<p>gahhhhhhhhh do people even bother to read the original posts these days? I give up. :mad:</p>
<p>I say wait on it - rumors say the iBooks will be replaced soon (in a few months, I think, definitely before this summer) as Apple phases in the Intel processors. Powerbooks will be disappearing in favor of the new Macbooks.</p>
<p>I'm getting a mac laptop for graduation too - I've always had macs though, am on an eMac now....for me, it'll come down to the new iBooks, whatever they are, and the Macbook. Probably the new iBook because I don't really need much more than AIM, Safari, iTunes, and Word. </p>
<p>Best advice I can give is to head to the Apple Store. Play with the macs they have on display and chat up an employee, who can tell you anything you want to know. Watch for student discounts this summer too, like last year's free iPod mini deal.</p>
<p>jjjames: Feel free to check out eBay to see some of the prices. 15" 1.67 GHz G4s are going from $1400 to $1700, ranging from used to new. They're 3+ months old. They retail for $2000 dollars regular price, and $1800 education price. I purchased a Titanium PowerBook for about $2,700 a few years back. A year later, I sold it for $1,700. iBooks show a similar trend, with $1,200 to $1,500 retail-priced laptops going for $700 to $1000. iBooks that are a couple years old are going for $400 to $600 dollars, which is honestly more than they are worth.</p>
<p>I'm not implying anything about this. eBay, for Mac laptops at least, is a seller's market. You really can't get much of a good deal on them. Those who buy them off of eBay usually aren't terribly informed. Those who aren't informed and are looking at Macs on eBay usually have a decent amount of money. This translates into better than average profits for the seller. Because PC laptops are so cheap as it is, people aren't inclined as much to look for them on eBay, and therefore sellers don't expect much.</p>
<p>PC laptops there go from $150 to $500. You'll certainly get some return, but if you're upgrading, essentially expect to pay a decent amount. With the $1,700 I got back, it cost me $700 to get a new $2,400 Aluminum PowerBook. So, if you're getting a laptop as a gift, and will be expected to maintain it and upgrade it at your own expense, a Mac just might be worth the extra cost.</p>
<p>gatordan: For what it's worth, Macs have a much more logical and basic product line. That said, it's not immediately obvious which one to get, as people have different needs, and it may not be clear which computer will work the best for those needs.</p>
<p>celebrian25: Like I said, it depends on your needs. If they consist largely of web browsing, e-mail, chatting, word processing, etc... an iBook with a third-party RAM upgrade is a good choice. But don't neglect your possible increase of needs in college. If I didn't grow up with my dad having a decent computer with a copy of photoshop, I may have never gone into web or graphic design. If you are looking to get a professional computer, then look at the MacBook Pro. If you're not in a hurry, however, I'd wait until the next model comes out. That way, you can either choose the latest model, and make the best return on your money, or choose the just retired models. They'll be just as good as they were the day before, just a few hundred dollars cheaper. If you wait, you can also evaluate the Intel iBooks, assuming they get released around the same time.</p>
<p>Personally, I know several students who have a PowerBook who probably don't need one (I consider myself decently computer-inclined, and always appreciate the extra speed [I have 2GB of RAM, which helps], but honestly, I could get by with an iBook). If it's on someone else's tab, then I would definitely go with a MacBook Pro; you won't regret it. It does all the things you would want with an iBook, but leaves your options open. If you ever feel as if it's too much, or could use more money, then, as I stated above, eBay is a good place to look, and you won't lose too much money.</p>
<p>Knowing your needs, it would be easier to evaluate what might best work, but for those who have general needs, it's really a personal balance between speed, balance, and price.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>syn you make an excellent point but apparently celebrian has already made his decision so ya... dont' know what else to say</p>
<p><a href="http://www.apblue.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.apblue.com</a>
Because Roommates Suck</p>
<p>thanks guys that cleared a lot of things up. You've seriously helped me tons. And I'm a HER!</p>
<p>Stay away from dell, their laptops are crap.</p>
<p>For laptops, either check out Toshiba or Apple.</p>
<p>I have a 15" Powerbook, which is roughly the same as the new Mac Pro-thingies, but without the Intel. I also bought the iWork package which allows you to work in Apple's equivalent of Word and Powerpoint and save your work in .doc and .ppt</p>
<p>I definitely recommend it as it's much more stable and secure - no viruses, spyware, trojans, which run rampant on a lot of college networks.</p>
<p>Garageband is awesome for recording or composing, iDVD is great for compiling videos with templates, iPhoto is so-so. These are all included by default. If you work with a lot of pictures you will want to purchase something else (Photoshop Elements for Mac, I suggest).</p>
<p>Also, Safari (the default browser) and the Mail programs SUCK! I recommend downloading Firefox and Thunderbird.</p>
<p>Good luck--go with Mac, you'll love it once you get used to it. It's so much more intelligent than Windows/IBM. People are always ripping on Mac and the fact that you have to replace some programs (ie iPhoto), but I used Windows for years and the only programs I used were freeware (Firefox) or purchased (Adobe Photoshop 6.0).</p>
<p>Toshiba toshiba toshiba</p>
<p>Panasonic Toughbooks are a good choice but pricey. Currently im checking out the Asus V6v. It is a VERY nice computer that is very fast, great looking, extremely light and still manage to have a 15in screen. It does cost a bundle though at $1800. If you are looking for a steal go for Dell and wait for their coupons. With 2000 bucks you an consider buying a desktop with a huge screen for like $1000 and spending the rest on a slower, smaller laptop. Get like a Celeron and very little ram. If you need more you can always add more later. You can get one for like 500 bucks sometimes. Thats the path I will be taking. Buy a extremely powerful desktop that will last me 4 years and buy a cheaper laptop that I will replace in like 2 years or so.</p>
<p>Btw ppl think Asus is like some random brand. That is NOT true. Asus makes computers for the likes of Dell and Apple. Dell and Apple just slap on their brands and offer tech support and distribution.</p>
<p>I'm looking to surf, download, chat, basic watching movies/listening music...and also have photoshop, acrobat, indesign installed for working on some graphic design. won't be majoring in graphic design, so its not very extreme. is the ibook good for all these programs/tasks? or is it better to invest in the new macbook? </p>
<p>why is it that macs are better for design instead of dells? I'm planning on getting a mac but i just never understood why its better for design; can someone explain?</p>
<p>THANKS :)</p>
<p>definately get a dell 6000 (i have one), before buying go to couponmountain.com and get a coupon code for 25% off</p>
<p>Please don't buy a Mac. Really. And I'm not some windows junkie telling you this either. Please, just buy this:</p>
<p>Have you ever had a Mac?</p>
<p>ive had 2 macs</p>
<p>If you dont care about a down to business kind of notebook the thinkpad is really good. Reliable, extremely good keyboard, and pretty tough. Problem with Macs are that if something goes wrong you are screwed. Say the hard drive fails which is very very common, you have to send it in for repair which will cost a fortune if ur warranty goes out. You can do it urself but it is a hassel. With a windows laptop hard drive and other parts are easy to replace.</p>
<p>lixuelai: Not that I doubt it, but do you have any reports of these "very very common" hard drive failures in Macs (relative to PCs as well, if possible)? Thanks.</p>
<p>My family has owned Apple products for over 20 years, and we've had two problems during the warranty period, the analog card started dying in our fruity-colored iMac (replaced w/ a new iMac) and the firewire port died on my Mac Mini (had to be shipped for service, solved by a PMU reset by the Apple Store 250 miles away). We have had HD issues (didn't die, just acted funky) as well as CD drive and modem failure in a couple of iMacs, but they were over 5 years old before they started having any issues!!<br>
I also work at a mac lab on campus, and have seen but a single eMac with HD failure. It was around three years old.</p>
<p>Oh, and you can change componets out in Macs by yourself. I know more than one person that has changed HDs out in more than one mac portable. Not because the drive died, but because they wanted more space.</p>
<p>My family has also always had Macs - we have an eMac, a G4 iMac, a G4 cube, and a 17" Powerbook in the house right now. In the past we've had two of the pretty-colored iMacs, various other laptops and older desktop models. All have been replaced because we wanted to upgrade (usually after five years), not because of technical issues. We've never had a serious problem. The fan in the powerbook needed to be replaced, and the iMac had a problem with the display once. All very easy to have repaired. Apple will really bend over backwards to fix any problem.</p>
<p>syn: I am not saying that apples have higher failure rate, but that it is much harder to replace when the drive does fail. Drives today are higher density and runs hotter thus mechanical failure can happen pretty often. You will be banging it around also which doesnt help, one drop can be fatal to a hard drive.</p>
<p>For example my dad had a Powerbook G4 which he takes on business trips. He dropped it awhile ago at the airport and the hard drive died. You have to open up the entire case to expose the motherboard in order to remove and replace the hard drive. Not to mention the drive used was a 4000rpm drive and since we replaced it with a 5400rpm drive the bottom of the computer got even hotter. A windows computer is generally more versatile because most big brand laptops are based on the same models from a contract manufacturer. If something goes wrong parts are much easier to find and easier to replace.</p>
<p>i love my 15" powerbook. i have had it since august but the battery life on the new MacBook Pros is supposed to be phenominal. i get around 3-4 hours easy. my pc gets little use these days. macs get no viruses or anything so you dont have to worry about norton bogging everything down like it does on pc.</p>
<p>also, apple support is amazing. i called to register applecare and the person actually spoke english! try calling dell and having that happen. dells are built crappy and squeak when you pick them up.</p>