laptop for business use and mac newbie - recommendations

[musicismypill]

Hi

What a terrific site/forum I have searched long and hard and gained a lot of knowledge from here.

I have recently been given the task of hunting out a laptop for my dad.

In his office they currently have an aluminium iMac 2.0GHZ running leopard and a time capsule 500GB both are terrific so naturally I want to get him a mac laptop.

He has almost never used a computer at all but ultimately he will end up using office 2004/2008, safari, iphoto. I can't see him ever doing any cpu/gpu intensive stuff other than maybe light photo work but he is also very interested in a pro model. I can see him getting frustrated with a 13" glossy screen. Also a macbook with an external display would not be a good solution as the constant unplugging etc would bug him.

I have narrowed it down to the following options (I have converted our local New Zealand prices incl education discount to USD for comparison)

NEW MBP 15" 2.4GHZ $2190
REFURB MBP 15" 2.4GHZ $1900
NEW MB (black) 2.4GHZ $1800
REFURB MB (white) 2.4GHZ $1200
USED PB G4 1.67GHZ $750-850

He is concerned about buying a used laptop so are powerbooks generally reliable?

At the moment I am leaning towards either the refurbished MBP or the 17" PB.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

[GGJstudios]

Given your criteria, I'd recommend the refurb MBP. You can get it under warranty and buy AppleCare for it, which could come in handy if he's not a power user or used to the "care and feeding" of a notebook.

 

[ntrigue]

I clicked-in to say the 1.8GHz MBA?! If this is not a viable option I would suggest a 'Refurbished' product.

 

[GGJstudios]

I clicked-in to say the 1.8GHz MBA?! If this is not a viable option I would suggest a 'Refurbished' product.

If you read the OP's criteria:

.... I can see him getting frustrated with a 13" glossy screen.

 

[rockthecasbah]

If there is an issue with the screen then go Refurb MBP. Otherwise a regular MacBook is just fine... Take your dad into a store if possible and have him test out the screen to see if it would bother him or not.

 

[musicismypill]

Thanks everyone.

ntrigue - I had considered the MBA but the screen and price don't really justify it in this situation. Although they are a wonderful machine in the flesh

I think I will drag him down to a reseller to have a play. Looks like refurbished MBP is the way to go.