Hi,

I'm decided to replace my old Acer 3250 notebook with a much better one. I have no need for gaming, but I tend to open 30-60 browser windows and 1-10 programs at a time (attention deficit disorder!). Largely, I only do web browsing, heavy email, heavy forum browsing, and still photo editing.

I'm considering a Mac laptop, running Parallels with either Windows XP or Vista, and I was wondering if anyone had any comments on the new Intel Macs. Some of the Mac programs seem nice to me, although not critical. I HAVE read a bit about the Mac notebooks having sharp corners, but not much else criticism.

I would also consider a high quality Windows-only notebook in this range. I'm mainly looking for QUALITY, POWER and RELIABILITY.

I'm leaving this message here, because if I leave a message on a Mac forum, I will get strict Mac finatic answers.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you guys can offer.

vontech

Your not going to get much in the way of pro-mac comments here. I do have a few good points and one negative about macs. OS X is a brilliant operating system that verges on the point of being painfully easy to use. Macs also come preloaded with useful software instead of windows laptops that come with aol.
On the downside, just about everything Mac is overpriced. Mac books are expensive for what you get and additional software can cost more than windows programs.
If you want nearly unquestionable reliability and support, avoid the larger companies like Dell, HP and Gateway. I would say go with a Macbook or get either the Wakizachi (15.4'') or the Kodachi (14.1'') notebook for Killer Notebooks. The KN options are up at the end of your price range, but you will get incredible performance and support that surpasses that of other companies. I'm slightly windows biased so I would lean towards either KN notebook, but the Macbooks aren't a bad choice especially with boot camp software.

Killer Notebooks

You would really benefit from Leopard, when it comes out. You could get a refurb MBP for 1599+tax, or the core duo version for 1349+tax. They are more expensive options than similar pcs by about ~400 with warranty. Macbooks are a better deal, but only if you want a 13.3" screen. I am torn myself. I love Mac for the OSX and XP cross compatibility, and want a laptop. However I'm not sure MPB quality is where it should be for the premium they charge. My biggest issue is the screens. Seeing them first hand, they're not aweful "usually", but aren't as good as G4's were. There are definitely other issues all over various forums, including apples discussion group. If you have no real need for OSX, then get a pc laptop. I'd recommend checking out an IBM lenovo t60