How to choose a MacBook? Resources?

As my finances permit, within the next month or two, I plan to make the leap to a Mac. I'm not a Mac person or really a computer person in general, so any buying advice or resources I can utilize would be appreciated. If there's a general article(s) anyone can recommend then that too would be greatly appreciated.

Outside of the fact that I definitely want a MacBook (Pro or Air. not sure) and probably a 13-inch monitor, I'm a bit at a loss on how to choose.

I'm asking: Pro or Air? If Pro, regular or retina? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think before I could even begin asking specific questions, I'd need to do some thorough reading from a reliable, knowledgeable, unbiased source and having trouble finding that to this point.

As a sidenote, the primary crux for me is finances. That said, at this point in my life I'd much rather bite the bullet and pay for a legit product - just trying not to overpay for more than I need if that makes sense. Any deals or financial breaks I can get would be great as I just finished graduate school and not exactly loaded. Any advice on this helps greatly as well.

Thanks in advance.
-Cotton

Firstly, determine what your uses for the machine will be. That may help you decide about things like processor speed and storage space and type. Where will you use the machine? Will you be carrying it about regularly where weight is important? Look to your budget - how much do you feel you will be able to spend on the machine? Know that MB Airs are not upgradable later on so if you determine that you will need more than the basic model has and do not upgrade the memory and storage when you purchase it, you never will. The MB Pro is upgradable later so you may add memory or a larger HDD or SSD as needed.

Thanks WolfPpuppies...

I'll be using the machine mostly for standard personal use (i.e. music, photos, some video, communication, web-surfing), hope to delve into website design, photo/video editing and music creation - moreso as hobbies that have the potential to aid in an entrepreneurial endeavor. I would eventually use it for business record keeping as well (plan to start a sustainable home remodel business within the next 3 years. I'd be using the Mac over the next 3 years on building and design projects (not sure what software yet).

I would likely be carrying it pretty regularly, but wasnt aware that MBA's aren't upgradable - thanks for that info!

I'd say absolute tops for me to spend is probably $1500.

Any reading or resources you'd recommend?

Take a look at the pricing on apple.com. The smallest MB Pro starts at $1199, the 15" starts at $1799. The Airs run $999 and $1199 for base units, 11" and 13".

I have not seen any refurbs at all listed for the past few days, the subject of lots of discussion on many blogs as to why that is the case. I have had really good luck with Apple refurbished merchandise, the warranty is the same as new. I would be concerned about buying a used machine, especially on EBay or Craig's list.

You want expandability as your needs grow which the Air will not allow you. If you consider an Air and one could certainly do what you need and be blissfully light to handle and carry, max it out now because of the future expandability concerns. I just ordered a new 13" Air and it priced out at $2108, loaded with all upgrades. Know also that the Airs do not have an optical drive so you must either have an external optical drive or use file sharing with a computer that does have one in order to burn disks or read from them. Most software these days is downloadable and thumb drives are getting pretty large so an optical drive was never necessary with my MB Air 11".

mr.cotton said:

Any reading or resources you'd recommend?

Click to expand...

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/208133-sage-advice-new-mac-switcher.html


Have a look at these for starters .....
Mac Switching 101
Mac 101
MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps
Mac OS Menu Bar Items
Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
Mac downloads ~ Apple

Here is a list of Apps that people around here use a lot, but be sure to check out what came with the Mac as they are really sufficient in doing most things

Adium ~ Chat Client
Growl Notifications
SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner ~ Both make bootable copies of your HD
HandBrake ~ Video Converting
Burn ~ As it says A Burning App
Transmission ~ p2p client
Skitch ~ Screen capture and more
VLC ~ Video player that plays most codecs and does a lot more
Perian and Flip4Mac Makes watching certain codecs easier ... This is Essential IMHO
Audacity ~ Play with Music App
CandyBar ~ Mods all your icons, and dock
MainMenu or Oynx ~ Does the same as Disk utility only more thorough
Quicksilver ~ Works like Spotlight but way way better and does so much more
StuffitExpander ~ Opens Zip and rar files and more
Lil Snitch ~ Firewall type App that looks at your incoming and outgoing traffic
and last but certainly not least .....
AppTrap ~ Once installed it sits in System Preferences and deletes all associated files of anything that you put in the trash ...

Should keep you busy for a while lol
HTH

Cheers