Quick Advice on New Macbook!

[Mavery003]

So I'm definitely purchasing a Mackbook in the very near future. Like everyone else I purchased the iphone and fn' love it, so that coupled with the fact that my 5 year old Compaq laptop completely died in the fall leads me to the Macbook purchase.

Through my employer I can get the following deal, and I'd love to get some feedback as I would have to purchase by 2/13 to get the full discount...so here's what they're offering. I'll also mention that I get a $500 credit towards a new personal computer:

$899 - MacBook 13-inch 2.0GHz 2GB/120GB SuperDrive
+$9.95 - Upgraded iLife
+$14.00 - Microsoft Office 2008
(-$500 Discount on top of this)

The Mac will be for 90% personal use...Photo, Videos, Music...basic stuff and occasional travel, so I think this model will be fine for me. I have about 16GB of music at the moment and maybe 6 gigs of photos

So let me know what you all think and thanks for any advice!

[macgirl]

That is definitely a great deal and you should absolutely go for it!

I do think that model will be fine for what you plan to do with it, but I would personally upgrade to the next model up that has an aluminum unibody and slightly larger hard drive, particularly with the deal and rebate your company is giving you. A larger hard drive never hurts (and will help with resale later, if you go that route and don't end up upgrading it yourself) and I hate the polycarbonate shell - it wears in a very unattractive way over time IMHO (I have one of these for work) and the aluminum is just so much sleeker (I have a MacBook Air that looks so much more professional in aluminum than the white MacBook).

[Mavery003]

$1,199 MacBook 13-inch 2.0GHz 2GB/160GB SuperDrive


Thanks Macgirl. This is my next option up, with the same perks as above + the aluminum body. Still a pretty good deal I think. I was trying out the Macbooks at Bestbuy and loved the Aluminum myself...

[acosmichippo]

The new unibodies are a MUCH more solid design than the old MacBooks/MacBook pros. Once you get used to them, any other laptop will feel cheap and loose by comparison.

[danipoak]

A year ago I bought the middle of the line white macbook. I can't remember the specs. All except for storing my music it has more than met my needs (I have nearly 70k songs). I have no DVD player in the apartment and TV sucks anyways so my wife and I just watch movies on it. I watch espn360 on it too, plus stream all of my music through airtunes with it. Basically I use it for everything. Get the aluminum though. I have had problems with the casing on mine. I've taken it in for warranty repair twice now for cracking. I'd try to get applecare too. You can get it much cheaper off of ebay. For some reason I have a 13 month original warranty so I have a few weeks to save up and get applecare for mine.

[llrickman]

$1,199 MacBook 13-inch 2.0GHz 2GB/160GB SuperDrive


Thanks Macgirl. This is my next option up, with the same perks as above + the aluminum body. Still a pretty good deal I think. I was trying out the Macbooks at Bestbuy and loved the Aluminum myself...

I would get the alum if i were you and i would also spend the extra to get the 4gb ram its worth it and if you decide to do it later it will cost $300 instead of $150

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

Once you get used to them, any other laptop will feel cheap and loose by comparison.

Aaaahh -- just like my women.

[acosmichippo]

bump, set, and spike.