Essential Macbook/MBP Software

I am currently in the precontemplation phase of notebook shopping. I am about 60 % certain that a Macbook Pro is in my future.

I am going to do predominantly documents and presentations, photoediting from my digital camera (JPEG), video editing from my digital camcorders (Samsung SC-HMX20c and Samsung SC-HMX20), iTunes and surfing the web. I will watch movies infrequently.

I was adding items to my Amazon Wishlist based upon the above tasks:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Final Cut Express 4 (videos)
Apple iWork (Pages '08, Numbers '08, and Keynote '08 )
Apple Care


I have also considered MS Office 2008 for the Mac (unless you guys think iWork is more than adequate).

MOVIES
I want to add titles, put in movie clips (edit length of individual clips), add music and special effects and then burn them to a DVD

I have an older Mini DV Camcorder (firewire) that I want to convert to movies and then get rid of the old camcorder.

PHOTOS
I want to touch up my photos like I did with Photoshop (adjust contrast, restore old photos).

ENTERTAINMENT

I want to watch movies on occassion (I use VLC on my notebook now).

QUESTIONS

With those types of applications, is a Macbook adequate or should I jump to the Macbook Pro?

If I get the Macbook Pro, should I max out the configuration to 4 GB, 2.54 Ghz, 320 GB HD or is a 2.4 Ghz, 200 GB HD and 2 GB RAM enough?

Are these programs all that I need to do what I listed? OR are there others or alternatives?

 

There are many such threads on this topic; the Search function will help you find most of them.

 

Well the macbook pro is the only laptop with firewire, so unless you found someone else with a firewire port whos wiling to capture the footage for you, you might be stuck. Most new cameras today are flash based, and use usb, so you might just use firewire for transferring the old videos.

You can do all of the tasks that you want on a macbook, but the macbook pro will have a bigger screen (and firewire). If youre just adjusting contrast etc, you might not need the extra 2", because youd be looking at the overal image rather then adjusting certain aspects of it.

So yea, I'd say the macbook would be ok for what you need, if you want more screen size and firewire, the MBP is your only option.

the lower end MBP is fine for what you need, not sure with ddr3 ram is cheaper from third parter rather then apple. 2gb ram though is fine for what you want.

If you watched more movies id say the mbp might be better because of the screen, but yea.

Everyone has a personal preference on iwork vs office. Some programs like keynote in iwork are way better then office counterparts, but yea. if theres an apple store nearby, go and try out iwork and see if you like it. or download the trial. Id say try it out before you buy it to see if you like it or not.

Also, technically you can do everything you want to do using the built in apps like iphoto, and imovie. Although photoshop and final cut will give you more control and possibly better results. Again, id recommend using the built in apps and see if they do what you need them to do, and if they dont then buy the other programs.

hope that helps.