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Help me choose a laptop, please.

D

DarthTreydor

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 25, 2007
292
0
Richmond, VA
Hi, I'm looking to buy a laptop for school. I am a music and recording arts student and I own a mac pro which I use for audio recording and editing. I have a budget of $1000 that I'm going to buy for a laptop with that I plan on using to surf the web, type papers in the library, and open up logic projects in class. My original plan was to buy a macbook when they are updated but today i found what i believe to be a good deal on a used powerbook. so here are the options i'm weighing at the moment:

1. 15" G4 Powerbook 1.67 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD - $600

2. New updated low-end Macbook - $1000 (?) w/ EDU discount

3. Refurb of current low-end macbook - $900 ($800 after the update?)

I know the G4 has nothing on the intel machines but I was thinking I might use the money to put into my mac pro. And the laptop doesn't have to be able to do anything too taxing.

So what do you guys think?
 
I would go refurb Macbook just for longevity's sake. It will most likely be able to run Snow Leopard, while the Powerbook may not. Also, I think the Macbook can take more maximum RAM, which will help speed it up later down the road.
 
mayanka89 said:
I would go refurb Macbook just for longevity's sake. It will most likely be able to run Snow Leopard, while the Powerbook may not. Also, I think the Macbook can take more maximum RAM, which will help speed it up later down the road.
Click to expand...

Agreed. With your money and audio work, go with a refurb Macbook. Logic 8 needs a 1.25 GHz G4 minimum.
 
Whatever you do end up doing, I wouldn't get the PowerBook. They're fine machines and everything, but Intel machines gives you the option to run Windows, for one thing, as well as generally being a good deal faster for almost every task. A new MacBook would probably serve you pretty well, and on top of that, you'd have a warranty extendable to three years, and in an educational environment you could well end up appreciating that (versus a refurb, unless of course you're talking about a refurb direct from Apple). The tasks you mentioned aren't too taxing as you noted, but Logic can get hectic.

Basically, go for an Intel Mac, and if $100-$200 isn't a major deal, then I'd get a new one. :)
 
I would go with either the new MacBook or the refurb MacBook. The MacBook will last you a lot longer than a PowerBook G4, though they are all fine computers.
 
yeah, I guess I knew the g4 was a bad idea. I was just enticed by the sexiness of it. I guess I'll just wait to see what the next revision brings to decide between a new machine and a refurb. God, the anticipation is killing me. This money is burning a hole in my pocket. :)
 
DarthTreydor said:
yeah, I guess I knew the g4 was a bad idea. I was just enticed by the sexiness of it. I guess I'll just wait to see what the next revision brings to decide between a new machine and a refurb. God, the anticipation is killing me. This money is burning a hole in my pocket. :)
Click to expand...

I feel ya on that one, but I think your patience will be rewarded
 
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