santa rosa laptops vs macbook santa rosa

[TC91]

looking to get a laptop for school
there are 3 laptops i am strongly considering:
macbook (just updated with santa rosa)
2ghz c2d
2gb ram
120gb hdd
gma x3100
13.3" screen
no dvd burner unfortunately but thats ok
1497cad before tax

acer aspire AS5720-6279
1.5ghz c2d
2gb ram
200gb hdd
mobility radeon 2600
15.4" screen
1039cad before tax

acer aspire AS5920-6558
1.5ghz c2d
2gb ram
250gb hdd
gma x3100
15.4" screen
799cad before tax

the 2 acers are the new "gemstone design" which i think looks pretty cool, and the macbook i really like its compact and simple design.

i am planning on getting a laptop mostly used for school studies, and occasionally light gaming (probably aoe3 and a couple other older games but not too many since i would rather game on my desktop)

i would like a laptop that is pretty portable with long battery life (macbook fits in perfectly in that case) but the 2 acers are much cheaper. the more expensive acer has the hd 2600 for 240bucks more, but with 50gb less hdd space (not a big deal for me). i was wondering on what laptop i should get. i like the macbook's better portability (it has leopard which i would like to try out too), but it is much more expensive. the acers are about 2.8kg (6.2lbs) which i think might be a little heavy for portability but they are so much cheaper. so should i pay up and get the macbook, or should i get one of the acers, and if so, which one is the better deal? thanks a bunch.

 

[TheStu]

If you can get the MacBook in the states, that brings the price down to something more reasonable, especially if you then get it on Student Discount. You are then talking $999 base.

And you really should upgrade the RAM yourself. Hard drive is your own choice... but RAM definitely upgrade yourself.

 

[TC91]

thx for the reply TheStu, i cant get the macbook in the states but i ll be willing to pay for it if the other laptops are too heavy for me (im gona check em out soon, maybe tmrw). thx for the ram suggestion. it should save me a little bit of cash. for the hdd im just gona let apple do it (if i choose the mac). i would like to know if you guys out there with a 15inch laptop think that it is a bit heavy and not too portable. my friend let me check out his dell 15" inspiron, and i do think its a bit heavy, but for the price, i might be willing to get a 15inch (the acer gemstones look really cool too).

 

[TC91]

i got the acer 5920, it looked sweet and wasnt that heavy and saved me a bunch compared to the macbook so i decided to get it. thx for the reply TheStu.

 

[TheStu]

Depending on what you are doing, that 1.5 C2D should be more than fine. If you ever get into heavy video ripping or anything like that (and your desktop is not available) then you will be hurting for the 33% faster CPU of the MacBook (as well as the multithreaded apps on OS X, not sure what the ripping scene is on Windows in terms of multithreading) but other than that you should be fine.