Which MacBook Am I?
mood: 
inquisitive
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nppyinzersays that when we get our tax refund back (gotta love the adoption tax credit) that I can get the computer that I want. Now, why do I need a new computer?, you might ask. Well, the one that I currently use is a desktop that I bought back in 2000. I saved up and bought the best computer that I could, and it has held up remarkably well. Then, this past year, I maxed out the hard drive space. I have 50GB, and with all the pictures, video, and now scrapbooking that I do, I had to move all of my actual files onto an external USB drive. Also, between XP and Norton, my computer is just very slow. Finally, some programs won't even really run on it. Oh, and it's a desktop. So I have to be sitting here in my scrapbooking/guest room to do anything. Which means I never get anything done. With a laptop, I can play with Jack and occasionally look at email, or watch TV while scrapbooking, etc.
I'm having a hard time deciding which MacBook I want. Well, I want the 17-inch MacBook Pro. My thoughts are - if you're gonna buy a computer, buy the best one that you can, so it will last as long as possible. But do I really need that? It seems as though I'm paying $400 extra just for the screen.
Then there's the second tier, 15-inch MacBook Pro. But it's essentially the same as the first one; it just has 250GB of hard drive space and a 2.5ghz chip as opposed to 200GB/2.4ghz, , which makes it cost $400 more than the base-level MacBook Pro. The base level MacBook Pro is $1999.00. Plus 8.25% sales tax for California. Woof! I wish I could buy it in NH.
Now, the MacBook Air is really cool, but it only comes with an 80GB drive, and what I need the most is hard drive space. It also doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, and that's an issue for me, as I do a lot of CD burning. So, no MacBook Air for Robyn.
I'm thinking the MacBook Pros over the MacBooks because the Pros are made of aluminum. Not only does that make them sturdier, it actually also makes them "greener." Aluminum production is less energy-intensive than plastic production, aluminum doesn't give off as many gases as plastic, and aluminum can be recycled (though how one might recycle a computer I'm not sure).
I'll be keeping my desktop as a work-from-home machine, as a lot of my work is still Windows-based. The Mac will be for my own writing, scrapbooking, photos, and other projects. I'm going to have to get a different monitor for my desktop, because I've got this 21-inch ViewSonic, which I love, but which is just way too big and takes up too much space. I'm thinking I'll look out for an older flat screen on eBay or something.
Anyway, would anyone care to chime in? Should I go for the high-end, or somewhere in the middle? Should I just get the MacBook, without the Pro? The MacBooks come with far less hard drive space by default, in addition to being made of plastic.
I know
jayspec gave me some advice long ago, but I can no longer find it.
Although, while I can't answer authoritatively, I wonder if the environmental factor of being made of plastic is offset by the fact that the slower processor will necessarily use less power. If you don't need it, you're wasting lots of cycles over the entire course of your ownership of the computer, rather than the one-time cost of recycling. It may (or may not) be a false economy.
And there's absolutely no reason you can't run Windows on this laptop as well, either on a separate partition, or using a product like Parallels. I assure you, the performance on modern Intel hardware is much better than old-style emulators. On my older MacBook (that I had to give back to work when I changed positions, alas) Windows in a Parallels window had entirely acceptable performance.
My husband is running Windows Vista on his MacBook Pro in a VMWare-like solution and it is extremely elegant. I can ask him exactly what his setup is if you're interested. I've only looked at it over his shoulder.
On the plastic vs. aluminum question, the insides are far more mass than the case, and they are made of similar materials on either machine. The case is not inconsiderable, but it's not the whole enchilada.
I think the beautiful 17 inch screen is worth $400. It is such a nice screen and you will feel restricted by screen real estate much less frequently.
Another consideration is travel. How often will you be hauling this thing around? If you will be traveling (even locally) with it, you might want to consider that the MacBook will be easier to carry around than the MacBook Pro.
One last thing - no matter what computer you buy, do plan on continuing to use your USB hard drive for backing up your photos or implementing some other very low maintenance backup system. Hard drives are _NOT_ reliable in the long term. They DO fail all of the time and it would be devastating to lose your pictures. We keep our photos on our family Mac and when I sync my iPod I also sync my iPhoto library using the "Include full resolution photos" option so my photos are always backed up.
I do intend to lug this thing around a lot. The MacBook is easier to carry?
Yes, I would still back everything up. Right now, all of my pictures are not only on the USB drive, but on 3 different external picture web sites. I'm insane about my pictures!
I do run some graphics intense programs. The one piece of scrapbooking software that fits on my machine sucks memory like there's no tomorrow. I may jettison that in favor of an upgrade, or another program, however.
When it comes to environmentalism, there's also the process of making the aluminum v. plastic, and plastic is more intense. The power issue is one I'd not thought of though.
Thank you Jason! If you have anymore advice, please let me know!
Get the cheapest MacBook, and optionally a gig of extra ram FROM A THIRD-PARTY VENDOR (under no circumstances pay Apple's ram prices), and it'll be fine for all the stuff you're doing.