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so for a while now, i've been thinking of switching from my Dell PC to a MacBook at the end of the year. my dell is really a "starter" computer. it has a 60 gig hard drive, cd/dvd burner, 15.4 screen but has less than a gig of ram. I really want a nice Mac and i'm looking for some advice and the apple reps that i've met with keep trying to push $2000+ macbook pro's on me. i frequently use itunes (over 9 days worth of music), finale, and smart tunes along with the occasional word processor, spread sheet and the internet/email. the size of the screen really is of no worry. what would you suggest? anything helps. thanks!

Switch to the mac as soon as possible!

Apple computers makes everything easier, and when you switch you will not be sorry. The extra money is well worth it.

Everything works with a mac!

I often use music composing programs on my 15 inch Powerbook G4, but since my wife got an iMac with a 20 inch screen, I sneak over and use her computer for Finale or Sibelius every chance I get. The bigger screen lets you see more of the music at once--very handy for copying or arranging.

Make the switch! Any Macbook would serve you well - there are folks selling used iBook G4's pretty cheaply but I'd recommend staying with the newer machine.

The Macbooks come with very well loaded out - beyond iTunes, iPhoto has become a very nice photo app, iMovie HD is phenominal for amatuer video editing. I've not taken time to figure out Garageband but it looks like a lot of fun.

As for the hardware - it comes out of the factory a very capable machine. But you can easily max out the memory on the unit for around $100 (check out www.dealram.com).

You may want to also consider the applecare program - this might give you some extra protection should anything go wrong a couple of years from now.

Ricko wrote:You may want to also consider the applecare program - this might give you some extra protection should anything go wrong a couple of years from now.

Yup, those cats over at apple take real good care of ya.

Most of what goes wrong with a Mac is so simple, you don't need much training to do repairs. Recently, I dropped my laptop (iBook) when it was running. I bruised the hard drive. I had to boot the computer from a Mac OS 9.22 startup disk and run Disk First Aid. It was a very simple procedure. True, I had to reinstall Mac OS X 10.3 (and all the updates to boost it to 10.3.9). But had this happen on a PC, I don't think I could do it myself. I would have a nice big paperweight for the coffee table.