Apple vs. PC laptop for personal use

There always seem to be some people on this board who know a lot about any technology question that gets asked, so I thought I'd see what you all thought about my situation.
I have a nice PC at home. We use Macs in the office. I'm likely going to get a laptop for personal use (and may take some classes and use it there).
I think it would be cool to have a Mac laptop and keep the PC desktop so I have all the bases covered, plus it would be great for interactivity with my iPod when I go on the road. Also, I could probably put some of the work programs on my laptop so I can do even more things from home if I get a Mac.
Are there going to be some technical issues I haven't considered? I doubt I would network the at home much, but even if I did, I can do that with a Mac and a PC, right?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

You can certainly network the two with minimal problems. Since bootcamp comes with the new Mac OS, you could also load Windows onto the Apple laptop and have access to all your programs on one machine.

Remember that you'll pay more for a Mac, and I assume you know that iTunes is on both Mac and PC so that shouldn't have any impact on your decision.

Other technical issues? Um, none. I guess you'll want to with wireless Internet in your home, so make sure you know how that works, but that's about it.

 

I have fooled around with the Mac Book Pro the last two Fridays. I am officially in love. The moment I have enough coin to afford one, I will be a Mac man.

 

You will pay more for a Mac, but, as an owner of both a Mac and PC, the Mac has held up significantly better. No problems with spyware/pop ups, no problems getting software to work properly, no freezes. Get a Mac.

 

As I expected, some good information quickly. Thanks guys.
Just because I didn't fully explain earlier, my iPod is formatted for a Mac. Thus I cannot make any changes with it at home, only at work. It'd be nice to have more flexibility with the iPod.
I know a Mac costs a little more, but it does seem it's worth it.
I'm going to do a lot of research before I buy, but does anyone quickly know the difference between a MacBook, a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air (which I think is just the thinner one)?
Also, what do I need to make certain I have? I know an AirPort, but it appears that all new Macs come with that anyway.

 

Mac Books and Mac Book Pros are fairly similar, except the Pros are a bit more powerful (more ram, memory) and typically have larger hard drives. The Airs are wonderfully light/thin, but they're not quite as powerful and lack a CD drive and certain ports.

 

I'd recommend the MacBook Pro. And as I do on every one of these threads, I'll recommend also that you buy it refurbished from Apple. A substantial savings, and the same warranty as new.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=44BD9AA1&nclm=CertifiedMac

 

FYI, you can reformat your iPod as a PC if you wanted to use your home computer as the main base for it. Keep in mind that no matter what laptop you buy, if you're doing things like syncing from work, that doesn't mean you can now sync from your laptop as well. The content is on your work computer unless you plan to move it; and you can move it to either a PC or a Mac laptop.

The Air is light and thin but way overpriced for the technology in it. Get a Macbook Pro if you're going to use things like Photoshop, InDesign and Quark (especially at the same time), but if you don't need that much power the regular Macbook will do the trick.

 

Thanks for that link, JG. I've never seen that before, and I plan on using it when I make my next purchase

 

My pleasure, 'beet. We've got four Macs around the house at any given moment, and bought three of them refurbished. Never had a single problem, and have put hundreds of thousands of work-related travel miles on two Powerbooks and a MacBook Pro. And 35% off - sometimes more - is nothing to sneeze at.

If you lose the link, just go to the Apple store page, and look for the clearance section on the lower left banner.

 

Just remember: Easily hacked. As in, "two minutes."

http://tinyurl.com/3xz3dq