Purchase of a new macbook

I'm looking to buy a macbook for using at uni and I'm trying to make a decision between 2 models:

13.3" Macbook Pro (mid 2009)

Processor: 2.26GHZ

2GB 1066DDR3 RAM

160GB 5400RPM HDD

Price: $1250

VS

13.3" Macbook unibody (late 2008)

Processor 2.4GHZ

2GB RAM

250GB 5400RPM HDD

Price: $1180

What do you all think? Is it worth going with the later model?

check out apple.com's refurb store. you can get the macbook pro 13" for $999 before tax. and about $1071 something after tax and free shipping.

The issue is that I am in Australia, and here macbooks are a lot more expensive, I'm looking at Ebay stores.

ahh i see. sorry. :oops:

WELL THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM

your buying a mac:|

may i ask what your intentions are with your macbook? Might do yourself a huge favor, and save a nice amount of cash for a PC laptop. Id recommend anything HP.

Your decision though, but just incase you want some more information before taking the plunge.

I'm looking at something that is reasonably quick, and is good for graphic design as well as being portable. I am able to get a third off the price of a mac through work, so I can get the ones that I have for a third cheaper through filing the invoice

I'm leaning slightly toward the macbook pro for its better screen and battery life, but it does cost more and has a slower processor and hard drive. anyone else?

Why...? Do you want an overpriced OS + hardware. Just get a netbook if you want to only do notes, because if you haven't realized Unix can't read .exe files. Not that it's unix fault, it isn't. But still just pointing that out. And partitioning your hard drive or (how w/e mac users call it bootcamp which is a dumb word) and putting windows on it, is paying for a Windows liscensce and a Mac OS one. If you really want the Mac OSX os, get a dell mini 9 and put Mac OSX on it, so easy. JigglyWiggly_

I'd like to see you try doing graphicc design work on a netbook.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Why...? Do you want an overpriced OS + hardware. Just get a netbook if you want to only do notes, because if you haven't realized Unix can't read .exe files. Not that it's unix fault, it isn't. But still just pointing that out. And partitioning your hard drive or (how w/e mac users call it bootcamp which is a dumb word) and putting windows on it, is paying for a Windows liscensce and a Mac OS one. If you really want the Mac OSX os, get a dell mini 9 and put Mac OSX on it, so easy. im_mr_brown

I'd like to see you try doing graphicc design work on a netbook.

I'm looking at something that is reasonably quick, and is good for graphic design as well as being portable. I am able to get a third off the price of a mac through work, so I can get the ones that I have for a third cheaper through filing the invoice

Cheveros

Who told you Macs are better for graphic design? Windows has more graphic design programs than a Mac, and the programs they both have it usually runs better on Windows with the proper hardware. Also, Windows PCs/Laptops are much cheaper too.

Like I said, i can get a 33% discount on a mac, which makes them worth while. I wasn't asking whether macs were better than pc's i was asking about which of the two models were better

Like I said, i can get a 33% discount on a mac, which makes them worth while. I wasn't asking whether macs were better than pc's i was asking about which of the two models were better

Cheveros

JigglyWiggly_

I'm looking at something that is reasonably quick, and is good for graphic design as well as being portable. I am able to get a third off the price of a mac through work, so I can get the ones that I have for a third cheaper through filing the invoice

Cheveros

Yea he did. But honestly, I don't know what the hell xserver is :P so I've got nothing to say about that

[QUOTE="Cheveros"]

Like I said, i can get a 33% discount on a mac, which makes them worth while. I wasn't asking whether macs were better than pc's i was asking about which of the two models were better

JigglyWiggly_

I agree but only if you don't need the extra battery of the first one.

Look, guys, the kid wants to buy a Mac, stop telling him to buy other stuff. He wants your input on his decision between two models he has chosen.

*Edit* Just realized he said it was the uniboy MacBook. To answer the OP's question, I definitely go with the MacBook Pro. It has much better battery life, backlit keyboard, and built in firewire. You can always upgrade your HDD later on and the difference in processor is negligible at best (you will not notice the difference).

Look, guys, the kid wants to buy a Mac, stop telling him to buy other stuff. He wants your input on his decision between two models he has chosen.

To answer your questions OP, definitely go with the MacBook Pro. It has much better battery life, backlit keyboard, built in firewire, and LED backlit display. You can always upgrade your HDD later on and the difference in processor is negligible at best (you will not notice the difference). For video/photo editing, the advantages of having an LED screen far outweigh the slight loss in processor speed.

CStheGreat

Look, guys, the kid wants to buy a Mac, stop telling him to buy other stuff. He wants your input on his decision between two models he has chosen.

To answer your questions OP, definitely go with the MacBook Pro. It has much better battery life, backlit keyboard, built in firewire, and LED backlit display. You can always upgrade your HDD later on and the difference in processor is negligible at best (you will not notice the difference). For video/photo editing, the advantages of having an LED screen far outweigh the slight loss in processor speed.

CStheGreat

yeah, i wouldnt buy a mac at full price, but it makes it about the same with the discount. I dont think it ultimately matters which one I buy, they both seem much the same. Thanks all for your perspectives

You should always give advice regarding what someone is buying, I only agreed when he mentioned the 33% discount, which itself did make sense.JigglyWiggly_

But yea, staying on topic, pros and cons of the MacBook Pro: Better battery life, backlit keyboard, built in firewire port, smaller HDD, slightly slower processor.

You have to get a mac, because Photoshop, 3ds Max, Auto Cad, Cinema, Maya, and so on are not availible on a Windows based system... oh... wait.

[QUOTE="im_mr_brown"]

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Why...? Do you want an overpriced OS + hardware. Just get a netbook if you want to only do notes, because if you haven't realized Unix can't read .exe files. Not that it's unix fault, it isn't. But still just pointing that out. And partitioning your hard drive or (how w/e mac users call it bootcamp which is a dumb word) and putting windows on it, is paying for a Windows liscensce and a Mac OS one. If you really want the Mac OSX os, get a dell mini 9 and put Mac OSX on it, so easy. JigglyWiggly_

I'd like to see you try doing graphicc design work on a netbook.