I'm getting a laptop pretty soon...recommendations?

OK...so newbie here.

Here's my ordeal: I'm a high school senior who's going on to college in fall of 07 and I need a new laptop since the one I have is, like, dead. I pretty much made up my mind about the fact that I want a mac, but since I'm new to macintosh (I have limited exposure from using it in a couple places...otherwise, most of my experience is from windows) I need your help. Basically, I DESPISE windows XP with every fiber in my body, and I REALLY don't want to spend $2k and get stuck with another laptop that I'll be dissatisfied with.

So basically I use my computer for internet surfing (wirelessly), school work, and other stuff (not a gamer btw). I'm planning to get OpenOffice since I heard MS office on the new core duos were a disaster, but if you know otherwise, tell me. Anyway I have about 170 songs on my ipod that I'm afraid to transfer to my computer because the dumb computer might delete everything on my ipod and about 200 pictures. I have a whole bunch of video in a camcorder that I'd love to convert to DVDs but can't because windows movie maker sucks (I hope iMovie comes standard). And as do all teenagers, I have absolutely no patience, and one of my pet peeves is when computers don't work. I LOVE to work on my bed at home, and considering I'll travel alot (note: flying a lot) while in college, portability is important.

By the way I'll be an econ or business major at college. Don't recommend that I get a PC because I DESPISE windows XP and it's the bane of my existence.

So thus I require:
-A FAST processor
-Preferrably a big hard drive: the bigger the better, but I'm not willing to sacrifice speed for capacity.
-Decent speakers built in
-Quiet fans
-Wireless
-NOT windows XP (I have no intention of running XP, even for adobe acrobat)
-Preferrably a nice bright, glossy screen
-Applecare (I'm obviously not good with computers. In my 3 years with a PC laptop, I went through 7 hard drives, 2 screens and had it reimaged 10 times, with hundreds of more minor problems in between.)

Negotiable:
-Screen Size
-Weight (negotiable under 7 pounds, absolutely not over 7 pounds)
-Size of the laptop itself
-Battery life (as long as it's longer than the 1.5hrs that my acer gets, I'm ok.)
-Color
-Macbook Pro vs. Macbook (I like macbook pro's style better though)

Budget:
-~$2,000. +$300 is fine. Not willing to pay more than $2300 including Applecare. (Do I need it given my history with computers?)
-My mom works for the federal government and the federal government EPP makes me eligible for about an 8% discount (as long as I buy in her name). Check the government store at apple.com for details.

(I'm guessing most of you stopped reading about now, but the other two blurbs aren't terribly important)

The reason I'm not waiting until I'm in college is because my current acer is a piece of crap and it conveniently happens to be out of warranty. The hinge that connects the screen to the computer itself is broken and my school tech people estimate $500-$1k to fix that thing. Considering that particular model goes for $150-$200 market on eBay, I said well f that.

Oh and I need recommendations for how-to books for mac (as I'm not too familiar with mac OS X-but I'm determined to make the switch-if I think that I might be stuck with another PC, I'm willing to go to any lengths) and I'm wondering if I really need memory beyond the base 1G or whatever. I also need recommendations for any other accessories and stuff I need to get with my mac. Yeah so I need your help. I know I could get a recommendation from a consultant at the local Apple Store, but the nearest apple store from my house is a 1.5hour (one way) drive from my house. And considering neither my car nor my mom's car gets above 25mpg highway, that's a pretty steep price to pay for shopping around.

Thanks!!!

 

I think the MB would actually suit you better than the MBP.
Both are extremely light. The MB is 5.2 lbs and the MBP is 5.6 lbs. The MB is thicker than the MBP and really not that much smaller.
You will only be able to play some older games on the MB. Nothing new or anything that requires heavy 3d processing.
The MB will get about 6 hours of battery life as opposed to the 3-4 hours on the MBP.

Both will be extremely fast and perform pretty much exactly the same for non 3d rendering tasks. You will generally not hear ANYTHING out of the fans. Nothing. The only thing I hear is when I load in a CD/DVD. Ocasionally I can hear the HDD spin up. They of course both have wireless and glossy screens. They are both VERY bright. Everyone who looks at it says "wow, thats the best LCD i've ever seen, and it's incredibly bright". Then I turn the brightness up and they're even more impressed. I usually use it at close to it's lowest setting (lcd brightness is about the #1 killer of the battery) and it's more than usable.

As far as MS Office for OS X... It's performance isn't very good due to the fact that it's not a UB. All apps that do not have UB (universal binaries) will generally run poorly. They have to be run in an emulator called Rosetta. This kills the performance. The two most notible apps that do not yet have UB are the Adobe products and MS Office. You sure could use Open Office, but I've never been a fan of it. In fact, I think I hate it more than MS Office. But thats just me, a lot of people use it. Especially linux users.

You could certainly get away with 1 gig of ram. But really, if you can afford it, go for 2 gigs. There are a plethora of hard drive sizes for the MBP and MB. Only the MB will allow you to swap out the HDD yourself in the future.

Yes, the iLife suite comes with the macs. It has Garage Band, iDVD, iPhoto, iMovie, iChat, iWeb and iCal. They're actually really good apps. Not like the POS stuff MS pushes onto their releases. They are all integrated too. You can easily make a slideshow in iPhoto, then transfer it to either iDVD or iMovie and then turn it into a quicktime movie or burn it onto DVD. I also recently found out, that you can create books and calendars in iPhoto and then digitially send it off to Kodak to print them and mail them. The quaility is SUPERB!

I think you'll really dig the workflow of the OS. I LOVE using expose. It's such a great utility. I don't really get into the dashboard too much, but there are some useful little widgets.

Additionally I would recommend some sort of backup device. You can burn your data onto DVD's or you could get an external HDD. While Mac's are generally more stable than PC, they all share the same basic parts and you could always have a HDD lock up or your RAM go bad and corrupt your HDD.

OS X reminds me of running Linux with Gnome. Only, this is prettier, more productive and easier to use.

 

My dad brought a gazillion flash drives from his work, would that do? I have 2 1GB flash drives (one's sandisk and the other I got from my dad).

 

You should sell the flash drives. But I'm in the same situation as you. Leaning towards the Macbook. I configured mine and it came out to almost $1480 with tax and student discount without ACPP.

 

I configured the black one to my specs and it came out nearly $2k with applecare under the federal employee EPP discount.

I mean if that's the case I might actually go with the macbook pro, but it's still a tossup.

 

I wanted to get the black MB at first but figured it wasn't worth the $200 extra. If you have the money, I'd go with a MBP.

 

I considered either a Sony SZ or a Macbook but went MBP because I needed more ports and play games occasionally, like Tomb Raider Legends, which runs smooth at a full 1400x900 resolution on my MBP.

I know you say you despise XP but if you ever need it, as far as I am concerned, it's like having a Windows laptop if you use Apple's free Bootcamp. Mice, printers, etc. work great with XP on my MBP. Apple's got you covered either way.

 

Personally I would go with the MBP

 

I have a Macbook and love the portability of it and the screen really isn't that small, especially being widescreen. Works great for me.

 

I have a fully loaded Sony SZ (about $3500) and a Black Macbook loaded up ($2000) and I far prefer the MacBook.

The Sony is lighter and has more "features" but not near as stable. The Macbook is everything I need and nothing I don't Heavier but very solid feeling and extremely stable. The MacBook was better price performance by far.

I travel a lot so size and weight are a real consideration for me so I did not go for the MBP. I notice the weight of the MacBook, but overall I prefer it.

 

So I pretty much made up my mind. IF I go for a Macbook, I want the white one...I really like the glossy finish. And IF I go for the Macbook Pro, I want the 15.4inch one....so I REALLY can't decide....

I could get the almost base Macbook Pro 2.16GHz with a 160GB hard drive (necessary?) and AppleCare for about $2200 OR I could get a loaded up Macbook 2.0GHz with a 160GB hard drive and AppleCare for like $1900...I'm really in a pickle. Please help Thanks.

 

I would get the MBP. But it depends on your needs. I don't feel there is much of a difference between portability. The MBP sometimes feels lighter than the MB due to the small difference in size.

Yeah, I ran into the same decision problem. The deal breaker is the screen size. I NEED as much real estate as I can get. So I just had to add in the cost of a decent 19" lcd (not that I don't already have one...) into the MB price, and it was just too much.

BTW, the DVI to my Huyndai L90D+ looks FANTASTIC!

 

I just found out that my mom DOES qualify for education because she teaches at a school run by the department of defense lol and it's actually within an army base and the school was listed under a different city name than I thought. Oh well I got overcharged on my iPod.

Anyway that changes the pricing scheme a little.

Macbook Pro 2.16GHz 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, Glossy Screen, AppleCare=$2128
Macbook Pro 2.16GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, Glossy Screen, AppleCare=$2286
Macbook 2.0GHz (white), 2GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, AppleCare=$1764

Of course, plus tax and shipping because Apple's HQ is in California GRRR

I'm still having a hard time deciding lol...

I kind of want the 15.4 inch screen because I heard it was beautiful, but at the same time, I'm not sure about the aluminum casing...apparently it dents pretty easily and I'm pretty clumsy.

 

Well, are you paying this all by yourself?

I'd have a tough time deciding too...man I wish I had your budget haha. Like hollownail said, it'd depend on your needs. I think the MBP would be awesome but "overkill" for me. The MB would be good enough for me. Hope everything goes well. Good luck.

 

Well my parents are paying for it...but I think they'd balk at the idea of paying $3k for a laptop considering that's about 2 months' rent.

 

I would try to get option #2 if you could swing it. But I am biased, I really like the MBP's

 

WOw?! $1500 a month per room? Where do you live?

 

Heh, sounds like NY or Chicago.
That would be for a 1 bedroom box in NY from what a few friends who lived there told me.
Thats why I don't want to live in either of those citys.

I pay $400 for half a house... though it doesn't have a washer & dryer which SUCKS. And poor heat and no ac...

 

That is what I thought first (NY). I shouldn't be comparing because I live in FL (attend UF) and my rent is $400 for everything including utilities/internet/etc. That's over $1000 in savings! Ok I'll stop.

 

No I live in SoHo. Just kidding lol

Actually that's not MY rent. It's rent for the 3-bedroom house where I live with my family lol...California by the way. And it's $1850 per month.

 

Whew! I was going to say...$1500 for a room per month. ****! But $1850 for a house isn't too shabby in CA.