[fk6160]

In prep for (hopefully) B-School, I'm looking to shed my 3-yr. old PowerMac G5 with a portable. The question is whether to go with the MB or the MBP.

Here's what I'll likely be doing with this machine:

Internet/E-Mail/iTunes/DVD playback: 50%
Office Productivity (may move from NeoOffice to Office 2008 or iWork '08): 30%
Coding: 8%
Photo Editing: 7% (nothing heavy)
Video Editing: 5% (but never typically anything heavy)

FireWire800 would be nice, but not necessary, to connect to an external HD.
2GB of RAM is a must, just so I can prolong a RAM upgrade.
160GB HD space will do nicely, too.
I'd rather not spend more than $2,000, but am willing to do so if I get a lot for it that I'll find useful.

[tbsteph]

From what you describe a Macbook would meet your needs. The MB comes with 1gb of memory. Try it in that configuration for awhile. You can always add more memory later down the road.

[moose_n_squirrel]

Your needs are well within MacBook territory, and even if you sprung for a black MacBook with a 250GB drive upgrade and a full 4GB RAM upgrade from OWC you would come in $350 below your $2000 budget. If you go for one of the white MacBooks you will spend less than $1500.

[fk6160]

Do you recommend I purchase it at the Apple Store? or go through MacMall? Also, my budget also takes the ExtraCare plan into consideration.

[smax013]

fk6160 said:

Do you recommend I purchase it at the Apple Store? or go through MacMall? Also, my budget also takes the ExtraCare plan into consideration.

If you want to customize it at all (i.e. upgrade RAM with purchase or upgrade hard drive, etc), then usually the Apple Store is the best choice.



If you are looking at price as the driving factor, then you might want to consider Amazon. They usually have rebates for Macs ($75 for MacBook and $150 for MacBook Pro right now, I believe). You cannot custom order...they only have default/base models.