Help!!! (Switching advice needed...)

[RandomHero]

Hello,
I am new the the forums and to Mac. I am currently a user of PCs , as you can tell from my smiley I am not very happy with them! I have always thought of converting to for a very long time. I was wondering if anyone out there could give me buying tips for a Mac. I am interested in a Laptop. My budget is $1,800. I was wondering what would be the best buy for my buck. I primarily would use it for music/media and some school work(college). If anyone out there could help it would be greatly appreciate it.

THANKS!
Random Hero

 

[0007776]

With that budget you should probably get a Macbook, I think that it would do good for what you want, If you are in college don't forget to use your education discount.

 

[bartelby]

With $1,800, You're choice is either a Black MacBook with 2GB RAM or a White 2.0GHz MacBook with 2GB RAM & a 120GB HD. The BlackBook is $50 more.

 

[livingfortoday]

I would recommend a 15" MacBook Pro, with the edu discount it's $1,799. It's a bit faster, with a bigger screen, which is nice if it's your primary computer. If you don't need the bigger portable screen or GPU, I'd recommend doing something like getting a refurb MacBook (around $1000) and buying a nice big 24" Dell monitor (refurbs are in the $600's) to use it with when you're at home. Then, just unplug it and use it in class and whatnot on its own!

That last one's the setup I have now, and it's really fantastic. With any money left over, I'd recommend you up the RAM, though, as it'll struggle with the big display on shared RAM.

 

[Andrew D.]

If your not going to be a hardcore user, I would just grab a MacBook. Intensive use of video editing, graphics, and media will probably make you go for a MacBook Pro. If you can throw in a few more hundred, get yourself a MBP.. if not the MB will do you just fine as well. Good luck!