Help buying a laptop

[Macbookhelp123]

Hey there, looking to buy a mac laptop. One that will mainly be used for coding, photoshop and video editing. All with newer or top notch programs. Not much of a computer guy yet but looking to learn.

Computer also must be able to connect to a larger monitor, which I believe any mac can.

I'm looking at a black MacBook with these specs,

Dual core @ 2.1ghz
3gb ram
120gb hard drive
Webcam and mic
USB ports
Fire wire port
DVD burner
Wifi
LAN
Fresh install of snow leopard
Battery holds a charge for 4-5 hrs
Comes with power cord

Would that be suitable? What price range am i looking at for a used one?

 

[Freqsound]

The system you describe is very underpowered for the things you mention you'd like to do. I just retired a black MacBook, and I believe they were made in 2006 or thereabouts. Computer years are much like dog years, so that makes it about 56 years old. But seriously, not enough RAM or speed, not capable of running the past several MacOS versions, and not capable of running current versions of Avid or FCP for video.

Dollar for dollar, your best bet is for an iMac vs. a laptop. What you pay for in a laptop is miniaturization, portability, and battery life. What you get in an iMac is a bigger screen (hugely useful for video, audio, graphics), faster processing, usually more room for RAM (a huge speed and workflow booster) and generally cheaper upgrade components.

In my opinion you'd be limping along with a black MacBook at this point in time. Unless portability is a huge factor for you, the equivalent money spent on a current desktop will be much more productive.

 

[sonicrobby]

The problem I see is when you say "All with newer or top notch programs." If you mean the current top notch programs such as Final Cut Pro X, I think that macbook would definitely struggle to perform.

It seems like you are trying your best to get a low priced mac, but I think the Macbook line is too old for that. Check out the Apple refurbished computers. Or at least newer models on ebay.