Apple MacBook Pro Fall 2011 (2.4GHz Core i5, 13-inch)

Pros: -Great for low-level multimedia processing
-Nice battery life, compared to some laptops
-AWESOME Support
-Good suite of included software
-Gestures in Lion OSX-very useful once you learn them
-Customization
-Ease of use

Cons: -iDVD and iWeb aren't included unless you call support and get them to send you another copy of iLife
-More USB ports would be handy

Summary: This laptop has been amazing for me. I bought it for school in the Fall of 2011, and it has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.

First of all, everything has such a nice design. The power cord wraps up into the AC adapter, the keyboard/screen light up at night, the power cord doesn't drag your computer if pulled, and it gives you this general feeling of "Why didn't somebody else think of that?". Also, the MiniDisplay/Thunderbolt Port is great-I love having one port that does everything. The CPU and Memory that came standard are definitely enough for your standard user; don't bother upgrading.

Secondly, Lion OSX is awesome. As a first-time Mac user, I love the ease of use-the system preferences are so much easier to get to, customize, and have nice wizards that help you. Gestures, although slightly complex, end up making life 10,000 times easier once you can use them. Switching between desktops, pages, Mission Control, and other things with the swipe of a finger is really fun to do, and more convenient. The text to speech is also good, and is free with the system.

Next, the preinstalled software is also very good. QuickTime is included, so you can quickly encode videos or audio without dumping them into true movie editing software. PhotoBooth allows you to put fun effects on webcam photos, with only the click of a button. iTunes has an amazing music store, and the AirPlay feature is one of its best traits. Mail is very useful, and is much better than the default Windows mail. iCal with iCloud helps keep everything in sync, and has a great "Year" viewing mode that lets you see what the heaviest days of the year are. The Mac AppStore is nice because you no longer need to go buy discs to get software, making it much faster. Plus, you can see reviews right at your fingertips.

iLife 11' is pretty good, although personally I still can't completely figure out Garage Band. iMovie is extremely easy to use, yet still pretty powerful. I still wish that you could customize more with it though. iPhoto is truly awe-inspiring with its organizing capabilities. However, I was very disappointed when it didn't come with iDVD or iWeb. Apparently, iLife does not carry these as they are "Old Technology". After talking with Apple Support, they shipped a copy with these though, so they made up for it (they did the 2-day express shipping as well, which was really convenient).

Once you take these factors into opinion, and add the student discount, it is simply a great purchase. No regrets here! If you are on the line about buying this, get it. The extra money you pay for it is definitely worth it.