Which MacBook is right for me?

[safetyobc]

Hello!

I have been reading and researching for a couple of weeks now on the Macbooks. I am lost!

I want a "GOOD" laptop that is portable and for entertainment purposes mainly. I have never owned a Mac and really want one!

I have narrowed it down between the Black Macbook 2.16 GHz, 2GB Ram, 160GB HD or the Macbook Pro 2.2 GHz 2GB Ram and 160GB HD.

I want the new notebook for:

• Internet
• DVD Movie Watching
• iTunes
• Watching Podcasts and other downloaded content
• word processing occasionally
• iLife (minor photo and video editing)

I don't game on my computers (I have an XBox 360 for that).

I honestly prefer the looks and size of the Black Macbook over the Pro model, however, I don't want to want for performance in the things I want to do (listed above)... Will the MB be "fast" on the tasks listed above?

How does the Black MB with the specs listed above perform on the tasks I want to do? Is that a good choice?

I know it is a chance that Apple will update the MB line at the end of Oct. and Leopard will be released, but I am not concerned too much about that.

What are your suggestions......

Thanks!

 

[iMouseHD]

I say go for the Macbook for what you are wanting it for I dont think you be wanting for perfomance, besides do we ever really not want for performace when there is something faster out there, so even if you got the MBP, there is a faster one still out there

If you like the form and the function of the Macbook, bonus, then welcome to a great world of Mac ownership.

 

[mick4394]

A Macbook has more than enough power to handle what you want to throw at it. For your needs, I don't see any point in spending the money on a MBP.

 

[j26]

A Macbook has plenty of power for what you want, and if you prefer it over the mbp anyway, you'd be mad to spend the extra.

 

[~J~]

A Macbook has more than enough power to handle what you want to throw at it. For your needs, I don't see any point in spending the money on a MBP.

I agree... especially with everyone's reviews of Leopard being even faster than Tiger... everything you want to do, the MB will handle nicely. Enjoy!

 

[safetyobc]

I agree... especially with everyone's reviews of Leopard being even faster than Tiger... everything you want to do, the MB will handle nicely. Enjoy!

Awesome, thanks for the great feedback guys!

Soooo, even if I wanted to spend the $129 to upgrade to Leopard when released, the 13" Macbook should have no problem running it just as well as Tiger (expecting there are no major bugs of course)?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

an iBook would do that fine. A Macbook with eat those tasks as a midnight snack.

 

[safetyobc]

OH, I almost forgot....

I would also like to install Parallel's 3.0 and Windows XP Home Edition at a later time. Would that run okay on a Macbook with the specs as above?

Or I could just use Bootcamp if I had to. I have a couple of "Windows only Apps" that I may need later down the line.

How well does Windows XP run on the Macbook?

Will NOT put Vista on my machine!!!!!

 

[velocityg4]

It will definitely have enough power for parallels and Windows XP. Heck a 2GHz P4 with 512MB RAM is good enough for everyday XP uses. Even though you do not want Vista it would handle that well and XP's requirements are nothing compared to Vista.

 

[chris315]

Definetly the macbook

 

[flopticalcube]

OH, I almost forgot....

I would also like to install Parallel's 3.0 and Windows XP Home Edition at a later time. Would that run okay on a Macbook with the specs as above?

Or I could just use Bootcamp if I had to. I have a couple of "Windows only Apps" that I may need later down the line.

How well does Windows XP run on the Macbook?

Will NOT put Vista on my machine!!!!!

VMware Fusion (better than Parallels IMHO) and XP (via bootcamp, too) runs very well on my MacBook. In fact, MacBooks are amongst the fastest small laptops around (excepting GPU ).

 

[Luigi239]

I have the exact same Macbook that you are looking at. I also do everything that you do, and even more demanding stuff, and the Macbook works like a charm. I play full screen HD podcasts on a regular basis on my Macbook, and everything is fine. The only advantage of the pro is the graphics card, but like I said, a Macbook will be fine.