Recently a friend asked for some advise on purchasing an Apple desktop and laptop. I’ve never written this thorough of a suggestion, but I thought it was well detailed and straight forward for someone who may be considering it. If you’re looking into getting a Mac, I hope the following can be helpful to you…

The friend wanted one laptop and one desktop. He does a ton of international travel. So all of the info is with this in mind, though 99% of the info will apply to anyone.

—————————————
Personally, I’ve pretty much just gone to all laptops. You can still get more computer for your money when you get a desktop, but man, having that portability with all the computers is really nice.

Apple makes two desktop computers. A true tower that is really just for pros. The other one, the iMac is for consumers and casual/business computer users. This is the one where everything is built into the back of the screen. They have 4 versions. The bottom two have 20” screens and differ only by their processor and small hard drive size. The top to are 24” screens and again differ by processor & hard drive size as well as doubled RAM.

I would highly recommend the faster of the 20” iMacs ($1500). This is the best bang for the buck. I would stick with the included 320GB hard drive (unless you really feel you need more) but I would definitely upgrade the RAM (to 2GB, it comes with 1 1GB stick in it with two slots, so you can just get 1 more). It comes with 1GB. Upgrading the RAM with Apple is CRAZY expensive. I would purchase from crucial.com and have someone install. You could do it if you want. It is very easy. If I’m around, I’d do it for you. Apple made this specifically so that the everyday user could service the computer with simple installs like RAM. Lastly, upgrading the mouse and laptop to wireless versions is nice, but not necessary of course.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/9514003/wo/1t7UCJcQyaFB3kUcPieNF9S9UrL/2.?p=0

Moving on to the laptop. Apple again makes the MacBook Pro, for pros. It has a 15” or 17” screen and an aluminum body. They also make the MacBook in a 13” screen, the body is plastic white or black. This is a killer deal. The main difference in these two models is the screen size and the graphics handling. The processor is similar, the memory is similar, the hard drive is similar & the disk drive is similar.

There are 3 MacBook versions. I would go with the middle of the road again. This is the best deal. It has an upgrade in processor speed, but you’re not paying the price for the black plastic. It already comes with 2GB of memory, plenty for what you’ll be doing. The hard drive is 160GB. You may consider bumping this up to a 250GB drive for an extra $100. Other than that, you’re golden. There are tons of accessories for people on the go, such as yourself, that you should consider getting. When you look at the details of the laptop, it will ask if you want external monitor adapters, airline power adapter, etc. You should probably get these with all your traveling and portability needs.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/9514003/wo/1t7UCJcQyaFB3kUcPieNF9S9UrL/6.?p=0

So, outside of computer hardware…. What else is there to consider. You can purchase ‘AppleCare Protection Plan’ which runs about $250 for each of those. When you get an Apple computer, you get 90 days of phone tech support and then 1 year of warranty service. AppleCare bumps both of those to 3 years. It’s pretty nice to have. The laptop has a worldwide agreement whereas any desktop model is only for the country it was purchased in.

The one huge piece of software you should definitely purchase is Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac ($150). If you get the home/student edition, it comes with 3 licenses. So you only have to buy it once for up to 3 computers.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TQ744LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/productivity&mco=MTMzMTA

For troubleshooting software problems, computer crashes, software glitches, I would definitely purchase the software CD called DiskWarrior ($100).

No need to purchase Norton, Virus this or that.

They do have various versions of backup software we can discuss if that’s something you want to look into.

If you use something like Quicken for personal or business accounting, they have that and some other kinds for Mac.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TK302LL/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/productivity&mco=MTA3OTE4

HEADS UP: When you buy your mac, they will try to sell you on a few things (as everyone always does). They will ask you if you want a printer, you get a $100 mail-in rebate. Many of them only cost $100, so “it’s free” they’ll say. They will try to get you to purchase .Mac. This is an email account, a web site hosting service, back up, etc. You will likely have no need for it. It’s $100 a year, but “your first year is only $69” or something like that.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA927Z/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/apple&mco=MTA3OTE0

They will also sell you on iWork ($80). This is Apple’s version of Microsoft Office. Unless you want to dable in not using PPT, Excel, Word, etc. and try using something else, you have no need for this.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA790Z/A?fnode=home/shop_mac/software/apple&mco=MjU4ODk

Lastly, they will sell you on a relatively new service called ProCare. This gets you one-on-one training or another version that gets you to the front of the line when you need service or help with a problem with your computer. Both are $99 a year. If you think you’d like to spend some time learning your Mac, if might be worth doing the one-to-one for one year. Otherwise, no need to get either.

So, that about does it. There’s lots of other accessories around computers I have not even discussed, but you probably have a good idea of what kind of laptop case you want to use, how many batteries you want, extra power cords, etc. etc.

Last month we hit the 80% mark and we’re coming down the home stretch. Over the coming month we hope to meet with many of you and your small groups. Our mini tour of churches is almost over. At the end of the month Allison will be headed to Tulsa for a week-long missions event at her home church. She’ll be sharing at numerous events and small groups. I’ll be headed up for the weekend and share with two more groups before things culminate with the main service on Sunday morning.

We ask for your continued prayers that we are able to finish strong financially.

Allison and I had the opportunity to share at a church in Shell Knob, MO. If you’ve ever been to NW Arkansas or SW Missouri, you know what the area is like, beautiful. Nestled up next to Table Rock lake, the beautiful views are limitless. They have seen a lot of rain and flooding is putting it mildly. Many people are trapped in their homes surrounded by 15 foot waters. The lake is over 40 feet above it’s normal level. To say the least, they could use your prayers. It is a retirement community and would be extremely difficult should someone have a medical emergency.

We were very blessed to be able to share with the community about the work Allison and I will be doing in Sudan. They received us with much love and prayed over us. After a quick lunch with the church body, Allison and I excused ourself for the 8 hour ride home. We made it back safe and sound.

Avery always gets a bit of schedule when we go out of town, but is sleeping longer a night. Such a praise for both of us.

Stay tuned as we have a lot going on these next few weeks.

History tends to repeat itself. On the continent of Africa, it tends to repeat itself in much shorter cycles. Only months ago Kenya had it’s Presidential elections. The vote tally was delayed, and when it was finally released, with much suspicion, the current President was sworn in only an hour later. Violence followed at and over 1500 people lost there lives and a deeper ethnic divide has split the country. With the current peace holding, and the new government still rebuilding, the future is not certain.

The repeat:
Zimbabwe has had the same leader since independence from Britain 28 years ago. They held their Presidential elections a little over a week ago. There was a strong opposition who had been neglected in the state-run media, restricted from traveling to rallies & events, all to restrict the ability of the other candidates from being able to build support.

By Zimbabwe law, the election results are to be announced within 5 days of the vote. That was Friday. There has yet to be an announcement of the results. Before Friday even came, the opposition filed a suit to have the results published. The hearing was to originally be today, Saturday, and has been delayed until tomorrow.

Pray for the people of Zimbabwe. For peace, for understanding, for true wisdom in decision making by everyone. Pray.