that’s how you convince your parents to buy you a mac for whatever reason.. actually that isn’t a reason, but if you really want to get them around a rope, just suggest used or refurbished, and surely you’ll get what you’re looking for, rather than something that’s $1k+ vs something half of that with everything you’d need.

Get a low end MacBook and ask for more RAM for Christmas.

getting a mac to just run bootcamp, that’s like buying a ferrari and only doing 20 on the highway…why do you want a mac? for the looks? seriously, it doesnt work like that, you have to be mac !

If you REALLY want a Mac, then take johnpowell’s advice, but show your parents how sincere you are about wanting to have one by offering to earn 1/2 the money for it. If they agree, go out and earn it and then they might be more willing to put in half. My dad did that for me and I always appreciated whatever I got more and thus took care of it. I still have some of the items that he met me half-way on and that was years ago.

You could get a refurbished MacBook.

Half the money you have to be kidding how about 1/4 of the money!!! Actually I have enough so maybe I guess???

I guess but I dont want that I want a new one!!!

I want a mac because I love ALL THEIR programs and I use my cousins all the time and know how to work it better then him.

I prove my point, http://store.apple.com/1–800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&node=home/shop_mac/family/macbook
the cheapest macbook no matter how low end you go, isn’t low enough, the cheapest macbook apple has for sale is $1,100. Oh, and by the way you can’t get 15” macbooks anymore, but you can get a 15” macbook pro, but that bottom of the line costs $2,000
Lets compare (I will compare as similar products as I can):

13” macbook
2.1Ghz
1GB ram
120gb HD

dell is generic enough so here goes nothing:

14.1” (smallest dell sells except for 13” XPS system)
2.0 Ghz (same bus speed as the Macbook)
1GB ram
120gb HD
price? $899
for 1.1” larger, virtually the same speed, more possibilities than a mac (unless your job depends on mac software, but if you have to ask your parents for anything, then I can assure you.. your job doesn’t require a mac lol), etc.

Now, lets look at ebay, you can get an EXTREMELY similar macbook white, for $900 or possibly less depending on the stats.

Now to defend apple, bootcamp only comes with leopard, so if you buy a used macbook, you will have to buy leopard, which is only $100, I’d say worth it if I were a mac person, it has lots of great stuff on it, but I don’t have anything that can run on a mac, not without wasting tons of space, I personally have a Dell E1705 and a high end graphics card, and do lots of 3d stuff, stuff I can’t do on a mac, unless I did have leopard and bootcamp.. hmm

Anyways though, while bootcamp does support native running for windows apps, it is also that more expensive.

Like I said before, it’s far cheaper to get a used macbook white or refurbished at a store, and upgrade from there.

Hope this helps !

I dont want a refurbished one or one off eBay. Its like a car. I am definitely not getting a used car. I am to good for that. Just Kidding. Anyway, I customized my own MacBook and this is what I picked:

Specifications

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM – 2×1GB
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
iWork ‘08 preinstalled
Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide
AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth

Which came out to: 1,378 which is not bad for a Mac.

Okay well just for reference, I just went through dell, made a 17” laptop, 2.5GHz, 4GB ram, 320GB HD, CD/DVD RW, comes with Office, can buy bluetooth for literally $20 for it, I’m about to in the next few weeks, and costs $1,349

Faster, way more space, can easily put leopard on it (http://dailyapps.net/2007/12/hack-attack-install-leopard-on-your-pc-in-just-one-step/), has twice as much RAM for if you ever want or need it… and 4 more inches of screen space…

I mean if you want it for the looks then go right ahead, that’s what you seem to want it for so far, but if you’re worried about your parents not paying for it, then don’t put .4 GHz faster core in it which raises the price that much, for a difference you will seriously no joke hardly notice. It’s a mac, you can’t run enough on it to slow it down.

Well I chose not to upgrade anything because I dont need:

4 GB of RAM 200 extra
250 GB Hard Drive 100 extra
Apple Cinema Display (20” flat panel) [Add $599]
Apple Cinema HD Display (23” flat panel) [Add $899]
Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter [Add $19]
Apple Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter [Add $19]
Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter [Add $49]
Apple USB Modem [Add $49]
Apple Remote [Add $19]
Final Cut Express preinstalled [Add $199]
Aperture preinstalled [Add $199]
Logic Express preinstalled [Add $199]
Keyboard (Western Spanish) / User’s Guide
HP Photosmart C4280 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier [Add $99.95]
HP Photosmart C4385 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier [Add $129.95]
HP Photosmart C7280 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier [Add $299.95]
1-year family pack [Add $149.95]
AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Air/MacBook – Auto-enroll [Add $249]

I dont need all that and boot camp is only $60 its not expensive at all.

My dad’s theory was that if I wasn’t willing to meet him halfway, I didn’t want it that badly and I didn’t deserve it. He was right.

kool thn i’ll try that cuz i have the money

You’re trying to compare apples and oranges here…people don’t buy macs for value, they buy them for functionality, status and the Mac OS and its interoperability with the iPod and iTunes. I wish people would stop nickel-and-diming and realize they are not the same as PC laptops. Best bet is a recent model of MacBook and max out the RAM. You do need to consider all the apps you plan on using ad the specs of laptops vary according to their purpose (MacBook Pros are geared toward the pro apps).

ok thanks sndfreQ

BTW I understand why you want a Mac. Good Luck.

ok anyway i need to max out the RAM, the price is high enough already. So I can upgrade it later. I even checked. plus maybe RAM prices will go down later

no… no you set ram as cheap as possible when you buy online because it’s most expensive comming out of the company itself, you can buy RAM as cheap as all get out at other stores, and it will be the EXACT SAME THING as in it.
4GB RAM online is an extra $300

for your 2.4GHz macbook white, you can buy the exact same ram, 4GB of it, here for $120.
http://www.edgetechcorp.com/memory/upgrade.asp?cid=33277

I don’t think you understand what you’re looking for, you won’t be using that much RAM unless you’re working with A: graphics of any sorts (and I’m talking graphics the size, or larger than poster boards, 25,000×25,000 px files or larger, B: 3d (i’ve yet to see anyone work in 3d on a mac, but that’s just me, or C: anything in any large business that requires huge files to be processed, and by the sounds of it you won’t be doing anything much on a macbook at all compared to what people buy them to get out of them.

I’m just trying to get you to understand that all that extra money you’re spending isn’t going to get you anywhere that a normal mac you bought used.. wouldn’t.
if you really need a macbook… that bad in the first place.

so what are you trying to say @XCNuse

he’s saying your spending money on things you’re not going to use, money should be well spent and you need to realise why you’re getting it, im getting a macbook pro soon, and i just keep the initial 2 gb, i mean, im not using it for extreme performance, are you?

Buy a refurb Macbook. Not like buying a used car. All mine are refurbs, and come with the same warranty, directly from the retailer.

Get your RAM from a 3rd Party. I recommend MemoryX.

Listen to the words I’m telling you, its for your own good.

(tangentially related)

I bought my son a refurb 8GB iPhone for $249 at the AT & T store. Sure, it didn’t come in the black iPhone box, and it’s refurb… but it was $151 cheaper than the brand new one and it works the same.

sigh

As a kid, my weekly allowance of money that my Dad gave me before I was old enough to work was ten cents. Computers did not exist. You know your parents & you already know what you need to do to get them to get you a new Mac. If you know that they will never get you one, then they won’t!