buy the best machine you can afford. that rules applies to everything imho. it may save you and expensive upgrade later down the track.

As someone who has owned all 3 laptops (MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air), I can give some decent advice - go the MacBook Pro. The other two are still fine laptops, but from my experiences, and for my use (which seems similar to yours), the MacBook Pro is great.

The MacBook is a very good laptop ($1649 for the mid-range model is great value), but it's integrated video card really holds it back. OS X is heavily dependent on the GPU as it's a modern OS and this impacts on it's overall performance. The latest MacBook may have better performance with the X3100 video chip however, my experiences are with the GMA 950 chip. The 13" screen bothered me, 1200x800 just isnt enough for this mult-tasking user

The MacBook Air is extremely portable - this is it's only redeeming feature however. Everything else about it lacks. The HDD is stupidly slow, the RAM is capped at 2GB permanently, the battery is fixed in, it only has 1 USB port and lacks an optical drive. At first I didn't think it would be an issue, but the longer I had it, the more I came up against it's limitations. I cut my losses and sold it.

The MacBook Pro however, is a great laptop and has never disappointed me. Combined with a 7200RPM HDD, it's as fast (or faster) than an iMac, the 1440x900 screen isn't as big as I'd like (anything under 1920x1200 is tiny for me ), but it's pretty good. It also means I don't really need a 2nd computer on my desktop. Hook it up to a bigger monitor, keyboard and mouse and I've essentially got an iMac. It's got the bigger screen, but it doesn't weigh much more (300g compared to the 13" MacBook).

That's just what I think though, at the end of the day, buy whatever you want

Hi Everyone,

I have got my Macbook today. I went with the middle range macbook. I'd like to thank everyone for their contribution and recommendations.

I chose to go with the Macbook coz I thought about it long and hard and I don't think I need the graphic card is worth the extra $800.

And I am happy with my purchase. It's been really good.

Just a question, for word processing should I buy iWorks 08 or use NeoOffice or Open Office? If I use the freeware, which is better..Neo Office or Open Office?

Thanks again.

Congrats on your purchase of a shiny new 'puter.

Regarding office software, I would suggest downloading and trying one of the free ones first. If you don't like it, then see whether the other free one addresses your concerns.

Only after you've spent some time with them would I then go out and spend the dough on iWork.

iWork 08 is great. But as Petronius said try the free ones first and if they don't suit your needs then go and spend your money and get iWork, you're money will be well spent.

iWork is great, but it's a bit limited compared to the competition, if iWork has everything you need then it's definitely worth the money.

Hello All,

Firstimer here - just proud to become part of the dark side of MAC WORLD.

Purchased a MacBook Pro 15" 2.4GHz 200GIG etc Blah Blah

Went for the Glossy screen just to be differant

Peace Out

Yeah i use aperture

I am thinking about getting a MBP as my screen on my 4 year old PB 17" is acting up and is probably not fixable. I currently have 10.3.9 (Panther)
Does anyone know if a new MBP with Leopard will play nicely with the following applications I use regularly
Adobe CS1
Silverkeeper 1.1.4
Toast Titanium 6.1.1

I use many other applications but these are the ones I am concerned about.

ALSO: Glossy or Matt screen?

Thanks in advance for any help

I got a macbook, and love it, but have always regretted not getting a MBP. Macbooks are good; MBP are the best (and it's noticeable)..

If the money is not out of the question, then go for it... remember the adiom - 'price is forgotten but quality is always remembered' (or something)

J

I would like the Macbook size but with mbp features (eg sep video instead of integrated, which it would appear is the major difference). Hoping we'll get something like this with the "refresh" that's rumoured for next month.

Toast will work fine.
CS1 will work but it'll be slower than your old laptop would be.
No idea about Silverkeeper, sorry.

The matte screen is better IMO but opinions differ on that.

I have both a MB and MBP and the pro is a far far more solid machine. The MBP gets far less heat generated due to the separate GPU and as a result it's quieter cause the fans don't spin up as much. It's just a far superior machine to the macbook in general build quality also.

I'm still miffed after my 12" PB was not replaced by a 12" MBP. Apple said the Black Macbook would basically replace it, but it isn't. Replacing a Pro model with a Consumer model is not a viable substitution. When my 12" Died, I had to replace it with the MBP. And I love it

Oh, and the screen. The gloss screen *#$*!#@$'s me off no end. It attracts far too much dust and the slightest tap with a ultra-clean finger still nets a smudge. The matte is the other big plus of the MBP

Welcome to MacTalk, mckodak.

Are you enjoying your MacBook Pro? You'll find plenty of FAQs etc on here (and Apple's website) to help make the move easier...

Any probs, feel free to search the forum using the "Search" option on the sidebar, and if that doesn't help, start a new thread.

Cheers

cosmic

hey mate if you are tjinking of getting one i'd recommend you to wait about a month till the new ones are released (hopefully) on oct 14. After then the current MBP's will drop in price.

Also in regards to glossy vs matte, i'd go matte, while glossy looks better on the eyes, you'll find if using in a bright space there is pardon my french, a f%$^load of reflection. Given you will be using Photoshop go matte too as a matte screen produces colours better as opposed to glossy which due to its screen covering increases contrast.

Cheers!