12-14-2009, 12:03 AM

I'm thinking about buying my mother an Apple laptop for Christmas. I am pretty new to Macs, so I need some of you experts to help me. She is a principal, and will use it for work and home. She wont heavily use it. I'm just wondering what notebook might be good for her. Any more info you guys need, just ask.

12-14-2009, 12:13 AM

I would say go for the regular macbook unless u want 2 spend a couple hundred more bucks and go with the macbook pro. The only difference is the pro has the aluminum look and the firewire and sd reader.

12-14-2009, 12:14 AM

The new white Macbook or the 13" MacBook Pro. If she's doing work on it, and will be needing it for spreadsheets and word documents etc, I highly consider buying Office for Mac or iWork along with it.

Well you beat me to it! I have to agree with you, the Macbook Pro would be a better choice, because of FireWire. Why? Because I highly recommend backing up your system, and it would be best if the external HD was connected via FireWire. So it looks like the MacBook Pro would be the best option.

13" MacBook Pro (or the 15" or 17", just a preference)
Office for Mac or iWork
500GB external HD for back ups

12-14-2009, 12:30 AM

the difference between firewire 400 and USB 2 isn't significant enough IMO to warrant the extra cost just for backup

12-14-2009, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

the difference between firewire 400 and USB 2 isn't significant enough IMO to warrant the extra cost just for backup

I thought the MB Pros had FW 800? Shouldn't that be much faster than USB 2.0? If so, I would have figured that would be best for backing up.

12-14-2009, 12:42 AM

They do, but most external drives are FW400. Backup, in general, is not a high IO type usage btw.. it's unnecessary as it runs quite happily in the background.

12-14-2009, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

They do, but most external drives are FW400. Backup, in general, is not a high IO type usage btw.. it's unnecessary as it runs quite happily in the background.

Huh.. well with that said, you're right. It shouldn't matter. Thanks for clearing that up.

12-14-2009, 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by dillonj

Whay notebook is right for me?

I'm thinking about buying my mother an Apple laptop for Christmas. I am pretty new to Macs, so I need some of you experts to help me. She is a principal, and will use it for work and home. She wont heavily use it. I'm just wondering what notebook might be good for her. Any more info you guys need, just ask.

What exactly would she be using it for?
What applications does she need to use?
What do you mean by "She wont heavily use it."?

Just about any computer would be good for general use, and it doesn't even need to be a Mac.
Depending on what she needs, a Mac might not even be the right choice.

The choice of what computer is best should be left up to the individual.
It's not a choice that should be made by others.
If she wants a Mac and could benefit by using one, then you should talk to her to find out what her needs are.

Don't just spring a Mac on someone and expect that it's the best option for them.
Just because you may be having a positive experience with it doesn't mean that everyone else will.

12-14-2009, 02:06 AM

Will she be doing her "work" work on it, or just home stuff? If she has to manage a lot of documents and spreadsheets of employees, schedules, stuff like that, she might need a larger screen than 13".