Hi Geoff - A couple of thoughts. 1. Portability. If you have a macbook or macbook pro you will be able to use it anywhere: desk, couch, bed, porch, breakfast table, when traveling, etc. Perhaps this is not so important since you already have a portable computer in the form of the iphone, but I think it's something worth considering. 2. Purchase price. If you shop around you can probably save more than the 8% offered during your tax holiday. Personally, I now purchase my Macs through Apple's online refurbished store which is accessible from the store.apple.com page. They have the exact same warranty as a new Mac and the prices are usually a few hundred dollars cheaper. The stock in the refurb store seems to change nightly, so check often. Oddly, of the 4 macs I've owned in the last 12 years, the 2 that did not require warranty service in the first year of ownership were the 2 I purchased through Apple's refurb store. YMMV.
Cheers, Bryan On Aug 7, 2010, at 10:37 AM, Geoff Waaler wrote: > Greetings y'all, > > For the benifit of those who don't hang out on the viPhone list, I recently > started assisting Cara Josh and Olivia with the management of this list. > Since I don't yet have a Mac until now I only read posts that Google > suspected of being spam. > > This weekend my state is exempting "back to school" items such as computers > from sales tax. I've been considering migrating to the Apple world for a > while and the 8% savings is tempting. > > I am a total, hence gaming is not a priority. I anticipate my primary uses > would be web surfing, email, playing/editing audio, and hopefully app > development. I therefore don't believe that processor speed and memory would > make a lot of difference, but perhaps more experienced Mac users can comment. > > With these assumptions in mind I'm considering either the 13 inch low end > MacBookPro (2.4 GHZ processor) for $1,200 or the Mac Mini for $800. Comparing > the specs it would appear that $400 would buy me a keyboard, 2GB extra > memory, a 13 inch display, fewer USB ports, an extra pound to cary around and > 70 GB less disk storage. > > I have a four year old USB display that I plug into my Dell desktop on those > rare occasions when I need sighted assistance. > > Okay, so at long last, here are my questions. Any input would be greatly > appreciated! > > 1. Considering my anticipated usage are my assumptions about memory and > processor speed accurate? If not, any details would be very helpful. > > 2. Will the Mac Mini work without a display? > > 3. I already own an Apple wireless keyboard. I assume this would work with > the Mini if I unpare it from my iPhone? > > TIA and best regards. > Geoff > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
