I need to buy a laptop for my daughter for college. She wants a MAC. Fine. But in trying to decide what to buy, I'm lost. I'm used to PC's and Windows based laptops where the more RAM and the bigger the hard drive, the better. Throw in a great processor and you've got a great PC or laptop. But I remember looking at a MAC someone bought long ago when they told me that part of the beauty of the MAC system is that it used memory more efficiently and therefore didn't need as much. So, what do I look for in a Macbook? Is less memory OK? Does she need a big hard drive? Help, please, if you can.

See the following link for a Mac vs PC review from CNET

CNET Prizefight: Mac vs. PC laptops - CNET reviews


My son is an IT engineer and uses both.

Before she wins the MAC vs. PC debate, find out what she's going to be using the laptop for. I paid $450 for my daughter's PC laptop and added another $50 to max the memory and she's good to go.

MAC is a great "want", but paying 2-3 times the price needs to be legitimately supported, in my opinion. Just email, normal homework and web stuff... a cheap PC would get my vote... but only because college is already costing us $2000 a month. Every penny has to be pinched.

BTW, two years later that $450 laptop is still chugging along quite swimmingly...

To answer the specific question you asked (and without getting into a Mac vs. PC flame war - contact me privately if you want more information on Mac vs PC from my perspective as a user of both for many years), you can get her a bottom of the line MacBook for $1099 with 1Gb RAM and it will be fine as long as she's not going to be running Windows on top of the Mac OS with Parallels. You typically need more RAM for Windows machines, that's true. But RAM is cheap enough these days that it's not a major cost factor. BTW, you can often get reconditioned MacBooks at the Apple store for under $1000... and even cheaper on Craigs List.

My recommendation? If it's intended for her school years until she can afford something better when she graduates, get her a cheap Windows machine BUT make sure she has good antivirus software installed and knows how to surf safely. If you want something that will still be running strong after graduation... get her the MacBook.