I tested the Apple Macintosh waters early in 2005 with a Mac Mini. I maxed out the memory with 1GB of ram, and I learned all that I could learn about the Mac on the machine. I learned that the machine was not even close to enough horsepower for the things that I want to do, but from a usability of OSX standpoint I learned much. And then Apple made the Intel announcement. This froze me in my tracks, as I was on the heels of buying a dual G5 desktop. Fast forward to a few weeks ago out on safari. My trust IBM Thinkpad X40 has been a wonderful machine, but the small 1.8" 60GB hard drive, slow processor and limited screen size weren't cutting it any more. Yes, I loved the very light 2.7 pounds of the X40, but my storage needs, processing power and overall usability needed to improve. Somebody had a new MacBook in black on my safari a few weeks ago, and I was intrigued. An intel dual core cpu, 2GB of ram, and the ability to run Windows XP via Boot Camp or Parallels. Pretty cool. So I picked up a black MacBook with 2GB of ram 2 days ago. I am now processing my 4 hours of HD video from Tanzania, as well as processing and organizing my recent photographs from safar with Adobe Lightroom beta 3. I am hooked. My only disappointment so far is the amount of heat that the MacBook generates. I mean really hot. Why did I buy the MacBook over the MacBook Pro? Mostly because of my needs, and not desires. I wanted the smallest machine I could get, and the MacBook Pro is a few inches larger. Also, I tend to buy a new laptop about every year or so, and buying a more expensive laptop that will get banged around doesn't make sense to me. I am tough on my equipment!! Have any essential Mac programs that I should have? Drop me a line, as I would love to hear about them.