<p>I'm thinking of ordering a Mac this week. I was deciding between the black Macbook and the cheapest Macbook Pro, and right now I'm leaning heavily towards the Macbook Pro. I don't have a problem with Macs, and I guess I'll run bootcamp if I need to run any Windows programs.
Question is, is this a good choice? Is the cheapest Macbook Pro powerful enough to last me 4 years without needed an upgrade? Or should I just wait until July to get one?</p>
<p>If you don't need it right now, wait until July because of the possible updates and savings.</p>
<p>I'm not yet a Mac owner but have been researching it extensively. I would say that even the cheapest Macbook Pro would certainly last you 4 years without any upgrade.</p>
<p>As far as deciding between Macbook black vs. MBP, do you prefer a smaller screen (13 vs. 15 inches)? Do you prefer black or silver? If you are not a "highly specialized user" I would go with Macbook black.</p>
<p>With the educational discount and memory at 4G and hard drive at 250 GB, the Macbook black costs $1759.00.</p>
<p>With the educational discount, the cheapest MBP is $1799 and that's with memory only at 2G and a hard drive at only 200 GB.</p>
<p>I would go with the upgraded Macbook black because it seems like you can get better features on it and I think 13-inch screen is an advantage.</p>
<p>Good luck deciding!</p>
<p>just for the sake of the OP, I would like to correct grapeful, the black macbook costs $1399.</p>
<p>Two suggestions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Wait. Intel updates processors constantly, and you might as well wait for the best one they come out with.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't do memory upgrades through Apple's site. Get the least memory possible and upgrade it on your own. It's a super duper simple upgrade and can save you literally hundreds of dollars if you do it on your own. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now that those two are out of the way I believe you can expect on to last 4 years.</p>
<p>Here is basically how I see them:</p>
<p>Black Macbook-
PROS: looks nicer, quite a bit cheaper, same CPU and RAM as the low-end MBP, 50gb extra hard drive, portable</p>
<p>CONS: screen is kind of small for my liking, no glossy option on the screen (may make it hard to use in the sunlight?), might not last as long, only 144mb of INTEGRATED video (turn off for me even though I'm not a gamer)</p>
<p>Low-end MBP-
PROS: Screen is bigger, it'll last longer, has an extra USB port, battery life is a bit longer, 256MB quality graphics card</p>
<p>CONS: Same CPU and RAM as the black for more $, 50GB less space</p>
<p>Hopefully I'm not missing anything... I think the Macbook Pro would be a good investment so I'm thinking of getting that one.</p>
<p>Macbooks do not have the latest Intel chipsets, while the Pro does (for now). the Pro also has better build quality, not that the Macbook is crap in comparison.</p>
<p>there's really no point in having 4 GB of RAM. what're you gonna do with it? if in the future there are actually apps that need a lot more than they do now, just buy your own for a fraction of the price. as for hard drive space, that isn't a big deal since externals and portable media are pretty cheap and abundant.</p>
<p>however, if you don't play games and don't render 3D objects (as in CAD or DCC), you have no business getting a discrete graphics card. or at the very least, you have no reason to think less of an integrated card.</p>
<p>as for lasting four years...no computer you build today is guaranteed to last that long. no one knows what the hardware reqs will be for future apps, and no one knows if certain technologies will go obsolete.</p>
<p>and finally, you did fine your whole life so far without your own laptop, so why do you need one now? assuming you're a HS student, wait til the summer. there may be new processors or hard drives or graphics cards or whatever. they might even add some more USB ports....</p>
<p>anirudhreddy, for the sake of avoiding your own embarrassment please don't correct people when you are in fact the one that is incorrect. I was quoting the price of an UPGRADED black macbook pro with 4 GB memory. Not the one basic configuration of 2 GB memory. Fact.</p>
<p>Don't know if this link will work but this is what I viewed:</p>
<p>The</a> Apple Store (U.S.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
o glossy option on the screen (may make it hard to use in the sunlight?)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think its the other way around - glossy causes too much glare in sunlight vs. matte</p>
<p>
[quote]
just for the sake of the OP, I would like to correct grapeful, the black macbook costs $1399.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
anirudhreddy, for the sake of avoiding your own embarrassment please don't correct people when you are in fact the one that is incorrect. I was quoting the price of an UPGRADED black macbook pro with 4 GB memory. Not the one basic configuration of 2 GB memory. Fact.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Ouch! anirudhreddy really stuck his/her foot in their mouth and got owned!! LOL!! Sorry, I'm not a young college kiddie, but that's the language kids in my day used.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm a college senior and I happen to own both a black MB and a MBP. Well, technically my sister owns the MBP. I can't exactly comment on durability as we both decided to buy ours very recently. But we've both used each other's laptops and we're both really happy with both.</p>
<p>You seem to want the MBP, so I'm going to suggest you go ahead with that. For generic usage both are somewhat interchangable. I've recently had to do a lot of group projects where my classmates and I were constantly using usb flash drives on my black MB. I definitely wished for my sister's MBP because sometimes the extra drive matters.</p>
<p>I will however say that there is a point to having 4 GB of RAM. The extra 2 GB is not exactly superfluous depending on what you need and in terms of the future. I remember the days when 512 MB was considered a lot. I'm somewhere between a techie and a novice. I've upgraded my PCs before (no experience doing so with my Macs) and yes, it was certainly cheaper, but the busier I got and the more money I made, my philosophy became "Why bother going through the trouble of doing it yourself when you can pay the extra and not have to give it another thought?" Paying the extra is worth it. If you like to bargain hunt and research, then upgrading later on probably isn't a bad idea for you.</p>
<p>And to the comment about just getting an external hard drive. You could certainly do that, but why bother with the externals if for some reason your files are really big (say you're in graphics) and you prefer to keep them on your comp?</p>
<p>From personal experience I can say you'd be more than pleased with either. But go with the MBP because it seems that's what you really want. Back in the day I settled on my Dell laptop and even though I had no problems, I constantly regretted not getting the better model for a few hundred more. Little things like that can matter a lot for some people.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I will however say that there is a point to having 4 GB of RAM. The extra 2 GB is not exactly superfluous depending on what you need and in terms of the future.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>in the future, no one knows what'll be required. for all anyone knows, DDR will go obsolete much like AGP did in favor of PCIe. for now, 2GB is more than plenty, especially since it's a Mac. as for spending extra time and energy buying more yourself, you can always ask a knowledgeable friend to help you out. i don't think that little bit of effort is worth the extra few hundred dollars you'd spend to get it done now.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And to the comment about just getting an external hard drive. You could certainly do that, but why bother with the externals if for some reason your files are really big (say you're in graphics) and you prefer to keep them on your comp?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>that's a valid point...but the OP doesn't do that. and WD Passports are pretty ubiquitous now, so having to carry around an extra device isn't such a big deal. someone could even eliminate having to carry around an external by organizing what is important enough to keep on the internal and sticking everything else on the external, as 200+ GB would give quite a bit of flexibility.</p>
<p>
[quote]
[quote]
o glossy option on the screen (may make it hard to use in the sunlight?)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think its the other way around - glossy causes too much glare in sunlight vs. matte
[/quote]
</p>
<p>they both suck in sunlight. anyway, i've heard both, so best thing to do is get one of each from a friend, go outside, and see for yourself.</p>
<p>If you need more RAM, you can always add it later by buying it from newegg.com and putting it in yourself. That's something you should do no matter what; buy the laptop with the minimum amount of RAM and then add more yourself, because you will save a lot of money like that.</p>
<p>ooops missed that 4g sorry :(, but don't buy apple RAM.</p>
<p>I went to the store the other day, the macbook pro was so huge(15 inch)!!!! So now, I have decided to go with the black macbook.</p>
<p>i think the bigger size is actually a good thing... and it's only an extra 1/2 a lb for the pro vs the black anyway.</p>
<p>And yeah I won't be buying RAM straight from Apple. Though I've never done it on a laptop (I have several times on my PC) I'm sure I can do a bit of reading and figure out how to install the RAM myself... but 2GB should be plenty for now I think.</p>
<p>I'm thinking I'll go with the MBP after all, thanks for all your replies.</p>
<p>pedrossi,</p>
<p>It's super easy. You remove the battery, unscrew two screws, pull off a plate, put in the RAM, re-install the plate, done.</p>
<p>Yeah you definitely don't want to buy Apple ram. You can buy it from newegg or crucial.com for around a hundred (even less if you look) instead of the outrageous amount that Apple wants. Like UCLAri said, it takes no more than ten minutes to install and is both easy and safe.</p>
<p>I got my gig stick from the UCSD book store during some fire sale (Crucial) for like $75. My machine is ANCIENT (2 years old :p) and can only take 2 gigs anyway. I would've paid like $300 to have Apple do it.</p>
<p>Now, if 15 minutes of my time was worth $215, I'd have that done. But it's not... sadly.</p>
<p>Does anyone know when the printer rebate deal ends? </p>
<p>And does the back to school deal include a printer or just an ipod?</p>
<p>Correct me if I am wrong, but they give the ipod free and a $100 voucher for a printer in the back to school deal. I would assume that it ends in August.</p>
<p>I'm asking because I've been hearing conflicting reports</p>
<p>"Between January 22, 2008, and April 21, 2008 buy an Apple computer and a qualifying printer and save up to $100."</p>
<p>I was wondering if the back-to-school deal included a printer, or should I just buy now if I don't care about the upgrade?</p>