Decisions decisions...and questions!

What would you rather get? A base macbook pro for 1749 euro, or a blackbook, 4 gigs of ram, apple remote, sleeve, .mac subscription, and 8 gig ipod touch for the same price...

Would you be willing to lose a dedicated video card, backlit keyboard, and led screen with slightly more resolution for all those extra things?

I am torn right now, basically that is all I am allowing myself to spend, both are enticing options to be honest.

Oh yeah, some questions I have:

1. The only way to access educational discount in europe is through the online apple store?

2. The refurb macs, only online as well?

 

a base macbook pro.

 

What he said. RAM is cheap, and the 8GB iPod Touch won't make your MacBook look any less plastic. (Ouch, sorry, snobbery at work!)

 

Depends on what you're doing, right . Like I have a desktop for gaming, so I don't need heavy graphics power on my notebook. Therefore, I'd rather have a black MacBook plus iPod Touch...but yeah, depends on what you need and such .

 

Well, gaming is nice and all, but it just takes away so much of my time that I'm debating wether or not to take the plunge. My career, volleyball training and university courses are kicking into high gear now, not to mention that I am pretty much going away on any long weekend (or longer) that we get, so a lot of traveling, a lot to do, and love life... lol... well let's just say that I don't think I will be gaming much...hahah.

STILL! the mbp is a lot sexier than the macbook, but 400 euros... I don't know. Might be too much money to pay for just looks. I would consider an air, it has the looks of the mbp, but nicer overall, cheaper, etc, but not sure about that one. Hence my dilemma.

 

Not just looks. Better screen (higher res and just generally better, especially since it's LED-lit), illuminated keyboard, sexier, prettier, umm, cooler, err..... it's silver... and um.... it has one more word in its name?

 

i would still get the base mbp... since now it does come with 256 video memory standard. because if i got a macbook i would regret not getting the mbp just incase i wanted to do some gaming once in a while... plus i love mine!

 

So in the end the choice is too personal I think (in this case since you don't have a special/specific use for it). But somewhere between the lines from your story you kinda already made the choice not to go for the MBP. So now you only have to choose between a Blackbook and ... oh... a new choice : MBA:confused2:
"Decisions decisions"

 

I'm of the opinion especially if your life is busy is to get the system that cannot game because in the end the temptation to waste your time when you know you should be more productive is gone and at the same-time the Black Macbook is a fantastic machine...... Although personally I still like the white one over the black! Less SMUDGES!

 

Exactly!!! When I had a mbp my grades went down about 15 to 20%, I would procrastinate so much it was amazing. Not very good use of my time. It's hard to choose though, I prefer the look of the mbp, but the mb is what I should get, mostly due to fear of putting off other things to game (I have no self control). The mba seems to be the middle ground, cheaper than the mbp, enough power for normal tasks but not enough to game, looks awesome, etc etc. But idk. I hate apple.

 

haha yeah seriously I got the MBA because I was gaming too much on the MBP. I'm not in school anymore but frankly there's much more productive tasks with computers then grinding through WoW and endless content that continually repeats. I have to admit I love the look of the MBA more then the MBP. Especially the keyboard layout. I find the MBP keyboard to be terrible. It works fine but doesn't really flow well for me.

 

haha yeah seriously I got the MBA because I was gaming too much on the MBP. I'm not in school anymore but frankly there's much more productive tasks with computers then grinding through WoW and endless content that continually repeats. I have to admit I love the look of the MBA more then the MBP. Especially the keyboard layout. I find the MBP keyboard to be terrible. It works fine but doesn't really flow well for me.

 

hahah, I hear you about the WoW thing. Is there anything you don't like about the mba? Did you buy the superdrive? Hows your battery life?

 

I bought the superdrive I think it's a must because network installs?? Come on hehe... But so far haven't had a chance to test battery life. Will do tests being unplugged this weekend.

Onlything I don't like is the fan location besides that it's a beauty. And it's SOOO light

 

Go with the MB dude. If you think it will help you to stay focused, go for it!

 

Good post, Durious. I agree, even down to the choice of color.
And I own a MBP.

 

I would still go with the MBP, regardless. My biggest safeguard against procrastinating is the fact that I only game in Windows and I absolutely despise having to reboot (it is an especially large deterrent if I'm in the middle of a paper: no WoW in windowed mode).

Also as I've matured over the past couple years I find myself less and less inclined towards gaming; it honestly doesn't hold the same appeal for me that it did even a year ago.

In the long run I think you would be more satisfied with the MBP (Ipod touch is nice but at least in my opinion, wholly unnecessary).

 

I get what you are saying, but I understand where he is coming from because I, like him cannot resist distractions. We easily succumb to distractions on our computers and the best way to fix the problem is to get rid of the distractions themselves. If I were in his shoes and know that I would do worse in school if I had a MBP I would definitely settle for the MB.

Good post though, I just don't think it is the wisest choice though. Of course, the decision is ultimately up to 00fez.

 

Stunner and Durious understand me... *tear*

I'll have to go to a store and see both color macbooks and a macbook air next to each other, and decide there I guess. I had a white mb before, I liked it, but compared to the mbp I had after it made the mb look like a toy, that's why I'm kinda inclining to the black one... but anyway, like stunner said, it's better to eliminate the distraction, which I guess is what I wanted to do in the back of my mind all along.

I don't think it's a problem of maturity wether I want to game or not, or if I can control that. Maybe one day when all of this crazyness is over I'll consider a gaming computer, but for now, I guess it's better to stay away from temptations.

Thanks all for your input! More are always welcome of course!

 

I have the high end whitebook. I like the way it looks. The screen that is. What everybody else is looking at doesn't matter to me. I like the MB keyboard layout batter than the MBP but that's a personal preference, nothing more. If I were facing the same choice, I'd ask "how much for the whitebook and leave out the itouch" to see if I could get everything I need for a lot less. The value "sweet spot" is the high end whitebook: (prices are US$)

whitebook- 1 gig, 2.1 ghz, 120 gig $1100
whitebook+ 2 gig, 2.4 ghz, 160 gig $1300
blackbook 2 gig, 2.4 ghz, 200 gig $1500
base mbp 2 gig, 2.4 ghz, 250 gig, led, multitouch $2000

 

There were links to battery life tests done for the MBA. It did not beat the MB or MBP, even with the SSD. Something between 3-4 hours doing same work as the other units.

But I've heard others have gotten better. Dig up some of the MBA threads here, should have the links to those reviews/benchmarks.

Man... I agree. I don't game nearly as much as I used to. Plus I'm generally tired of FPS type games. I really enjoy the more creative games now. but I always have I think.

But I can completely understand what you guys are saying about distractions. I used my MBP to do notes and work in classes, but several of them I would surf the web. But I at least stayed away from WoW in class unlike many of my class mates.

God... WoW is the only game I'm still addicted to. But at least I can pull away from it when I need to (I never really played much when I was doing classes).

 

Keep me updated on what you select!!