tearing hair out…

By gum, there are no bargains in Mac world are there? Don't know what the number of households with five Macs might be, but I bet it's considerably smaller than the number of those with two. I guess this pricing structure is designed to tip me away from the repair option and towards the new purchase option. Being a bit of a cussed old soul, the actual effect it is having on me is the opposite. I've found a local specialist near Bath (which is just a few miles away from me), he's going to assess my existing machine at no cost. I will pass on all the information I have received from you guys on macosx.com. I really cannot thank you enough. Best wishes Tony
 
iWork is a very good suite. I've used Keynote for my job (teacher) for years. It's superior to PowerPoint in many ways, including visual quality and excellent themes. Pages is a solid word processor that does indeed export to Microsoft Word. I would use it more if I could set the default file format to Word format instead of Pages' native format. Exporting involves doing a 'Save As', which allows you to save a copy in Microsoft Word format. I mainly use Microsoft Word 2008 from Office: Mac 2008 because I've been using Word for almost two decades. Tony, after you use Snow Leopard for a while I think you may actually decide that $49 for multiple licenses is a bargain because of the improvements Snow Leopard has made over your current operating system. Good luck!
 
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I think our Mac histories are quite close! I too have been using Word since the year dot –*the only difference is I've been using it as a journalist for over thirty years. Your assessments of iWork and Snow Leopard are tempting me, I must admit. I will see what my local expert says tomorrow, and will report back his findings for the benefit of others who may have had a similar experience to me. Once again, many thanks. Best wishes, Tony.
 
Tonym911, where are you at now?

I too just upgraded at Macbook 1.83 Ghz to Snow Leopard. For some reason my Mail program could not be made to launch. I had to purchase the memory and install before I could upgrade (if you decide to replace the memory I have a tale of caution to share). I purchase the 5 pack of software as my "family" has this many macs. Do you have any other people in your extended "family" that would justify the family pack? Even with only two computers the upgrade price ix $25 per machine.

You should figure out a way to backup your files regardless, in case your hard drive is getting close to dying. And if you get a new Mac you can get your important documents to the new machine.

If you decide to purchase a new Mac, consider donating your current mac to a school. They should have the parts (spare memory) and an OS license and could restore the system to full operation. I did this with an old powerbook with a broken screen, they had extra screens and free labor that could repair this computer.
 
Hi Cam, excellent post, thanks! This morning I'm taking the MacBook to a local specialist for assessment. From what's happened so far it's likely I'll have to go down a similar route to yourself: memory upgrade, Snow Leopard. In which case I would definitely be interested to hear your memory story! We do have two Macs in the house so in a way we're worst-placed form a value perspective to go for the multi-license option, but them's the breaks I guess. If the MacBook is beyond financial redemption I love your idea of giving it to a school. I'm not sure if British schools are as well equipped to fix Macs as US ones seem to be, but my partner works in the local secondary school so she'll be able to find out. Many thanks for your kind and thoughtful contribution. Best wishes Tony
 
Quick update: MacBook is with local specialist now, should have diagnosis in next couple of days. I will post the results when I have them.
best wishes to all
Tony
 
I hope the specialist does the memory upgrade for you. The "story" is that the cover plate over the memory (you remove the battery to find this) and even though I have a good collection of "jewelers" screw drivers, I did not have one that fit well. Once I got this off there are "ejection levers" one for each memory slot. Of course one of the lever broke so now I had to figure out how to remove. You can reach them memory card with a needle nose pliers but the space is limited so you need special ones with the ends bent at 90 degrees. For this I had to go to Best Buy (US retailer of electronics) and their "Geek Squad" who had the pliers. I had previously purchase the memory at Best Buy so they helped remove and install the new memory for free.

So if possible have your consultant do this for you. I have replace memory for decades on various computers including Macs. But never a Mac laptop. I guess the space is so valuable you can't afford to put a robust lever system into each laptop (the majority of which will never have the user replace memory).

The other thing to look at, is the battery. On my wife's Macbook (only one year newer than my daughters) we noticed the battery was "bulging". The Li ion batter can fail in a manner where a gas is evolved and this gas builds up and literally distorts the battery plastic housing. So we went to the apple store and got that fixed for free (Apple needs to get these replaced before they rupture and possibly catch fire). They were quite anxious to give us a new battery.
 
OK, the specialist is running the tests right now. He says he has located seven 'bad blocks' on the hard drive so far, and it has been showing '3 minutes remaining' for the last half hour of his test so he thinks he's hit the bad part of the drive. He is recommending replacement of the hard drive at these costs: 250GB drive for £159 ($255) fitted; 320GB drive for £179 ($287) fitted; or 500GB drive for £199 ($319) fitted. Plus £40 ($64) for 2GB RAM upgrade and £25 ($64) for Snow Leopard.
All thoughts or comments gratefully received…
best to all
Tony
 
My own thoughts are (a) that I don't need more than 250Gb for the hard drive, and (b) is it sensible to spend over £200 ($320) patching up an old MacBook when I could get a nearly new replacement on ebay for about £500 ($800) and keep the old one as a family spare.
 
Replacing the hard drive yourself in a MacBook is a cake-walk, even for the inexperienced. Those prices seem to be consistent with someone doing the work for you, but if you do it yourself, you can do it for half that price (or lower).

For example, a 250GB hard drive for the MacBook can be had for under $100:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewPr...7&cm_re=250gb_2.5_sata-_-22-136-387-_-Product

Of course, you may already have some money invested with this repair specialist, so depending on what's already happened, it may be financially prudent to let them go ahead and put the drive in for you... or, perhaps, purchase the drive yourself, then bring it to them and only have them charge you for labor for installing the drive.
 
Hi ElDiablo, yes, these prices do include labour. I would be unhappy about doing the work myself, I have a knack of making a hash of things like this. I'm just totally in two minds about the choice of spending £200+ on an old machine or £500-ish on a newer one. Drive scan is now up to 10 bad blocks apparently.
 
tonym911 said:
Hi ElDiablo, yes, these prices do include labour. I would be unhappy about doing the work myself, I have a knack of making a hash of things like this. I'm just totally in two minds about the choice of spending £200+ on an old machine or £500-ish on a newer one. Drive scan is now up to 10 bad blocks apparently.
Click to expand...

I thought you said earlier this machine also had a bad optical drive as well? Is this including getting the optical drive done as well, or are you still going to have a machine with a non functioning optical drive. Just take that into consideration.
 
Hi djackmac, yes I thought the DVD drive was kaput but the specialist stuck a DVD in there (braver than me!) and it not only took it OK, it was reading it too. He reckoned the r/h side of the keyboard had been leant on at some point, squishing the padding in the slot somewhat. The brown discolourations around the slot and some of the keys could well be food-related as the kids seem to see the MacBook as a kind of auxiliary dinner plate, despite my best efforts to persuade them otherwise.

Plan C, which I've sort of ignored up to now, would be to get a PC netbook like the new Samsung. They're only £200 or so over here and seemingly well regarded. Trouble is of course, they're not Macs, but it's hard to ignore the price difference. I wish Macs were a bit friendlier on the wallet. Apple makes it hard for disciples like me to keep the faith.
 
tonym911 said:
He reckoned the r/h side of the keyboard had been leant on at some point, squishing the padding in the slot somewhat.
Click to expand...

The macbooks are pretty popular for that. Apple really should have reinforced the upper lip of the optical drive slot on the bottom case instead of using the soft aluminum they used. But it can be "reformed" by removing the top case and optical drive then I wedge 2 nylon probe tools in the slot and let it sit overnight then reassemble an its usually fine after that.
 
The specialist guy just stuck a coin in there and twisted it, seemed to work. It's a combo drive apparently, not an optical one.
Anyway, I'm at decision time now. Bad block count is at 16 and specialist guy has stopped the scan at that point on the grounds that it could go on for days. He's booting my machine from his external drive and there is no beachballing which confirms his diagnosis of a faulty hard drive. The repair is going to cost £229 for a new 250Gb drive, Snow Leopard and 2GB RAM upgrade (up from 512Mb).
Do I take this course, or abandon the Mac fold (on behalf of the family –*I'll still be using my MacBook Pro of course!) and just buy a Samsung netbook for about the same money? Hmm...
 
It really is quite easy to replace the hard drive yourself. You can get a 500 GB, 7200 rpm (fastest) 2.5 " notebook hard drive for less than USD100. What is that, about 70 pounds? You'll take the bottom off your MacBook, the user-detachable part, unplug the hard drive (1 plug) and plug in the new one. Be sure to find and follow online instructions, such as: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...R7-gcsQ8dgQQwwteg&sig2=lH3ST0vHmf5vcXHHp1owCw or www.ifixit.com Trust us, it's not hard and the likelihood of you breaking something is very low. Just touch something metal before you begin work. Remember that the super-cheap netbooks have tiny screens, cramped keyboards and are slow, slow, slow. Plus, as you've mentioned, they're not Macs. Just some thoughts for you to ponder.
 
If www.newegg.com sells to Europe, I'd check there or Amazon for hard drives if you decide to go that route. Remember that it must be a 2.5 " SATA notebook drive (9.5 mm). You'll want at least 320GB and 7200 rpm.
 
Thanks ex2bot. I've taken the easy way out, I'm afraid, 250Gb hard drive plus 4Gb RAM upgrade and 10.5 for £199 fitted/all in. I know it's the dear way of doing it but I also know it's the safe way and my workload over the next two weeks also means it's the most time-efficient way. Thanks to you and to everyone else for the time and thought that you have put in for me, it is massively appreciated.
best wishes
Tony
 
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