Future Owner With Questions

Hi,

Come Christmas, I (hope) to be a new MacBook owner. I am interested in the 13" white MacBook. However, I'm not sure which would be more worth my money; the 2.0GHz version or the 2.2GHz version.

I will be using my MacBook for the basic things: Internet use, and some video/music/image editing and web design/coding. More likely than not, I will not play any games on it. I'll probably use Photoshop and Sony Vegas, but other than that, I probably won't even need any other major programs.

I've talked with Apple Sales people via their live chat, but I personally don't feel they give me the most accurate answers. I was told the only difference (other than less GB, etc.) is that you cannot burn your movies to a CD with the 2.0GHz version. Appearently, everything else will be the same, speed and everything - I'd hope...

So, coming from experienced owners, what do you think is the better buy?

Thanks,
LG

P.S. I have a few more general questions. If you wouldn't mind answering...

In general, is the 13" MacBook a good product?

How is 13 inches, anyway? I only use a 15" monitor now, so it probably won't be that big of a difference, right?

Do you think they're going to have a new model of the MacBook at Macworld that will cause me to regret purchasing one now?

You will be making a good decision to purchase the 13" 2.2 with 2G of ram. You will have a good machine for years to come.
The screen is a little small, but you will get used to it. You can always plug your current monitor into the MB. That's what I do.

There are a lot of roumors out there about a new line of laptops. So if you dont need it now, then I would wait for another month.

the difference between 2 GhZ and 2.2 GhZ won't be noticeable. Really the difference is the DVD burner (the 2.2 model has it, the 2.0 model doesn't). I think the burner (plus larger harddrive) is reason to get the middle model - you might not burn DVDs often, but when you want to, you will be glad you have the burner.

visualpurple said:

the difference between 2 GhZ and 2.2 GhZ won't be noticeable. Really the difference is the DVD burner (the 2.2 model has it, the 2.0 model doesn't). I think the burner (plus larger harddrive) is reason to get the middle model - you might not burn DVDs often, but when you want to, you will be glad you have the burner.

Click to expand...

I'd second that - get the best you can afford. I got my wife the one without the DVD burner, thinking she'd never want to use it, and of course now she wants to create a DVD and was unhappy to hear she'd have to use my MacBook to burn the DVD. 'Why is yours better than mine" I got...

Third vote for getting the 2.2. The cheapest Macbook has a CD writer/DVD Reader while the one model up can burn both CD/DVD. Save some cash and buy your memory from another source (not Apple). Apple charges a lot for their RAM and if you don't mind taking 10 minutes to install RAM then buy it somewhere else.

The Macbook is a good machine. My advice would be to hook up an external monitor to the Macbook when you are at home to have a bigger display. While 13" is very usable, it does help to hook it up to an external display when you are near one.

Apple seriously needs to rethink the DVD burner thing. Even the cheapest of laptops have DVD writers nowadays, it's not a novelty any more.

As for the macbook's screen size, it is 13.3". If you are using a 15" CRT monitor, then it's viewable size is generally going to be 13.9". Just so you know.

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll go with the 2.2. Like most of you said, I think it will be well worth it.