Buying an Apple laptop, need help with the specs

I am looking to buy an Apple laptop for taking notes, writing codes (Java, C++ etc.) and running an iPhone simulator.

The cheapest deal that I have found so far is the following model:
Apple 12" iBook Laptop 1.33Ghz 1G RAM 40G HD (Single Core)
Mac OS X10.4, Tiger

It seems a lot harder to find an affordable price on an Apple laptop than a PC. I have always been using PC and so I am not familiar with the speed and performance of an Apple laptop.

I am looking for advices and experiences on the speed and performance on the laptop and/or whether it is suitable for my purpose.

Thank you very much.

 

uhhgg.. thats a PPC machine... don't buy PPC machines! you want a Mac with an Intel processor.

 

That's really outdated AND it's not a intel machine.
That'd be like what, how fast a 6 - 8 year old PC would be?
And you really should be using the latest Operating System to get the full experience which would be OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

That's just my opinion though, if you weigh pricing over performance then that'd be fine for you.

 

Also don't buy a Macbook with an Nvidia GeForce 8600m, they failed a lot.

 

What you want to buy is the latest MacBook Pro 13" with a $100 off student discount, it's like $1150. I don't think buying a used, older and slower model for barely any less money is a good deal.

If you really wanna save another hundred bucks, go for the MacBook 13" (not Pro) model, but I would recommend skipping a few lunches and saving up for MBP 13".

 

I believe to get the latest iPhone SDK and xcode you need a mac with the latest updates (10.6+), I think 10.4 is the highest you can put on PPC machines.

For what you need to do (programming, taking notes) you don't need anything fast, just make sure it can run snow leopard. I assume you have a desktop or PC laptop and need a cheap portable laptop (in which case the iBooks are a good deal but can't run 10.6) and need to develop iPhone apps.

Just get the cheapest intel mac you can find or using OS X in a virtual machine (vmware server works OK).

 

I don't think you can run the iphone simulator at all on a ppc machine

 

Thank you all :] I didn't buy that laptop.

 

Microcenter has the 13" MBP for $999

 

If you're a student you should be able to get education pricing on a new MB or MBP. The discount is about $100.

 

micro center is only 999$ saved you about 200$

 

and if you can find an open box item it saves you an additional 100.

That's what I did.

 

Then when you add taxes, (here's 8.25%), that's not that much more off.

/Didn't mean to degrade this topic, if you can find it at MC, it's a good deal regardless of taxes due.

 

I wonder if Best Buy would price match Micro Center if there was one in your area?

 

Best Buy normally will not match an online store but you could try.

 

I knew that, but I was wondering since there is a Micro Center here if they would do make an exception. Probably not since there was a time that they wouldn't even match their own online prices in store. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.