Unibody MacBook or Unibody MacBook Pro?

[DivineEvil]

Hi guys, I'm coming to the US in 10 days to work and when I get a few paychecks I plan on getting a laptop. About 6 weeks ago I was very confused as of what it will be... Windows PC or Mac. Then I installed a hackintosh 10.5.6 now 10.5.7 and it's great. So I've decided it will be a Mac!

But the problem... Pro or not? As I'm a student with J1 visa I can work in the US for only 4 months. I don't know how much money I'll be able to save after I return the debts I made to go to the US. Anyway if everything went fine and I will be able to spent about 2000$ for a laptop... And should I!

I know I know the Pros are... Pros . Better graphics and stuff, but do I really need it? I'm currently using a 15" Acer TravelMate 2410 which is about 5 years old, but I upgraded the ram and HDD and it's a decent laptop for movies, browsing and word processing. Pretty much all the things I do.

I plan not to buy a new laptop at least 4-5 years from now. Till then a cool new technologies will emerge (mainly USB 3.0...) a few great games will be released (Diablo III, Starcraft II...) and I would want to have/play them. An ExpressCard slot will allow me to buy an USB 3.0 express card which will allow me to use the MBP with a future USB 3.0 flash drives / cameras / external HDD (yeah TimeMachine ).

I simply can not decide... Also the price is of great importance here. $400-500 dollars are a lot of cash for me, because with such money I can live for 3-4 months when I'm back to my home country.

I saw that there are a few hundred dollars off if I buy a refurbished Macbook (Pro). What is the quality? Would you buy a refurbished Macbook? If you have bought one have you had nay problems with it?

Oh and one last question . When does the Back to School promo usually starts? And will I be eligible, I have an ISIC card?

 

[Jocelyn84]

If you're not going to be residing in CA, TN, IL
WI, MN, or NY(or other states, depending on which seller you pick)... I'd buy a MBP from an apple authorized online reseller and using windows live cashback.
Check out http://wheretobuy.apple.com/Catalog.html and http://www.pcprices.net/
I just got a tax free 15 inch 2.4 Unibody MBP from Clubmac for $1685 + shipping! Of course that price is after I get the 54 dollars from Live cashback, but its only about 20 dollars more than a taxed 2.4 Macbook from the Apple store (1,663.94). Good luck on your decision!

Edit: Oh yeah forgot to mention that $1685 is also after $150 rebate

 

[DivineEvil]

I'll be in Boston, MA... Wow these prices are great !

I was considering a Macbook 2.4GHz or 15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz... After I saw this I'll definitely be a Pro . But after I use windows live cashback do I qualify for other rebates? Because there is 150$ mail-in rebate at ClubMac atm. Or when using Windows Live Cashback I get the rebate the rebate instantly (or I should say I pay the after rebate price) when buying from the online store and getting an additional cashback...?

 

[The General]

I ordered my 17" uMBP from macconnection.com, it was $2654 with no tax, free shipping and a $150 mail-in rebate. I live in California. So the total cost for me was $2504. Pretty good, considering the 2.66Ghz 15" is $2499 + 8.25% tax from Apple.

 

[Mactagonist]

I'll be in Boston, MA... Wow these prices are great !

I was considering a Macbook 2.4GHz or 15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz... After I saw this I'll definitely be a Pro . But after I use windows live cashback do I qualify for other rebates? Because there is 150$ mail-in rebate at ClubMac atm. Or when using Windows Live Cashback I get the rebate the rebate instantly (or I should say I pay the after rebate price) when buying from the online store and getting an additional cashback...?

You should be able to find a new in box 2.4 Macbook Pro for $1650-1700 on craigslist in Boston. At that price the better graphics, larger screen and firewire of the Macbook Pro are worth it. By the end of your time working here you could probably find one even cheaper.