Need help knowing what to buy

[Rlanoue]

I'm in the market for a laptop, and I'm wanting to switch from PC to Mac. I have an iPhone 4s and an iPad 2. It seems that the logical direction would be to go with Mac since I have Apple mobile devices.

My main dilemma is that I'm trying to find something in the $500-$600 range, and that limits me a lot. What I'm looking for is, what do I need to know before making a purchase?

Here's what I DO know:
1. I need something with at least an intel core duo processor (is this the newest?)
2. I'd like at least 2 GIGs of RAM.
3. Hard Drive space needs to be around 300 Gigs.
4. I need at least Lion to get all the benefits of iCloud and syncing all devices (is this correct?

What else do I need to consider?

thanks in advance for any help you all can provide!

 

[robvas]

You should be able to get a 2008 Macbook (Aluminum unibody) or a 2009 Macbook Pro for $600 - maybe a 2010 if you're lucky.

Make sure the battery is good, a new battery is a hundred bucks alone.

 

[Spectrum Abuser]

The Mid-2010 Macbook Unibody will have software support for a few more years. It's GPU is no slacker with an Nvidia 320M. It supports up to 8GB of RAM[two slots at 4GB a stick] and has an Intel Core-2 Duo processor at 2.4Ghz a core. With an SSD upgrade this machine would become a great option in terms of portable power.

 

[minifridge1138]

You should be able to get a 2008 Macbook (Aluminum unibody) or a 2009 Macbook Pro for $600 - maybe a 2010 if you're lucky.

Make sure the battery is good, a new battery is a hundred bucks alone.

I completely agree.

While the 2007 and newer MacBook meets the specs the OP said he wanted, I'd go with 2008 or newer.

Mountain Lion isn't supported on the 2007, so 2008 is as old (and therefore as cheap) as you can go and get active support from Apple.