What computer should I get?

Both sellers (both girls) said they bought them in 2014, is this is a terrible idea?

With Macs, I tend to buy new, use for 5 years, and sell in order to buy new again. The issue with buying a 2012 laptop is that you're looking at needing to have the battery serviced in less than 2 years at a cost of ~$175. I'd pay $750 for the MBP you linked.

If you can afford it, buy new, buy directly from Apple, buy Applecare.

If you can't afford it, hit 9to5mac.com, wait for one of their blowout/refurb deals to show up.
 
It used to be that Macs were the go to for graphic design and audio engineering, but really the playing field is pretty level now and it's what you feel comfortable with.

Many Win based computers can be more powerful than their Mac counterparts as there's a wider array of hardware available.

Where Macs do well is they limit your choices: you don't get to choose the hardware components, so they can write their OS to work on the specific hardware. This means that the OS is going to be a little more lightweight and agile. Also, you won't have to worry about drivers and configuration like you would with a Windows PC.

To me, it boils down to:

If you want to tinker and want more control, at the risk that you might break something, or you might have to work more to support it. Get Windows.

If you don't mind sacrificing control, for something that requires less maintenance, and just works brilliantly. Get a Mac.
 
Mac/GarageBand is a great and simple format.

Buy the computer and the program is included.



But,............... I guess I already said that in March :)
 
Too late!

I bought a used mid 2012 13' pro with the 2.5hz, 8gig, 500gig. It was purchased in 2014 and there's not a mark on it. I just copied my massive pop song mp3 collection (about 300 songs for work) in about 1 minute flat, I'm already impressed.

Kamak, I took your advice and hunted around and I could see there were some going for $750 in the city (which would mean a day driving around), so I offered $900 and she took it. I think our retail prices are much higher in Aus, I would have paid $2,200 if I bought one of the same spec brand new.. this has only been used for about 1.5 years so I think $900 is pretty good, so long as nothing goes wrong with it.
 
took your advice and hunted around and I could see there were some going for $750 in the city (which would mean a day driving around), so I offered $900 and she took it.

Congratulations and welcome!

Take your time, set it up with your accounts. Ping if you need help getting Garageband to do your bidding.
 
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