Buying Advice--160GB?250GB?--2GB?4GB? RAM--Running Leopard/Vista

Hello Everyone!

New guy here and have been browsing through the numerous messages here and thought I would finally ask my question.

I was wondering what you guys think about which type of Black MacBook I should get for the tasks that I use it for.

Hard Drive: is 160GB enough? or should I get the 250GB? (some sellers offer a $100 rebate only on the 160GB model...so if I go with the 250GB, I will have to pay for the difference, $150, AND the additional $100 for not getting the rebate. ($250 additional)

RAM: I was looking at crucial's website....approximately $100 for a 2G kit or $200 for a 4G kit.

Uses: I'm planning to use Leopard and Windows Vista with VMWare Fusion. Applications such as Photoshop, MS Office, SPSS, Internet Browsing, some Movies/TV series from Itunes, store my music on my ipod/itunes....possibly even connect it to my LCD tv for viewing, edit home movies and quite a bit of photos, etc.

I just want to have a computer that I won't have to update too much for at least 3 yrs or so.....as long as I can do my basic tasks. Not a gamer here so I really don't need a MBP for around $1,000 more....

Should I just stick with the 160GB? I have an older thinkpad with 30GB and I"m already maxed out...that's why I wanted to get the biggest HD available just as a reflex action....but my friend said 160GB is plenty for what I use it for and that 2GB ram should be fine.....I just wanted to confirm this....

What would you do?

Thanks in advance for the help!

P.S. If I were to partition the drive for Bootcamp for Vista.....how would you partition the 160GB vs 250GB hard drive? I want to leave majority of space for Leopard but still have sufficient space for Vista and other Windows based apps.

I have a 2.16C2D MB with 3GB RAM and a 160GB 7200rpm HDD. I do most of what you have described but run XP on Parallels instead of Vista on Fusion. No problems to speak of here. I use an external 320GB Firewire HDD connected to my Mac Mini for Leopard's Time Machine backups, and another external 750GB Firewire HDD connected to the Mini for my video, photo and audio storage needs. These are configured using the Leopard System Preferences File Sharing settings and shared over my Airport Extreme wireless network (not AirDisK). Works like a charm.
Dave

PS: I only have 20GB in my XP partition. Just enough to load up Office 2003 and 2007, MSDN stuff and my employer's Windows-only time tracking software for work.

i went and played with a 2.2 MB tonight. thoroughly impressed with it vs my GFs MB 1.83 CD

ill be buying a MB soon, just dont know what white level