1) Check with the Apple Store... They'll normally do what you want from them. Bring a copy of the prices you've got, and if its Apple Store online vs Apple Store Retail, they'll honor the lower price.

2) Office 2004 is a very nice product. If you've got a child or are doing a college/university course, you can buy the Student and Teacher edition of Office at 1/3 the cost normally. If you use VMWare Fusion or Parells (or use BootCamp), you can run your Windows applications natively. Depends on what other applications you use.

2a) There are issues, and also there is a compatiblity checker. Use it ;)

2b) You Can PDF Directly in any Print Dialog box (little button that says "PDF" gives it away ;). If you need to edit your PDF's post production or annotate them, then you need Acrobat 7/8

3) fn+Backspace is your friend as has been stated.

4) System Preferences -> Mouse... depends how heavy handed you are when typing.

5) Airport Extreme is a Wireless B/G/PreN card that will do your WiFi for you. Simply click on the airport icon, select your network, enter the key if needed and off you go.

6) Hmmmm. They're normally pretty stable in operation, but "Blue Screens" do happen (its called a Kernal Panic in Mac/UNIX Land). I've found it to more often than not hardware related (as my sad EX iBook will testify - its been withdrawn from service after the 4th repair attempt to be swapped for an iBook).

Multitasking is not a problem (especially with Exopse, the Dock and DashBoard). OS Updates come often (Through Software Updates), although a major revision of the core operating system is due October time.

7) I'm using a IBM ThinkPad at the moment (from an iBook) so i miss the touch pad and Expose mostly. The file management in OS/X can be diabolical (a decent file manager would be useful one day Apple). Like everything, it takes a short while to adapt... and perhaps my problem is sometimes the keys are not in the place I expect them to be!

8) As MUCH space as possible (the same rule is that whatever your current requirement is, double it and add a random number on top) ! Thankfully the MacBook hard drive is easily swapable (unlike previous generation notebooks). 120/160/250Gb are all good starts. Also consider an external HDD if you're using it at home to back up with.

I'd SERIOUSLY recommend spending time in the Apple Shop, Talk to the staff, Play and try out some of the tasks you want to do (For example: Office type things, iPhoto for your images, Safari and FireFox etc). I think some Apple shops will do 1-to-1 shopping.. it could be worth asking about it.

Happy Shopping!

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

Not really. However, the black notebook has a matte finish to its paint job while the white is glossy/shiny.

Apparently its appearance is worth that much (or $200 without the ed discount) to some people. Go figure. Maybe they're spending OPM.

In a shell... its a marketing exercise... much like the 8GB Nano (any colour you like as long as its in black)

Personally, I'd prefer a matte screen as opposed to a matte case....

Depends if you want to scream out "I brought this black Macbook... and I got a different coloured case for more coins!!!!"

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

Thats good.. even by my standards ;)

Happy shopping - the educational discounts are worth it (and you'll be able to get office on the cheap too)

Welcome to the world of Shiny Computers :)

Go for it - I switched to a MacBook a couple of months ago, used the educational discount, and now find it a real pain to use a PC at work....
Enjoy! and welcome to the bright side. :)

Actually, I've handled both the white and black models. One guy in our company has the black, and it does look cooler at first, but it picks up every little bit of oil from your hands. The matte finish is not your friend so much in this case. Very hard to keep the fingerprints off. Plus, it costs more just because it's black, yes. I'd go with the glossy white and put that cash into some other accessory.

we got one a few months ago, with an airport extreme and the office student/teacher software, i.e. word, excel etc. added a mouse last month.

no regrets at all. after 7 years of windows and dell, it is really a pleasure to compute this easily.

there is no reason to buy parallels or any windows software. the only software that doesn't run on mac that i use is Miletracker ;) so i just boot up my old dell when i want to update my mileage balances. and every time it serves as a reminder of what i hated about windows! :D

p.s. my main issues so far are (1) lack of a dedicated delete key (can one of the function keys be re-assigned?) and (2) inability to do select-print, i.e. select text and then print the selection rather than the whole friggin page. other than that i haven't found anything lacking. and unlike dell (and most places) you can get free help in person at any mac store, instead of relying on some bozo in india.

[B]Boraxo/B], remember you can always "waste" 3Gb of space on a VMWare Fusion or Parells installation, and install a copy on it to run your Windows software.

If fact VMWare supports a function called "Unity" that'll allow you to run your programs nativity from the Dock... could be worth investigating...

(or you really can be mean to your MacBook.. and install BootCamp...)

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

The in-store help is free (as is access to The Genius Bar), and they'll help normally without question (an example - I was getting my iBook looked at, and someone brought in an eMac with an airport query, trying to work out why the airport wasn't fitting in correctly - they got the eMac second hand)... so its as long as you have a Mac.. or a question.

You can also get ProCare (how to book the Genius Bar way in advance) or 1 to 1 (for deep in depth training in-store)

Apple repairs: Most jobs are done "in store" (if sent via The Genius Bar). They're normally done pretty well and tested.

AppleCare: As you're getting an MacBook, I would say yes. Laptop computers have far tougher lives than desktops. I didn't get it... and was hit pretty hard for repairs (£125 for a Airport repair which went horribly wrong), but Apple came through with different solutions until it was working and working long term correctly. If your repair fails, your repair goes to the top of the queue baring parts. (If its a physical damage, they may choose not to warrenty the repair, and you could find yourself paying for it)

At this stage I always get AppleCare on the laptops, just so much more likely something goes wrong sometime within the 3 years. That said, I don't order the package from Apple. I get the exact same thing from this place (authorized dealer) which is cheaper http://www.expercom.com/ (AppleCare is sold as a retail box software. You have to get the box before you can activate it, so any dealer can sell it. The service still comes from Apple.)

Also, you can wait until just before the end of the first year to buy it, thus using that as a gauge for whether or not you need it. My first generation MacBook Pro has been a bit of a lemon.

Personally, I don't get AppleCare. After nearly 15 years of using Apple laptops, going back to a PowerBook 100 (not even counting a borrowed Apple Portable I lugged around a bit) I haven't had a problem it would have helped on. Mine have either come up under warranty or were the result of physical accidents (dropped four feet onto a marble hotel lobby floor, FA spilled milk into it ...) that wouldn't have been covered. I've saved enough in AppleCare premiums over that period to buy a new MacBook if it came to that.

That said, YMMV. I self-insure for most everything when I can afford the loss if it happens: I don't get rental car coverage on my car insurance, etc., etc. On balance I come out way ahead despite the occasional loss - after all, insurance companies make money! (One $300 and one $150 car rental bills when mine was in the body shop are a lot less than the total I'd have paid for this coverage over the years.) This is a personal preference issue as much as a rational decision.