Never bought a mac before and need advice

[mikehoius]

I am looking into buying a new laptop and I think it is going to be a mac. I'm going to be using it for web browsing, email, and typing out documents. I am also going to be running photoshop on it. I have a couple of questions the first one is should I buy a mac book or mac book pro. Just so you know I have a 20 inch external display so I will be editing photo's on that. I'm leaning towards a mac pro with a 15 inch display.

The next question is should I purchase one with a core 2 duo or just a core duo. I see the returned core duo's on the apple confused website and they seem a lot cheaper than the core 2 duo's.

Any advice you could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[matthew24]

It all depends on your financial position. If that is no major concern I would go for the MBP core 2 duo ( 64bit vs 32bit ). But in all honesty for the average user the MacBook will do just fine.
I always prefer to try a computer before buying, is there no AppleStore close to where you live? Advice: Go for at least 1GB (preferable 2GB) and you will be settled for ages. Whatever you choose, it will serve you well.

 

[Aniej]

I am looking into buying a new laptop and I think it is going to be a mac. I'm going to be using it for web browsing, email, and typing out documents. I am also going to be running photoshop on it. I have a couple of questions the first one is should I buy a mac book or mac book pro. Just so you know I have a 20 inch external display so I will be editing photo's on that. I'm leaning towards a mac pro with a 15 inch display.

The next question is should I purchase one with a core 2 duo or just a core duo. I see the returned core duo's on the apple confused website and they seem a lot cheaper than the core 2 duo's.

Any advice you could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks

I would recommend you lean towards either a MacBook (black) or a MBP core duo. This, of course depends on what sort of photo editing you are doing. From what it sounds and since you have never owned a Mac before, which suggests you are likely not in the industry and will just be doing basic photo editing, I would stick with one of these two and if not cost preclusive err on the side of the MBP with better graphics card and the slightly larger screen for when you take it mobile. This all is based on my assumptions so I leave it to you to fill in the gaps. You will have a great new product though.

 

[ziwi]

If $ is no option get the MBP just for longevity and future proof sake, if $ is a concern then get the MB as it should handle the tasks you mentioned fine - if using photoshop on it, just pony in more RAM.

 

[heehee]

What do you mean by "running Photoshop"? Are you just doing basic stuff or making a living out of it? If you are just doing basic stuff, I would go with the MacBook.

 

[lord patton]

Strongly consider the refurbs. Every dollar saved on the computer is more money you can spend on RAM. And RAM is far more important to you than CD v. C2D.

If you do go for a C2D machine, get one with the 4MB L2 cache (i.e. not the 1.83 gHz).

 

[mikehoius]

Thanks for the advice

I went to look at both of them today and I am going to buy the mac book. I already have two gig of RAM that is in my current PC that will work in the mac book so this should work just fine for me.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Passante]

I went to look at both of them today and I am going to buy the mac book. I already have two gig of RAM that is in my current PC that will work in the mac book so this should work just fine for me.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Don't assume that the RAM will work. OS X is very demanding of RAM.

 

[Killyp]

Yes, it must be the correct type of RAM. It might not physically fit in the MacBook, or you might insert it and end up killing the MacBook. Make sure it's a compatible type, which is PC2-5300 DDR2. Make sure it's 667 MHz RAM, any slower and you'll probably find the 512 that comes in the machine is faster than 2 gb of slower RAM.