I'm going to buy a Macbook in January, and I was wondering which model you guys think is the better value. I have the money.

If you have the money for a $1600 MacBook, I'd step up to the lowest pro, you get a bigger screen, better graphics, and FireWire. If you don't care about that, then go with the $1600 MacBook.

I decided to go for the top MacBook for portability and spent the money saved on a 4GB of memory, a 2TB external HDD and 24" Display for my desk!

SticMAN
I only had to pay in a _small bit!

Well, I have no specific need for power. I have a pretty powerful desktop already that I can do power computing on. I just need portability and good battery life. And I love the illuminated keyboard. I'm just not sure if 90GB of HDD space, 400MHz of processing speed, and an illuminated keyboard are worth $300.

I got the 2.0 ghz and it works great for me. Unless you're doing something pretty processor intensive like 3D rendering or Video Encoding, I doubt you'd ever notice a faster processor. But if you're hardcore and want that extra 2 seconds to open an app, then go for the 2.4!

Haha, yeah very true. My thing is the illuminated keyboard, although I have a hard time forking over $300 for some extra LEDs

I went with the Pro, it was more but I just can't use a 1280x800 screen on a laptop. that only good for one application on the screen. I will use the pro docked and undocked and when I am undocked that will be mostly in dim light and the back lit keyboard will be great.

My advice, do worry about the extra money, get what you want and never look back.

Get the one with the backlit keys.
I had them in my MBP 17 and I loved it. I miss them with my x205-sli6 Toshiba.
If the screen wouldnt have warped on the MBP 17 I wouldnt have returned it for a MP.

this completely depends on what you wish to do with it.

I would get a used macbook pro.

under 1k, and has expresscard slot

no expresscard = not a real laptop for what I would use it for.

Guess I would have totally different preferences there, I want my laptop to be as small and easy to bring along as possible with no extra things to stick in it .. If need real calculating power get another desktop.. does a lot more for a lot smaller price in general.. Just my opinion there..!

Plenty of power + upgradability in the current desktop. I know I want a Macbook, as I refuse to buy another PC laptop after the last one I had. I was just asking what model is most worth the money. I basically want a laptop to take to school and manage iTunes with. You know, the normal stuff .