MacinSpot

Apple has dropped prices on the MacBook Pro lineup as well as the MacBook Air.

There are four different models of Macintosh computers.  The Mac Mini, the iMac, the MacPro, and the Macbook.  The Mac Mini is the smallest and doesn’t come with a monitor, keyboard, or mouse by default.  The Imac is probably the most famous household computer.  It comes with the monitor built in and does include a keyboard and mouse.  Both the Mac Mini and the Imac are lightweight computers that will suit most households and small businesses.  The MacPro is more of a power horse designed to accomplish anything and everything.  This utilizes the tower design and can sit next to your desk on the floor.  The MacPro packs the most punch out of the entire lineup.  It includes a keyboard and mouse but you may want to purchase your monitor elsewhere.  Last we have the MacBook lineup.  These are Apple’s prize winning laptops which come in all sizes.  They have the 13″ models, the 15″ inch models and the 17″ models.  More about these later.

Now to get down to details.

The Mac Mini is the smallest of the desktop computer lineups.  This computer is designed with desk space saving in mind.  Matter of fact, you may be able to find a monitor that can sit right on top of the MacMini, leaving you with tons of desk space for your paper work mess.  This model comes in two different flavors.  The $599 version and the $799 version.  I personally would go with the $799 version.  The latter of the two integrates a large 320GB drive and 2 gigs of RAM.  This is enough to conquer any household.  You will have plenty of space on the hard drive to download music and videos, while the computer has plenty of RAM to keep up with all the tasks a computer does.  You will need to purchase a monitor, keyboard and mouse with this model if you don’t already have one.  A PC keyboard and mouse will work just fine and remember, the Windows key to the left of your space bar is the command key, and the F12 key, when held down for a few seconds is the eject key.  Below is a picture of the Mac Mini:

Click here to learn more about the Mac Mini.

The iMac is a little more widely known about as it is very popular.  I would say that 97% of households I go to that want a new computer end up purchasing the iMac.  It’s design is pretty close to perfect.  Take it out of the box and put it on your desk.  Hook up the power cord, the keyboard, and the mouse then turn it on.  It is that simple.  The iMac has the screen built in, and a very sharp looking one at that.  Because of this, there is no need to purchase a seperate screen.  This is the all in one package.  It comes in 2 different sizes.  The 20″ model, and the 24″ model.  This refers to the screen size.  The entry level iMac packs plenty of punch to do just about anything.  It also comes with a 320GB hard drive so there is plenty of room to store music, photos, and videos.  The next size up, the 24″ model comes with a hefty 640GB hard drive and 4 gigs of RAM, as oppose to the 2 gigs of RAM you get in the entry level iMac.  Below is a picture of the iMac:

Click here to learn more about the iMac.

The MacPro is a very advanced computer.  This model actually has the capability to use 2 processors for a load balancing system.  The MacPro is ideal for creating music and movies and will conquer any task you throw at it, very quickly.  The iMac can be used for creating music and movies as well, though I would recommend one of the higher end models, but this computer really has nothing to compare it to.  It is a beast.  With 2 quad core processors, you could probably take over the world and thats exactly what this has.  All this power comes with an enormous price, but if you need it, this would be the computer for you.  Plenty of expandability room for future changes to the system, plenty of space for extra hard drives and more RAM slots than the average user will ever need.  The MacPro starts out a $2499.  Here is a picture of it below:

To learn more about the MacPro click here.

The MacBooks have so many differeny flavors nowadays that it would take forever to get through them.  So for the essentials.  There is the MacBook Air which is awesome for portability.  This is pretty much Apple’s netbook though it has enough power to do more than just surf the internet and check email.  It is super light weight but does not come with a cdrom drive and only has one usb port I believe.  This computer is great but only if you plan on working from the internet.  The battery lasts quite a while on this model and it has a 13.3″ screen.  The next model up also has a 13.3″ screen and is known as the MacBook.  It has a few more usb ports and a cdrom drive.  The next model up from that is the 15.4″ model and the 17″ model and both of these are known as the MacBook Pros.  These laptops pack a little more punch and can do a little more.  The full size keyboards are comfortable to type on and I have used one of these for a few years now without any issue.  All of these MacBooks come with backlit keyboards so there is no need for a lamp if you want to type in the dark.  Below is an image of both the MacBook Pros.

*UPDATE*
A 13.3″ MacBook has been added to the MacBook Pro lineup. This new tiny MacBook Pro sports an SD Card slot to move images from your digital camera to your Mac without having to find your USB sync cable. It also has a longer battery life and faster processor than the traditional 13.3″ standard MacBook. The 13.3″ MacBook Pro has also received a Graphics upgrade compared to the standard MacBook as it now utilizes what is called DDR3 memory as opposed to the older DDR2 memory on the MacBook. Apple has also introduced a FireWire port to the new 13.3″ MacBook Pro as well as the traditional 13.3″ MacBook.

Here is a link to the MacBook Pro information page

The standard MacBook

The MacBook Air information page