New to Macs; Hoping to use GarageBand

So yes, I am new to Macs. I'm not familiar with them at all but I've really only heard good things. Recently I came up the program called GarageBand that Macs are capable of running and being an avid fan of creating my own music, I quickly fell in love with what the software offered.

I am 100% sure that I want to purchase a Mac for the use of GarageBand. It was also be used for browsing the internet and chatting but primarily I want the system for running that program. However, I'm lost as to where I should even start my search.

The idea of having a MacBook or MacBook Pro is very attractive for the sake of convenience. It'd be nice to have it for when I'm on the go and have it easily accessible. However, I seemed to notice that for about the same price, I could purchase an iMac that's more powerful.

I guess I'm basically asking whether it's more sound to get a macbook or just an iMac. Again, I really like the idea of the MacBook but fear paying up the nose for one powerful enough to do what I need it to.

Also, is it easier to upgrade one over the other? That may help me as well.

Thanks in advance for any help!

To be honest other than the hard drive space the iMac and MBP are very similar. I personally love my 15" MBP. It runs extremely fast for me and can do anything I throw at it.

Well, the MB or MBP is going to be portable and will be more expensive because of this. The iMac is going to be more powerful for less money. The RAM is the main thing that you can upgrade, which is really simple on all three machines. I have a MacBook that I got about 15 months ago; 2.0GHz CPU and put in 2GB RAM (not from Apple). I was running Logic Express 7 on it without problems for what I was doing. My iMac is a 2.4GHz CPU with 3GB RAM and I run Logic Studio (Pro 8) on it without problems. GarageBand isn't that power greedy of a program. So, in my opinion, it's all about if you need the portability of the MB/MBP or not.

I use a MBP as the main computer to record with at my studio.

And depending on what you're planning on recording, there may be more items you need. Plus GB isn't that great in comparison with most other recording software out there.

Thanks for the input thus far everyone, I appreciate it.

I've decided that for right now, considering costs of an audio interface and MIDI keyboard, I should stick with a MacBook for now. If I become more serious, I will definitely consider a more powerful computer.

So my question now is, would this be a suitable MacBook? I don't imagine myself doing too much with it and definitely only running GarageBand.

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop... 120GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive - White-MacBook

I bought a MacBook (black, 2GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive) and also found Garageband. Now, I've purchased an M-Audio Amiom25, an M-Audio Fast Track Pro (to record electric guitar/bass/vocals), an M-Audio iControl, and an M-Audio Trigger Finger. I've never had so much fu in my entire life......

Go for it.

Check out refurbeds and go with 1gb to keep the price down. You can buy 1GB sticks for less than $40.