To MacBook or MacBook Pro?
 

My lovely wife just landed a really nice part-time gig and they are going to buy her a new laptop.

She is developing, managing and implementing a marketing dept for a civil engineering/insurance investigation company where one previously did not exist. She will work from home and the office a couple days a week. She's really excited and the cash will help us right now with my business hurting.

She uses Adobe Suite, Quark, etc... She has a loaded G5 here at here home office and is wondering if it would be foolish to go with anything less than the Mac Book Pro for her portable. The company will be buying it but she doesn't want to get the best "just because" if there is no need.

Any advice is welcome.

Pro 15.

The MacBook is great for a business travel box.

For a Graphics travel box you want the 15. Better video card, better choices for hard drives, get the 7200 rpm drive.

She does graphics, there is no other justification needed for getting the best box that one can afford.

Time is money, you have a better computer and you are more productive.

I carry the 17 inch model. I prefer the 15, the ergonomics on it are much better.

Thanks,

Looks like she can get a 15 pro with the 7200 drive for under $3k

Is there anywhere that actually discounts these machines or is one mac dealer the same as the rest?

I'd buy direct from Apple if possible.

The margin is so small that there really are no "deals" out there.

With some of the bargain sites you may run the risk of buying old inventory. Meaning you think you think you are getting a deal but find you've bought something a couple of revs old for more $'s than you had to. It's rare but it happens.

That's what I figured, thanks.

Not hijacking, just looking for clarification. So, for business purposes the regular MacBook is fine?

Unless you work for a large company that has an Employee Purchase Program will be difficult to find any good deals, we get 'up-to' a 17% discount on Apple and a lot of other stuff (Audi, Sony, at&t, etc.)

Word, Excell, PPT, business apps? Way more than fine. Tiny, easy to carry.

I keep having to resist buying one.

Scott

Be sure to get the educational discount! If you buy at the Apple store, you can just pick a school - they don't ask questions or verify. I just picked the college I went to . . .

http://www.apple.com/education/shop/

Also, buying RAM from Apple is expensive - you can save some money buying chips from a 3rd party, FWIW.

Best,

Kurt

Thanks guys, one more question.

What's the deal with the "glossy" screen option?

I was recently well-advised on this exact subject. Scott has you covered on the model and drive, my only addition is go get 2 more MB of RAM as soon as you get it. The apple RAM is crazy expensive so go to CompUSA, CDW, etc. for quarters on an apple dollar.

Apple sells factory refurbs often. Use DealMac to send you and update. You can still buy Applecare and be fully covered for 3 years.

I was also thinking of using iwork, which is Apple's version of Office. Is it any good?

I think office is one of those that just can't be replaced due to saturation. Unless you're using it in isolation I guess.

iWork is good.

I'd still get Office for the Mac.

Believe it or not the OS X version of Office runs better than the Windows version.

The educational tips are spot on. In fact they have the yearly back to school deal running right now. You get an iPod for free or you can apply the amount to a more expensive iPod.

Glossy screen is not a great choice for graphics. Too much reflection, can cause eye strain more frequently/easily.

Thanks

Just to amplify about the memory--it's far cheaper to buy the mac with the immediate upgrade than buying one and buying additional ram for it. You have to replace the 2x .5GB boards with 2x 1GB, so obviously it's cheaper to buy it preconfigured with the 2GB.

I'm also expecting that Leopard, the new OS rev due out in October, will burn some more memory so while the extra gig doesn't seem to have that much of an effect for me now, I suspect it will later.

I bought the MacBook, loaded with MSFT Office and 2GB RAM. The box is fine for me and I have no problem with the 13.5 inch screen; the resolution and quality are so far superior to my thinkpad that it's fine as-is.

Now, if I were doing a lot of graphics work, I'd definitely go with the Pro.

Hope this helps...JH

The MBPs come with 2GB installed from Apple; config. w/ 4GB and it's an addt'l $700!

Should be able to pick up 4GB of good high speed memory for around $300 or less, IIRC.

Best,

Kurt

ramjet.com

Ouch. 4GB is $700 preconfigured vs $1000 if you buy it after the fact. For my MacBook 2GB is 150 vs 300.00. So, counterintuitively, 4GB is more than 2x expensive than 2GB. Evidently cost efficiencies don't apply when stuffing memory onto a little board.

Jack