Computer advice please.

2.5 GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz)
Cache 3MB shared L3 cache
Memory 4GB (2x2GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000
Storage1 500GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm
Optical drive 8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Wireless Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11n specification)2 Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
Expansion One Thunderbolt port (up to 10 Gbps), one FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps), Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps), one SDXC card slot
Video and Audio FaceTime HD camera; Thunderbolt port with support for DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI, and HDMI (requires adapters, sold separately)

Stereo speakers with subwoofer, omnidirectional microphone, headphone port (Support for Apple iPhone headset with remote and microphone).
Size and weight Height: .95 inches (2.41 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight (standard configuration): 4.5 pounds (2.06 kg)3

Not knowing anything about pooters is this ok for general use? It’s a mac book pro.

Yes its OK, It’s last years model. Depends if you want a mac though

Small hard drive

Ooooh, Turbo Boost. Very 80’s.

Small hard drive means what?
In a motorcycle analogy is this a BMW R45? ie from a good company , looks like a big bike but is really under powered?

Unless you’re storing a lot of big files i.e. raw photo images or something I’d say that 500GB is plenty big enough. Quite a slow drive but fine for general use.

Would 3000 songs on iTunes fill it up ?

No. Nowhere near.

Personally, i wouldn’t buy a Macbook, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t. That processor is a few generations old now, and the HDD will be pretty slow in comparison to the more recent SSDs.

That said, it’ll be plenty good enough for “general use”, assuming you mean internet surfing…

Edit – Dr Google reckons the processor might not be a few generations old…

We currently have an ipad and a 6 year old laptop so if it works as well as an ipad we’d be happy.

My MacBook is about 5yrs old now and was the basic model at the time so a much lower spec than that. Though it’s much slower to boot up and shut down now compared when it was new (I’ve updated operating system which is probably pushing it) it’s still as quick as my newish work PC running Win7 once up and running so is plenty good enough for normal use and light video editing. It’s got a 250gb HDD but I’ve a NAS drive to store my iTunes. The best thing is in that 5 yrs it’s never frozen, failed, required rebooting, crashed, caught a virus or needed any maintenance whatsoever. It’s a white good like my washing machine. I just switch it on and it works. No need to become a computer expert just to keep it ticking over – though to be fair Windows 7 seems to be a lot better than previous versions of Windows.

2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Built-in battery (7 hours)2

So this one is £999 new is the first one better than this?

What will you actually do with it? It’s quite a lot of processor, not an awful lot of ram, and limited graphics so chances are it’s either going to be far more pc than you need (for most people’s normal everyday use) or not enough.

If you want basically an mp3 player, typewriter and email box you could do all that very well for a third of the money.

A MacBook Air could be worth a look, depending on what you’re doing with it. The hard drives aren’t massive in the Airs, but you’ll get better battery life, and they have SSDs in them which means they’ll be pretty rapid. However, you can’t upgrade a MacBook Air aftermarket so how you buy it is how it stays.

If, as the others have said though, you only want it for general use (web browsing, emails, iTunes, etc) then you really don’t a CPU as big as in that model, and you’ll probably find the computer feels more responsive if you were to go for something with a smaller CPU, but an SSD instead.

CPU, ssd? You’ve lost me there!
Just want to make cds from iTunes. Surf the web and store pictures.
So is the first one best or last?

So this one is £999 new is the first one better than this?

Looks exactly the same to me from what you’ve posted.

EDIT so no-one else nicks it whilst you make up your mind 🙂

It will be a good computer but as others have said probably overkill for what you want to do. If you want a Mac though (and they are great) you won’t get one cheaper than that unless you buy one second hand.

The refurb is the one we are about to click on.

CPU, ssd? You’ve lost me there!
Just want to make cds from iTunes. Surf the web and store pictures.
So is the first one best or last?

Realistically a 300GBP cheapo Windows laptop will do that fine, too. Assuming you want a Mac and can afford it, click away. (I’d probably go for an Air, though – just as capable of doing what you want, and faster…)

(I’d probably go for an Air, though – just as capable of doing what you want, and faster…)

except for the fact he’d need to have an external drive for making his CDs which might be a ballache in the long run

Just want to make cds from iTunes. Surf the web and store pictures.

I wouldn’t buy Mac then – very expensive, you could get a fine laptop for half that money.

Surfing the web and general use take up hardly any CPU power, any computer can do that. Whether or not the HD is too small depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to store movies then 500GB won’t last long. If you want to store pictures, assuming you have an everyday camera and the pics are say 500KB each, it’s loads. Your software might take up 200GB of that disk at most, leaving 300GB which, if you took 100 pictures a week would take 115 years to fill.

except for the fact he’d need to have an external drive for making his CDs which might be a ballache in the long run

Yeah, but having an external drive is pretty handy for backups anyway.

Yes, about 10 years ago 🙂

Anyway HDs are easiliy upgradeable, so if you fill it you can get another.

Yes, about 10 years ago

🙂

If we’re talking about the “cloud”, that’s all the more reason to get an Air isn’t it?

Yeah, but having an external drive is pretty handy for backups anyway.

He means an external CD drive 😉

He means an external CD drive

D’oh! 😳

Assumed he was ripping CDs to iTunes, not the other way round!

it’s an exceptionally expensive way of getting what you want, the processor is old but overkill, the HDD is slow and small in comparison to what a PC of the same price would offer. If you want a mac buy it if not head down cheap pc road and save your cash

Us having to get a man out to fix our laptop once or twice a year is not cost effective.
Being a total numpty I tried to open up our breakdown policy and all kinds of crap came through and took out our WiFi.
We’ve had no issues with our ipads so trying to take the most fool proof route.
Ps our business is paying for it.

If you do buy the Mac remember you can use Quidco, etc for 3% cashback.

Or if you know a student get them to buy it for you and get the student discount.

Might have some difficulty putting it through the books in that case though 🙂

Do know a student but need to claim VAT back.