MacBook or MacBook Pro?????

My friend is planning to buy a mac next week, and these are the two options he has.

1) 2008 Aluminum MacBook
2.4ghz
250gb hard drive
comes with illuminated keyboard, etc...
4 hour battery, removable
$1,149

2) 2009 Aluminum MacBook Pro
2.26ghz
160gb hard drive
comes with illuminated keyboard, etc...
7 hour battery, not removable
sd card slot, firewire
$1,155

I told him to go with option A since he doesn't use firewire & the sd card slot. He's going to be using it for basic student word processing, etc. One thing he needs for one of his classes is to run windows for a specific program so he's going to be using vm ware or parallels.

What do you guys think?

this may help.... but personally, I would go with the MBP! Apple MacBook Pro Summer 2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 9400M, 13-inch) Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews
Apple MacBook (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

But, before jumping the gun.... I would go with this option:Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (U.S.)
Scroll down to the MBP

New Option 1: http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB991LL/A?mco=MTA4MzI0OTE

New Option 2:http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC118LL/A?mco=MTA4MzI1OTk

Totally agree with 6string. Personally, can't recommend one that does not have FW, even if you don't need it "right now".

You can get that same MBP direct from Apple for $999 and have the full 1 year warranty.

Just another indication of how many Mac users think their machines are worth more than they really are.

I'd go with option 2. I just bought that model two weeks ago, and I love it. There is something to be said for the long battery life. And he may not use FW or SD now, but someday soon he may be wishing his laptop had those capabilities. I have no regrets about my new MacBook Pro.

ingallsra said:

I'd go with option 2. I just bought that model two weeks ago, and I love it. There is something to be said for the long battery life. And he may not use FW or SD now, but someday soon he may be wishing his laptop had those capabilities. I have no regrets about my new MacBook Pro.

Click to expand...

If you love yours, I hope you checked out the"new option 2" that I put in my post, so that you can maybe help influence ryankk49 in his (his friend's) decision.
At just over $300 more, it is way way more than that in added value! With the choice of applecare (extra warranty) to take up anytime within the year that 1year warranty exists, it is a major upgrade however you look at it!

6string said:

If you love yours, I hope you checked out the"new option 2" that I put in my post, so that you can maybe help influence ryankk49 in his (his friend's) decision.
At just over $300 more, it is way way more than that in added value! With the choice of applecare (extra warranty) to take up anytime within the year that 1year warranty exists, it is a major upgrade however you look at it!

Click to expand...

It is a nice option...but right now they're out of stock on the website. Returning a $700 Sony Vaio with more RAM and significantly bigger hard drive and buying a MacBook Pro for $500 more with less RAM and much smaller hard drive was a bitter enough pill to swallow. I just can't fork out another $300...
THAT BEING SAID, I love my MacBook Pro, and the lower-end 13" Pro does everything I need it to do extremely well. I actually also prefer the smaller screen to a 15".

If you're going to get the MBP wait for a week or two when they release the new ones with a new chip inside of it

I would get the macbook pro. The macbook pro is a 2009 model and the macbook is a 2008 model. The macbook pro also has the aluminum unibody construction, sd card slot, backlit keyboard and firewire as already mentioned. Check out apple's refurbished macbook pros. I'm sure you could find a better deal.

Thanks for all the input guys. I initially recommended him to go with refurbished, but it seems that the apple store is sold out of all 13" Refurbished MBP's. Also, his budget is pretty tight and even the $1100 is pushing it. The reason I recommended the MacBook is because since he's going to be using it for running Mac OS & Windows at the same time, I was thinking maybe the extra space and faster processor might help a lot? I've seen friends with the 2.26 model and it'll lag from time to time. What do you think?

I don't think that would help a lot. Unless he is doing like heavy editing or using a lot of cpu intensive programs, there should be no lagging.