University Setup - Opinions

[crowdaddy]

Hello,

I am on a 2000$ budget as far as my university computing needs go. I am heading into the Biological Sciences, and I enjoy burning CDs, maybe messing around with iMovie once or twice, and Call of Duty.... after looking around here I have came up with the following, advice is greatly appreciated. PS I will get a monitor extra and already have an iPod Mini...

1)iBook 12" 1.2GHz Combo Drive
Part Number: M9623LL/A
AirPort Extreme Card
Keyboard & Mac OS X - U.S. English
30GB Ultra ATA drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
256MB DDR266 SDRAM (built-in)
Estimated Ship: 1-3 business days $949.00

AppleCare Protection Plan for iBook $183.00

2)Mac mini 1.42GHz
Part Number: Z0B8
Accessory kit
Internal Bluetooth + AirPort Extreme Card
80GB Ultra ATA drive
4x SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
56K v.92 Modem
256MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 DIMM
Mac OS X - U.S. English

Estimated Ship: 1-2 weeks $758.00

Cart Subtotal: $1,890.00


EDIT: Sorry I didn't mean to put this in this forum!

[crazzyeddie]

Why not get the best you can afford?

Powerbook 15"
• 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 w/ 64MB VRAM
• 512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
• 80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400 rpm
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• AppleCare Protection Plan for PowerBook (w/ or w/o Display)
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
• 15.2-inch TFT Display

Estimated Ship:
1-3 business days
Free Shipping
Subtotal $2,038.00

-or-

12" Powerbook
• 512MB DDR333 (256MB built-in + 256MB SO-DIMM)
• 60GB Ultra ATA drive @5400rpm
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
• AppleCare Protection Plan for PowerBook (w/ or w/o Display)
• 1.5GHz PowerPC G4
• NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 with 64MB DDR Video Memory
• 12.1-inch TFT Display

Estimated Ship:
4-6 business days
Free Shipping
Subtotal $1,638.00

[revenuee]

I have a desktop and a laptop and i use the laptop a lot more for school related stuff

essays and articles are almost exclusively written on my laptop as i hate being cooped up in one room all the time when writing

now i personally don't use it for notes in class, but i do use it between classes when i want to get some work done.

i say go with the iBook -- you'll probably be happier

[Eevee]

There is no need to get two macs for college.

I agree with crazzyeddie. Get the BEST instead of two lower end macs.

The 15" PB will fit you perfectly in school. It's portable and yet the monitor screen is just the right size. I would also upgrade the RAM to 1 gig since you'll need it for presention, Photoshop, illustrator, etc...

Go test drive one at your local apple store.

[Rocksaurus]

He's got a monitor and a $2000 budget, and no one's suggested a G5? I was in your situation about two years ago, with a somewhat lower budget and decided to go w/ a G5 1.6... Now, since I haven't played very many games on it I've been wondering if I made the right decision (I finally decided I did, since I won't be able to live if I can't play StarCraft 2, and considering the alternative at the time was a 867 MHz Powerbook, I think I made the right choice for SC2 potential)... So really you have to ask yourself:

1) will you play many games/use programs that need a fast processor/architecture/video card?

2)do you need portability?

3)do you need expandability?

I wish I had portability sometimes, but not often, and with Powerbooks now a more viable desktop alternative (no one take that out of context - my situation was an 867 G4 vs. a 1.6 G5 and his is a 1.5 G4 vs. 1.8 G5) if you're not interested in many next generation games or video upgrades, I'd get a Powerbook all the way... But obviously if you want expandability etc. etc. look into a G5, they're very nice machines.

[Rocksaurus]

Also - one other thing to note:

The two machines you've got in your original post both have 4200 RPM laptop hard drives in them (if the mini's got a 5400 someone correct me), and those hard drives... kind of suck. You don't want that.