Unless you are doing some heavy video editing or some commercial usage, an ibook would be more than enough. I am on my second g4 ibook and still learning new things, now I am into web design and this little ibook still outdoes other un-nameable machines. Trying to compare macs with other processors is like trying to compare apples to couliflower. Sure they're both nutritous, but one taste good and is easy to eat, the other taste like crap and gives you gas. the faster the APPLE processor and ram you can get, obviously the better. Forget intel, if you wanted a windows machine you wouldn't be on this board. your best bet, get an ibook, get the best speed processor you can, maximize your ram, and you are good to go.