A friend at work asked me for a laptop recommendation, so I figured I would simply post that here so that the peanut gallery could add their comments as well. At a high level I suggest the following. My reasoning is below, feel free to disagree with me in the comments:
- The mid-range MacBook (the one with the SuperDrive for burning DVDs)
- Upgrade to 2GB
- Plan on getting an external USB hard drive for backups
My standard recommendation for all personal computers these days is “buy a Mac”. I’ve been firmly in that camp since switching (from Linux) about four years ago, and I’m even firmer in that camp since their switch to Intel chips. Essentially I believe that Macs are better at and easier to use for the majority of common tasks that people really want to do (digital life, Internet, managing personal data). There’s often an adjustment period for people coming from Windows, but in the end a Mac can do everything and more, and often make the workflow more efficient. For power users, there’s no question that the combination of a great GUI and a core BSD operating system is the killer combination that has most technical conferences completely dominated by Apple hardware these days.
Some people may have reasons that they want a desktop machine (and Apple has plenty of good options there), but I also generally recommend that people tend towards laptops these days, they are just so good and so flexible. The current laptops are amazingly capable:
- All of them include an integrated video camera – iChat A/V is really cool!
- Support for the Apple Remote Control – It seems trivial but its really nice for showing slideshows on a big TV
- And of course beautiful screens, good battery life, built-in wifi and bluetooth, and a nice touches like indicator lights on the charger and batteries
So for a laptop, my basic recommendation is to go for the mid-range MacBook (not the Pro…more later). There’s not a huge difference between the regular and the Pro, and most normal users won’t notice them:
- Slightly more screen pixels (well, many more on the 17″, but that thing is just too damn big)
- Better graphics card, and the out-of-the-box ability on the Pros to support separate displays on the internal screen and an external monitor (this is nice for the ability to instantly increase your screen real estate, but I’ve heard the regular MacBook can do this as well through a software hack)
- Backlit keyboard (OK I’ll admit that this looks frickin’ cool, but the place its most useful is on a plane…where I’m usually trying to conserve battery power…)
- An ExpressCard slot for peripherals, but most of these can be attached through USB or Bluetooth
Of course the MacBook Pro can get you more power (faster CPU, space for more RAM, and a better graphics card), but unless you’re going to be editing a professional movie or rendering massive images, my feeling is that the MacBook is a great fit for almost everyone, and up to $1000 cheaper. In fact, I actually prefer the slightly smaller MacBook form factor.
So my standard recommendation is for the mid-range 13-inch MacBook. I think that the upgrade to the SuperDrive (for DVD burning) is well worth it. I also highly recommend filling it with 2GB of RAM. RAM is about the most important thing you can do for Mac performance. It can be cheaper to buy from an online retailer like crucial.com, but sometimes that requires throwing away the RAM that shipped with the box, so its good that Apple has lowered the overall cost on RAM so its easiest to just upgrade when you order.
I gotta say, I do think that the matte black MacBook looks really damn cool, but I’m not sure its worth the style tax of $200 (with 40GB more disk space).
If anyone strongly disagrees (or supports), please feel free to comment below!
Rand Wacker 
Actually, the 13″ MacBook (which I currently own) can do both mirroring (like the old iBook) and screen spanning (adding another screen to increase desktop space).
I very much agree with your recommendation of crucial.com for memory; Apple charges far too much.
As to whether the black MacBook is worth it… well, I have one, and I think it looks very nice. But, I’m vain that way. In the end the extra 40Gb of disk didn’t matter because I replaced the drive with a 160Gb SATA drive from Newegg.com.
Which brings up one more advantage of the MacBook – the hard drive is very, very easy to upgrade. While the MacBook Pro is a lot easier to upgrade than the old PowerBooks were, it still isn’t for the faint of heart.
So, for the vast majority of people who don’t demand larger than 1400×800 resolution *and* don’t need a high end video card, the MacBook is a great laptop. That being said, I’m trading it in for a MacBook Pro next week because the Pro can handle 3GB of RAM and it turns out I can really use that… but I’m a demographic of one.
~bc
I bought a lower-end MacBook (i.e., 1.83 GHZ and no Super-Drive) to replace my dead iBook (that had lasted me about 5 years). Fortuately, the place I bought it from (PCConnection.com) had a special at the time in which they upgraded the memory to 1 GB for no cost. I couldn’t be happier! I chose this one primarily for financial reasons. I don’t have any real need for burning DVDs, and I don’t really play many games or do any video editing, so this MacBook was perfect. Plus, I gutted out my old iBook and sold the Airport card over eBay and put the old hard drive in a USB enclosure, so that it’s my new external hard drive. Although I don’t really use much Windows that much anymore, there is the occasional task that I use Windows for, so the whole option of using Boot Camp or Parallels also played a role in my decision making. Anyway, love the new laptop!
Nice writeup Rand! I’ve spent my own money on a Macbook despite being able to acquire (literally) any model I want for *personal* use.
One quick comment about RAM — if you do not go with Apple, be sure you go with a reputable source. There’s a TON of bad memory out there for sale and bad RAM can do far more than crash your machine. If you want all of the gory technical detail, feel free to email me offline.
Oops, I meant 1280 x 800, not 1400 x 800. Mea Culpa.
Thanks Rand for the detailed write-up. Chris suggested that I review your blog since I’m in the process of buying my first Mac to use primarily when I travel. I already have a Dell laptop that replaced my desktop, but it’s too big & heavy to lug around. Rather than buying another Windows laptop, thought it would be good to invest in a Mac.
Holy cow! I remember when Rand HATED Macs. This is 180 degrees in the opposite direction. What a difference a few years make! How have you been?
Hah! To be clear, I also hated Windows back then and was quite the Unix snob. Since Mac OSX came along I’ve been a happy switcher. 😉
Looking for down-to-earth, honest answer, avoiding rhetoric…am seriously considering macbook; never used before; windows geek; sick of my wife’s experience w/ vista and ready to get a new notebook. ONLY need web surf, WORD for work (open office.org is fine), and iTunes for my iPod. Prefer firefox on windows – assume MAC version exists. Camera downloads needed too. needs to be light, portable for work travel. Retail store for apple and an hour playing with the macbook sold me. So…before I spend the bucks, could anyone say please for a total mac novice – (i) will my 2 button PC mouse work – can’t stand thought of 1 button mouse; (ii) what am I missing – the OS was astoundingly quick compared to vista but do the apple stores just tweak them? is that your real world experience – it really works that well? I’m 99% there to make the switch. thanks for any thoughts. Dave.
Yes, Firefox exists, pretty much exactly the same. Word is avail from Microsoft (the Student/Home edition is like $130), and iTunes of course is available. For the camera, I do a /ton/ of photography and find iPhoto just great.
i) Yes the two-button mouse will work when you plug it in, no problems. The new multi-touch trackpads also have a cool feature where if you put two fingers on the trackpad and push the single button it will act as a right click.
ii) Performance is fine, especially after you add as much RAM as you can (the key thing). Microsoft Office takes a while to load, but then runs fast. I’ll admit when I use XP-based computers they seem a little faster, but I waste so much less time maintaining OSX and there are a bunch of apps that make me more productive that its a net win.
Good luck!
-Rand
Thanks v. much. Spent still another hour talking to a knowledgeable Mac guy at BestBuy and to my eye, again, all the apps open faster than I find in a windows machine; and with just a little explanation of how the OS interface works, it seems quite intuitive and simple. The whole package, look and feel, and the keyboard on macbook is so appealing. Am going to buy the thing. Will let you know once I get it, if I’ve more questions and thanks very much. Very cool.