Purchasing a Macbook in the US

[Lunar Humps]

A friend is going to Houston on business for a short while has offered to do some shopping on my behalf. I've long been tempted by a Mac, specifically the black Macbook. If I buy a US Macbook (about £750 at present rates), what should I watch out for? Obviously the power adaptor will need to be replaced, but what about the OS, support, etc? Any advice much appreciated.

SM

 

[BlackSentoki]

There's actually not that much to watch out for, to be honest. Try and ensure your friend buys from an Apple Store, if possible, as that may make any return/warranty issues easier if there are problems (although I imagine it won't matter that much).

A few points:

1) You will have a US English keyboard rather than a UK English keyboard. Is this likely to be a problem for you?

2) Re: the power adapter, if you have any UK Mac power adapter then you will already have the slide-on plug that you need to use the US adapter in the UK (all Macbook power supplies are 110V-240V).

3) I strongly recommend getting Applecare. Yes, it's an extended warranty, but it is worldwide and you will be able to have your Macbook serviced at any Apple store in the world. You can get Applecare in the UK, when the Macbook returns, if necessary.

4) Your friend might want to take the Macbook out of its packaging for the trip home, then mail the packaging and receipt to you... just in case he gets stopped at customs and wants to pretend he didn't buy the laptop whilst he was away.

5) You'll have no problems with the OS and languages (aside from the keyboard point above) - OSX is natively multilingual.

 

[Lunar Humps]

Great response - many thanks.

As a Mac virgin, the US keyboard wont be an issue, as I'll be adjusting to many, many new and different functions!

I have a spare iPod adaptor with the removal pins, will that fit the Macbook adaptor?

 

[BlackSentoki]

Great response - many thanks.

As a Mac virgin, the US keyboard wont be an issue, as I'll be adjusting to many, many new and different functions!

I have a spare iPod adaptor with the removal pins, will that fit the Macbook adaptor?

Yes, the removal pins should just slot onto the power adapter - do this all the time when I'm travelling with my Macbook.

If it's your first Mac then you're in for quite an experience. I run both Macs and PCs at home, but find that I've slowly but surely migrated to using my Mac for everything except for games. Takes a while to get used to OSX, but once you do it's great. You might want your friend to pick you up a copy of Microsoft Office for Mac (just the home edition will do) at the same time as getting the Macbook.