Is it time to get a refurbed early 2008 2,4ghz macbook?

supamonsta · Post by **supamonsta** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:03 pm

Hi, just a kind of poll:

should I get now a 2,4ghz early 2008 macbook at the refurb store, when it is still available, and subscribe a 3years applecare (that I do own, but not registered yet), so I can still have my favorite gig station, that is macbook+FIREWIRE ultralite+padkontrol/faderfox, for 3 more safe years?

my macbook is now 2 years old, I have no more warranty, and it's been used a lot, I work on it since 2 years as my main computer AND live machine.

I could replace the old drive by the new macbook one, that I could replace with a 7200rpm 320gb new hd bomb...

and finally get a good home studio computer (2,4Gz dualcore + 4Gb ram + 320Gb 7200rpm HD) and a good live lappie (2Ghz dualcore + 3Gb ram + 160Gb 5400rpm HD). and when the "old" one dies... I have the new one to gig with...

I do not want to have to replace my ultralite, just because one day my macbook could "die" and the new alu macbooks have omitted to keep on providing FIREWIRE...

I don't want of a macbook pro, I like the little sized macbooks a lot !

cheers and merry christmas to all of you

4ace · Post by **4ace** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:23 pm

I would if i were in your position.

I'm not a fan of the new models unfortunately....

Atomikat · Post by **Atomikat** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:31 pm

I've had a refurb Macbook Pro for about 2 years and never had a problem...it's my monster machine. I don't like the new firewireless Macs , neither.

pulsoc · Post by **pulsoc** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:18 am

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:56 am

abso-fucking-lutely, mate.

RobertX · Post by **RobertX** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:56 am

I recently purchased an early 2008 2.6 MacBook Pro refurb. It's nice to have FL Studio running on VMware.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:10 am

You mentioned the dreaded 'F' word !!

And on the Live forum ... Shame on you

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:56 am

aren't the 2008's lacking firewire ports?

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:01 am

I'm still on a first generation MBP and its still working perfectly, though the casing has been totally battered and dented ( i also dropped it a few weeks ago ) . Thinking of buying a new mac in the new year... Thinking of getting an imac... and keeping the laptop for djing or what not. My dad got a brilliant deal from the refurb part of apples site recently so i might just keep my eye on that... saw one the other day for around 25% off.

Is it possible to clone the disk/system and move it to the new mac? I really can't be fannied downloading all the plugins, add ons, installers, inputting keys etc as it would take me blooddy ages to configure the thing the way i like it. Would just like to attach this to the new one and move the whole system over.

steved · Post by **steved** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:00 am

There have been some very good refurb deals on mb's and mbp's recently. I bought a macbook - £650.00 - but have been disappointed by the video performance - the fan becomes v. noisy at the merest hint of any rapid movement - even the screen saver sends it crazy.

I wish I'd have held out and gone for a mbp - often 35% off - e.g

15inch display
2GB memory
200GB hard drive
Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 Memory
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight Camera

not forgetting - firewire 800, expansion slot, dual dvi link , backlit keyboard

..... all for £880.00.

If you want one - log on early - they don't last long.

I'm still considering getting one of them and selling the mb on.

suspended childhood · Post by **suspended childhood** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:23 pm

get a clearance one!

I got a clearance last gen 15" MBP and match my existing last gen 15" MBP a few weeks ago...brand new sitting in some warehouse somewhere...not a refurb.

it rocks.

wilxon · Post by **wilxon** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:42 pm

Johnisfaster wrote:aren't the 2008's lacking firewire ports?

they have firewire 800 - interface is exactly the same, just an extra 2 pins (i think its 2) so you can get adaptor leads on amazon easy enough.

so dont worry about your fire wire ing, more stable with daisy chained FW deices

CR78 · Post by **CR78** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:25 am

CLEARANCE, CLEARANCE, CLEARANCE

And also get the extra 10% off(eductaional discount) if you doing anything remotely connected to teaching, taking a class.

The Apple sales person asked me the above and I had told her I had done a couple oil painting demonstrations at the local city college...

Bingo, DISCOUNT.

Sweet deal.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 8:08 am

Yes, just watch out for a bug on the video card that makes black stripes appear at random on your screen that happens on many of the early 2008 (this is the case for mine). Apple doesn't change the video card unless it happens when they've got it for repair...

supamonsta · Post by **supamonsta** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:50 pm

madlab wrote:Yes, just watch out for a bug on the video card that makes black stripes appear at random on your screen that happens on many of the early 2008

never heard about that, crappy news...

anyway thanks for all your posts, I still don't know what to do but I guess time is becoming shorter and shorter... (on the refurb 2008 2,4 macbooks are sold soons as they appear!!!)

I feel strange about buying a second macbook, even if it is to get extra 0,4ghz power, ability to load 4gb ram and 3 years applecare...

macbook pros still don't attract me, if I had enough $$ I'd like a more powerful desktop like a 3,06ghz imac.

But like somebody else on this forum (don't remember the pseudo), I feel a bit afraid of seeing my macbook dying for some reasons (2 years instensive use, home studio and live gig)... and my ultralite will always need firewire.

aaaaah, difficult decision indeed. and I have to decide quickly now.

thanks again,

best regards