Hi all,
I am looking into buying a Mac laptop for my fiancee in the next 2 months as a graduation present (she is presently using a Dell laptop that is about 3-4 years old... runs a bit slow and things like the keyboard are starting to fall apart). I am planning on buying myself a new iMac in the next couple of months as well (I am also on a Dell laptop right now), so we will become a "Mac household".
Anyway, my question is which model to buy her. I took her to the Apple store yesterday and without saying I was going to buy one for her, tried to get her opinion on which laptop she liked most (Macbook vs. Macbook Pro vs. Macbook Air). The only conclusions I was able to get out of her were that the 11 inch MBA was too small for her, and she didn't like the look of the white Macbook. At this point, I am strongly leaning towards getting her the 128gb 13 inch MBA. However, I am unsure whether to go for the 2 gb RAM or spend the extra money and get the 4 gb RAM. I would likely buy the laptop through the Apple refurb store to save a few dollars (there aren't any 4 GB models on there right now, but there were the other day for about $80 more than the 2 gb). I don't really have much experience with Mac computers, so I'm not really sure if she would "need" the extra RAM or not. She is not a very heavy user (mainly internet browsing and Youtube, e-mail and a bit of word processing - I will get Office 2011 for that). Which model would you recommend? Also, is it worth waiting for Lion or is upgrading the OS fairly easy (sounds like that is the case from what I've read)? Also, would there be any advantage based on her usage of the computer to getting the new 13 inch MBP instead? My main concerns are that the laptop runs well for her current usage and also is "future proof" so that it doesn't start slowing down significantly in 2 years time.
I am looking into buying a Mac laptop for my fiancee in the next 2 months as a graduation present (she is presently using a Dell laptop that is about 3-4 years old... runs a bit slow and things like the keyboard are starting to fall apart). I am planning on buying myself a new iMac in the next couple of months as well (I am also on a Dell laptop right now), so we will become a "Mac household".
Anyway, my question is which model to buy her. I took her to the Apple store yesterday and without saying I was going to buy one for her, tried to get her opinion on which laptop she liked most (Macbook vs. Macbook Pro vs. Macbook Air). The only conclusions I was able to get out of her were that the 11 inch MBA was too small for her, and she didn't like the look of the white Macbook. At this point, I am strongly leaning towards getting her the 128gb 13 inch MBA. However, I am unsure whether to go for the 2 gb RAM or spend the extra money and get the 4 gb RAM. I would likely buy the laptop through the Apple refurb store to save a few dollars (there aren't any 4 GB models on there right now, but there were the other day for about $80 more than the 2 gb). I don't really have much experience with Mac computers, so I'm not really sure if she would "need" the extra RAM or not. She is not a very heavy user (mainly internet browsing and Youtube, e-mail and a bit of word processing - I will get Office 2011 for that). Which model would you recommend? Also, is it worth waiting for Lion or is upgrading the OS fairly easy (sounds like that is the case from what I've read)? Also, would there be any advantage based on her usage of the computer to getting the new 13 inch MBP instead? My main concerns are that the laptop runs well for her current usage and also is "future proof" so that it doesn't start slowing down significantly in 2 years time.
