Quick one, and no doubt its not possible knowing Apple.  Im going to order my Girlfriend a MacBook for christmas, and im looking at the basic one for her.  However I would prefer it to have a "proper" DVD Writer in there, ive looked at Apples site, and it appears they do the specs and thats it, anyone know if its possible to order with the DVD drive added in as well rather than stumping up the extra £200 for the damned thing?

Unfortunately not

I agree its a bit crap but it is one of the very few bad things about the bottom spec one.

Two things I will say..

1.) Dont be put off, the macbook is an amazing laptop and leapord is a dream to use. One of my mates and my girlfriend have just bought macbooks and they are both total converts within a few days.

2.) For just over 30quid you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB from crucial. Rather than the 90quid that apple charge. Installing it is painless (apple provide you instructions in the box) and then you can sell the 2x512 sticks that come with it.

Quote from: cornetUnfortunately not

I agree its a bit crap but it is one of the very few bad things about the bottom spec one.

Two things I will say..

1.) Dont be put off, the macbook is an amazing laptop and leapord is a dream to use. One of my mates and my girlfriend have just bought macbooks and they are both total converts within a few days.

2.) For just over 30quid you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB from crucial. Rather than the 90quid that apple charge. Installing it is painless (apple provide you instructions in the box) and then you can sell the 2x512 sticks that come with it.

im not put off, but an extra £200 for an extra 40Gb of storage and a DVD writer seems a bit steep.  Ill be upgrading the RAM at some point no doubt, but i think ill get the basic model and add an External DVD Writer for £30, as shell only want to write DVDs at home.  the Combo drive is fine for normal usage.  £35 for a DVD Writer + £35 for 2Gb of RAM doesnt really stack up does it?

Quote from: Beakerim not put off, but an extra £200 for an extra 40Gb of storage and a DVD writer seems a bit steep.  Ill be upgrading the RAM at some point no doubt, but i think ill get the basic model and add an External DVD Writer for £30, as shell only want to write DVDs at home.  the Combo drive is fine for normal usage.  £35 for a DVD Writer + £35 for 2Gb of RAM doesnt really stack up does it?

Sounds like a plan to me

What I was going to suggest but never got around to it.

For the record the bottom of the range macbook has/had some issues.

Ive gone through two due to things on the board desoldering themselves under flex.  There is a known problem with the boards flexing inside the case while in bags (just be careful with it)  The solution is clamping the thing to a desk with massive pressure to force the graphics chip into the sockets.  There is a design flaw in the older model (no camera in the lid).

Mabnufacturing faults aside they were great laptops for everyday use.  Particularly liked the smallest 12" one.

Its hit a few people I know and know several people with dead white cased mac laptops.  Not sure if theyve fixed the layout problem yet or not.  Id assume they have tbh but it was there for a long time.

Quote from: SteveFFor the record the bottom of the range macbook has/had some issues.

Ive gone through two due to things on the board desoldering themselves under flex.  There is a known problem with the boards flexing inside the case while in bags (just be careful with it)  The solution is clamping the thing to a desk with massive pressure to force the graphics chip into the sockets.  There is a design flaw in the older model (no camera in the lid).

Mabnufacturing faults aside they were great laptops for everyday use.  Particularly liked the smallest 12" one.

Its hit a few people I know and know several people with dead white cased mac laptops.  Not sure if theyve fixed the layout problem yet or not.  Id assume they have tbh but it was there for a long time.

They just updated the old macbook series havent they, I like my new macbook pro though so far in terms of hardware, for the spec etc far better then most other ones just for the weight and size and power charger not being a brick etc