I am new to the Mac World

[Jeddy]

Hi everybody,

I am sure you have all seen this type of post , but what the heck here it goes. I currently have a really old system that is 10 yrs old and runs on Windows 98 plus I am on dial up. I finally made a decision to go with the Macbook Pro and have an Personal Shopper appt. set up for this Sunday to go buy one. I need some help in picking out what will work for us. The computer is mainly used for email, web ordering, surfing the web, movie watching, plus I will probably take more pictures since I will be on highspeed cable. I am thinking about either the 15 inch or 17inch but I need help on if I should just purchase the basic speed or ramp it up? Sorry if I sound dumb but it is what it is. Thanks

 

[Surely]

Welcome!

IMO, for what you are planning on using it for, you would be more than fine with the lower end specs of either size.

For your purposes, the difference between the 15" and the 17" will be personal preference. Some people find the 17" too big. Some people find the 15" too small. I have the 13", and I think it's the perfect size.

Another option would be to get the 13" or the 15", and to use the money that you would save to buy a larger external display.

 

[Bennieboy©]

for what your gonna be using it for, i'd suggest saving your money and buying a entry spec macbook, not the pro, the macbook will do everything that your asking, and it'll save you a nice little sum

 

[polotska]

Agreed; for the purposes that you mention, the MacBook or MacBook Pro 13" would be more than sufficient. But of the two that you mention, the 15" would be fine.

 

[macgrl]

the 15" should be fine for what you need

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

If I were you, I'd buy the basic new White MacBook for $999 MSRP and then buy a larger external monitor if you want a larger screen for stuff. What your usage will be doesn't need the extra power of the dedicated GPU or any of those features.

 

[Jeddy]

Thanks for all the great replies. This is a great board for sure. I plan to go wireless and was thinking of picking up one of their routers. Any opinions on this??

 

[BlueRevolution]

Don't. Any wireless router will be orders of magnitude faster than your dial-up connection, and there's really nothing special enough about Apple's fare that justifies the price tag. In a time when a decent router can be had for $40, they have no excuse for charging $200+.

You should really look into getting an ADSL or cable connection, though. It's usually not much more expensive than dial-up these days.

 

[Surely]

People are generally happy with Apple's routers.

I used an Airport Express for a number of years before I picked up a NetGear dualband router.

However, there have been some complaints about Time Capsule. Mainly regarding failure of its hard drive.

Are you planning on ditching your dialup? I would recommend it.....

 

[Jeddy]

Don't. Any wireless router will be orders of magnitude faster than your dial-up connection, and there's really nothing special enough about Apple's fare that justifies the price tag. In a time when a decent router can be had for $40, they have no excuse for charging $200+.

You should really look into getting an ADSL or cable connection, though. It's usually not much more expensive than dial-up these days.

I plan on going high speed from my cable company. Right now I can go make coffee come back to the computer and it still is loading I am so ready for high speed and a laptop!

 

[BlueRevolution]

My advice stands. 802.11n is at least 50x faster than most residential Internet connections, and 802.11g is 25x faster. Any router on the market will do.

 

[Dimwhit]

If I were you, I'd buy the basic new White MacBook for $999 MSRP and then buy a larger external monitor if you want a larger screen for stuff. What your usage will be doesn't need the extra power of the dedicated GPU or any of those features.

This.

As for the router, I agree that anything will work. I love my Airport Extreme, but it's quite often overkill. Now what you might consider is getting Time Capsule. Gives you the router and a network drive so Time Machine can keep your nifty new computer backed up. But again, you could also get a cheaper router and an external hard drive for less money.

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

My advice stands. 802.11n is at least 50x faster than most residential Internet connections, and 802.11g is 25x faster. Any router on the market will do.

I don't know where you are, but Comcast cable connections in California tend to start at ~12Mbps and go up to 100Mbps in some areas (mine included). Our connection is their basic in the area and it benchmarks at 15.4Mbps down/4.31Mbps up. That makes 802.11g under optimal conditions ~3.5x more bandwidth than the connection. I mean, I still get maximum download speeds over the WiFi connection with my WRT45G v.whatever no problem.

The OP said he'll be on cable, so I imagine it'll be at least 6-8Mbps downstream...so yeah, just a head's up.

To OP: I'd vote still, go with the White Unibody MacBook and a Linksys G or N-router and save the rest of your money.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Goin' to California. I'm in Edmonton, Alberta, where I've got 2.5 Mbps up / .75 down. Regardless, 802.11g at 54 Mbps is still faster than your internet connection.