Buying New Macbook Pro, Need advice

[Laxton14]

All of the input is greatly appreciated. I am not quite sure what kind of work im going to do be doing with my new laptop so i think it would be wise to wait and see. I have orientation at my college in about a month and plan to wait and talk to a professor about what degree would best suit me and what kind of work it would entail. I am still relatively new to the who programming scene, but plan to try some self-taught python programming over the summer. Thanks for all of the help and advice.

[maddojf]

You may already know this, but if you do decide to get the mac, then look into getting a student discount. I purchased mine through my university's bookstore and saved a few hundred dollars.

[flaggh]

(Also, as a side note. When you put 4 Gigs of RAM in the laptop, it will only really use a little over 3 Gigs of it because the processors in the Macbook pros are set to run in only 32 bit mode. You could install a 64 Bit linux and get access to all 4 gigs, but XP and OS X don't really use it all. There is still some things that OS X does to utilize the extra 3 quarters of a gig of ram, but it is not the same as accessing all four gigs the real way.)

Actually Leopard is a 64-bit operating system and assuming you are running it on a 64-bit platform such as a Core 2 Duo, it will support more than 4 gigs of RAM, however the application running may not be 64-bit and thus not be able to address more then 4 gigs of RAM.

[Laxton14]

maddojf, yes i was aware that you can get a student discount, it is really useful...thats another couple hundred bucks that can be spent on some software or something

flaggh, are most apps are 64-bit in apple? and do you recommend 2 or 4 gigs?

[flaggh]

flaggh, are most apps are 64-bit in apple? and do you recommend 2 or 4 gigs?

I do not think that most apps are 64-bit, yet. I'm not the best person to ask though since I have hardly any experience using OSX.

As for 2 or 4 gigs, I think the more the merrier. Its a relatively inexpensive upgrade especially if you follow maddojf's advice in avoiding overpriced Apple upgrades.

I don't know how much linux experience you have, but cyberdork33's frequent observation that mac hardware support under linux is not the best is definitely something to consider. When I bought my macbook, I bought a used one a year old because I knew that gave me the best chance of immediate success since there was already plenty of time to crack that egg and I never planned on using OSX as my primary OS. I knew what I was getting into and was up to the challenge. Before you go ahead and consider a mac for linux, spend a few days searching the archives and reading about all the issues people have had. Don't forget to go through the wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MacBookPro/SantaRosa

[cyberdork33]

I do not think that most apps are 64-bit, yet. I'm not the best person to ask though since I have hardly any experience using OSX.

The other weird thing about it is that you are not on a 64bit kernel. It is an odd situation... The chess game in OSX is a 64bit app!

I don't know how much linux experience you have, but cyberdork33's frequent observation that mac hardware support under linux is not the best is definitely something to consider.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac, but if I wanted a dedicated Ubuntu machine, I might consider something else. If you plan to do any programming for OSX, then you pretty much have to get a mac...

[phidia]

I'm going to put my 2 cents in here. I have quite a bit of Mac experiance and have also used linux for over 6 years now.
First I would say don't be fooled by the dollar differences; Macs have features you can not find in peeecee's like slot loading optical drives and backlit keyboards. Also there is a lot of open source software available for OS X.
I'm not really trying to start a mac vs peecee war here-tho I know that could happen. I'm only offering an alternate view.
I use linux on desktop AMD peecees and find that I can do everything I want on them, but you did ask about laptops-notebooks and in that area IMO linux does not do as well. I purchased a HP Pavilion laptop and have run ubuntu and other distros on it-but I am very dissatisfied with it. I did a lot of research on the HP laptops too, but not enough. Power management is terrible-battery life is even worst.
I'm not saying with proper research that you can't find a good laptop with linux on it but if that is your goal you might want to consider some of the companies that sell laptops with linux pre-installed and set up.
Even with that though I doubt you will find a model with the features of the Macbook Pros you listed (6 hour battery life and a 15.4" screen & under 6lbs weight)