I'm new...and I need help...with Mac buying...

[machick]

Hi,

First of all, let me say that I am both a semi-new (Just started using on a regular basis in November 2005) Mac user and am also new to the forum, so please don't be mad if 12 billion other users have posted this.

I am a student who needs a laptop within the next month or so. My first inclination was to order a tricked-out MacBook Pro, but I have heard many rumors that Apples "firsts" usually have some things that need to be worked out before they become really good, and I don't want to pay $2500 for problems.

Once I heard that, I thought maybe i'd purchase a refurb 12-inch iBook with nothing on it and let that hold me over until the "better MacBooks" come along, saving my money for "the big one". However, my dad is advising me against this and is worried that I will regret my decision once the new iBooks come out.

All I need to do on the laptop for now is wireless internet (web surfing) and word processing - no video or audio or gaming or anything - not even iTunes. For me, waiting until the end of the year to see how this Intel stuff unfolds is not an option. Therefore, what do you guys think would be my best option? Should I order the MacBook Pro now or wait until everything has been "worked out"? Is PPC really that bad for the simple things I want to do?

For the whole laptop-buying project, I have about $5,000 at hand.

[ghoti]

Well that's a lot of money for what you need the laptop for. I would suggest buying a new iBook now. I don't know how much you save by buying a refurbished one, but you should get a recent one and money isn't really very tight. What you should get is at least 512MB of additional RAM, though, since that will make the machine much faster. But other than that, an iBook should be easily sufficient for the things you list, and will even allow you to use iTunes ;)

With the remaining money, you can buy an iBook successor or MacBook Pro or whatever as soon as you have more information on new releases - and also your needs.

[machick]

Whoops...shame on me. I should have clarified this...

I will be transferring colleges soon and will be minoring in Film Studies. For that reason, I will need a better laptop come September - October of this year. With the better laptop, I'd like to be able to use Final Cut Express (need to learn before I try and do Studio), Logic Express, and Macromedia Studio 8 (not all at the same time, though).

Maybe that info'll help.

BTW, thanks for the advice, ghoti - I appreciate your input!

[atomicbartbeans]

Hm, yeah... if you're going to be using the pro apps, an iBook really won't cut it. The MacBook Pro has lots going for it, but we have yet to see what kind of issues it'll have. So far, the main complaint has been battery life (under 3 hours) and the bottom of the case getting warm. If you can deal with that, I say go ahead. :)

[curiousuburb]

Welcome to AN.

iBooks are a reasonable investment in dollar value for quite good computing value, both in durability and in functionality for your needs. Bang for the buck without the risk of being bleeding edge on a new MacBook Pro without universal binaries for all the best software yet. None of the apps you're looking at have Universal Binaries yet, so the MacBook isn't really even capable of taking advantage of them. You'd be spinning your wheels with one until those apps ship new versions. Better to stick with the proven PPC versions for now.

Save your big money for a Rev B laptop (there will be intel iBooks by year end too, but you'll probably want the bugs ironed out). A 12" iBook will still have decent resale next year, and you'll get everything you need out of it in the interim while letting your cash earn interest.

Definitely get extra RAM (at least another 512 or a Gig), but if you want to save some dosh, get 3rd party RAM (from newegg.com or crucial.com) rather than pay the Apple premium. Installation is pretty easy if you read the instructions (which are linked in some other threads here or available on the Apple support site).

A refurb might be even better, provided it has built-in Airport/Bluetooth if you need wireless, and isn't a G3 with flaky logic board. (Again, read the threads here to learn which to avoid - basically the G3 600-800MHz were quirky - most of the G4s were fine.)

There will always be new machines, and in this case we know Steve promised a full transition of all models by year end, but that's where the lower cost of a refurb iBook is smart and preserves your (smaller) investment while you wait for the refinements of Rev B models. Plus, it's a relatively pain free migration for a student to carry a model they're not panicked about losing.

An iBook G4 will allow you to learn the basics of most of those apps, if not work at pro efficiency, but even a MacBook Pro may not be the best option for full production... you may decide you need a laptop for transportable technology and student notetaking, but require a PowerMac with überchips for actual project work once they go intel and the re-tweaked apps ship for them.

Patience is good.

[machick]

Thanks for the info and advice everyone. I think I will go with the iBook for now and save the big bucks for a time when the high-end laptops (or desktops, as curiousburb pointed out) are better and have made the transition. I appreciate everyone's input. I've never gotten such sincere and detailed input on Windows message boards...

[rminkler]

If you were to go for the MacBook Pro, you could sign up for apple's student developer program (99 $) and get a once in a lifetime hardware discount on the MacBook... it varies from product to product, but it's something like 20% - so you would maybe get around 500$ off.... not sure if this will tempt you, but it's good to know about.

[machick]

I never knew anything about that...how would I go about finding out more about it?

[LudwigVan]

I never knew anything about that...how would I go about finding out more about it?

Some info from the horse's mouth (http://developer.apple.com/students/index.html). Note that there appears to be an age limit; from your note about switching colleges, I wager you must be over 18 anyway, so you could probably just ignore that part of the page.

[MCQ]

If you were to go for the MacBook Pro, you could sign up for apple's student developer program (99 $) and get a once in a lifetime hardware discount on the MacBook... it varies from product to product, but it's something like 20% - so you would maybe get around 500$ off.... not sure if this will tempt you, but it's good to know about.

The base models are $200-$300 cheaper using developer store cheaper than edu store, so when you factor in the $99 membership it may only work out to $100-$200 net difference (vs edu pricing).

Just figured I'd add that to make sure she doesn't think it's $500 cheaper than edu pricing. :)

[Luca]

I fully agree with what curiousuburb said. Furthermore, I'd like to add a few things. First of all, Macs retain their value really well. If you buy an iBook now for $1000 and sell it in September, it'll probably still be worth $700. Also, high end stuff usually only stays high end for a little while. Every few months, the old high end machine will be replaced with a faster, better version, and the old one will cost less on the used market. If you're not going to need a fast computer until late this year, why not wait until then to spring for a powerful notebook?

I'm sure the $300 or $400 you'll spend (net) to use an iBook until September will be worth it, if it means you'll also get a better version of the MacBook Pro for the same price. You'll spend $1000 for the iBook, sell it for, say, $700, and then buy a new MacBook Pro for $2500, so your total cost is $2800 or so. Alternatively, if you buy a MacBook Pro now for $2500, you spend a little less, but come September, you no longer have the fastest machine available (and that's frustrating since once you actually need the power, you won't have quite as much available).

[machick]

Thanks for the info on the student developer membership, LudwigVan and MCQ. I think it's something I will look into. Thanks, Luca, for you input about the iBook. Resale value is certainly something to look into and I will take your well-thought out advice into consideration.

Thanks again everyone for your input. As a new Mac user, I appreciate the advice!

[alcimedes]

Yeah, I'd go with the iBook now and see what's out by the time you actually need the new computer.

No point buying something you don't need, and I'd say you have more than enough money to cover yourself just in case something great comes out in Aug. or so.

[machick]

Thanks, alcimedes. That's probably what i'll end up doing. I looked at the discounts for the student developer program, and, although they are great when it comes to the MacBook Pro (could get the higher-end model for $2,000), I'm not sure that I want to purchase it while the rest of the future Macs are still up in the air.