[Noah930]

I recently purchased an iMac (desktop). First Apple I've had since the original Macintosh and Apple IIe. My wife and I are thrilled with it, so far. I haven't had any problems going back and forth from my work PC, so far. We purchased from an Apple store. We live within walking distance of one, though. The staff, there, have been fantastically helpful. I like having a local brick and mortar store to back up any problems I might run into. Much better than waiting on hold for an hour for some customer service rep from India each time I have a problem.

For a HS student, I think the base MacBook would be sufficient. My sister got a MacBook Pro for Christmas. She opted for the higher end (or, rather, her boyfriend who purchased it for her did), for the higher graphics abilities. They're both architects, so they run some work programs on their computers. But she admitted that for most (nonindustrial) uses, a regular MacBook would be sufficient.