Buying first Macbook

I honestly don't know what "wireless" problems people are talking about.

I've had my MacBook for 8 months now. 8 months. I've had not a SINGLE problem with wireless. In fact, I've a great story about Mac's and wireless that I love to tell:

Went to a hotel that had wireless. On the desk is instructions on how to get on the wireless network. A whole page of instructions is devoted to Windows users. A half page is devoted to linux uses.

At the very bottom is one sentence: "If you are using a Mac, turn on your computer and when it asks if you want to join the network, say "yes."

:-D That was it. And that's all it ever is for me. I go ALL over the place. Libraries, cafes, universities, hotels...and I have never yet had a problem getting on a wireless network. Usually, all I have to do is say, "Yes" when my computer asks me if I want to be on the network. No hastle, no problem, no effort, no worries. It works like a charm.

People have had problems with both the Airport Express and the Airport Extreme base station. I have an Extreme and my MacBook won't play nice with it unless it's in the same room, although my iBook and iMac will work with it anywhere.

But Apple is introducing a new Extreme that uses the new "n" wireless technology. The Airport cards in the new MacBooks are apparently designed to work with this new technology — you'll be able to enable them to "n" later. I'm not a techie, so I don't really know much about that. If you scroll through the Internet and Networking forums for the MacBook you'll find people discussing the issue.

The MacBook will come with Quicktime, which is OK for watching clips. I use VLC myself, which you can download for free. It plays pretty much everything, including stuff Quicktime won't, and has more features.







iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

The wireless problems are documented on the MacBook Internet and Networking forum and the MacBook Pro Internet and Networking forum.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the problems are mainly with the MacBook Core 2 Duo computers, especially those running OS 10.4.8. I don't believe your computer fits into that category.

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

in response to JE13 you have an original core duo machine like me and some of the complaints have been for the core 2 duo machine.

Back to the topic of external drives. If you look around and see what takes your fancy. Just have a look at customer reviews and drives that meet your price range. The apple store stock a few different drives and if people have reviewed them then look on there. If you do see a LaCie drive on the apple store that your after then i recommend that you check the price for buying direct as i'm pretty sure its definately cheaper.