Project Zen

I own a macbook myself (not the Pro version). I've bought one a little over a year ago, and I can say I couldn't have been happier with my purchase. There probably isn't a better time then right now to switch to a mac. With the very recent release of OSX 10.5 leopard and the macbook specs itself just being updated just about a week ago, it's a pretty safe buy. The small macbook is almost identical to the macbook pro in performance (there have even been times when the normal macbook was faster then the pro in certain aspects, but right now it's pretty balanced). The only real advantage a macbook pro has is the bigger screen size, and, if you care for it,  a much faster video card (but this really only comes to use either if you're a video editor or a hardcore gamer). In my opinion if you don't care about it's 13 inch screen size, it really is the best buy (since it performs equally well when running windows). Even in virtualization it's pretty fast (running windows within OSX). Today the macbook comes at a really affordable price similar to normal laptops with identical specs.

When it comes to harddrive space the macbook may however fall a little short compared to other systems (the smallest coming at 80gb and the biggest 160gb). Then again 2.5 inch harddrives are pretty afforable right now and for about $180 extra you could easily upgrade it to 250gb (just make sure you don't buy them at the Apple store, they're pretty overpriced there). Personally I always just take an external drive with me since it offers much more space, and is actually a little faster (and cheaper) then an internal drive...

If you don't care at all about running OSX then of course there are better deals out there. But judging by what you've posted I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you about what's the right kind of hardware. The advantages speak for themselves. (and I don't think that there any brands that are particularly better then the other).

I wouldn't make an investment in a blu-ray or HD-dvd drive yet. I'm pretty interested in HD movies myself, but I don't think one is really better then the other at this moment (whether it comes to content or quality, they seem equals). If you don't mind downloading movies online then there's plenty of HD content offered via torrent today. My suggestion would be to wait a little before getting any of these drives, especially since most laptops don't even have a screen resolution that's close to 1080p. There are external HD and blu-ray drives available right now so if you don't mind connecting a drive to your laptop I'd recommend waiting a little...

Finally I'm not sure how often you plan on bringing your laptop along but I wouldn't recommend getting anything over 15 inch screen size. 17 inch laptops seem a bit clunky to me and only seem justified if you're seriously thinking of using it as some sort of small media centre (however in that case 17 inch seems a little small, and you'd be much better off getting a 15 inch notebook and just hook it up to a monitor or (HD)TV if you plan on watching movies).

I've upgraded my macbook to 2GB about a month ago. Gotta say it's much faster, but the only reason I really did it is cause my macbook turns a bit slower when having photoshop open with several other applications at the same time (it's pretty useful for virtualization too though). Otherwise 1GB should be sufficient...

Actually with the latest macbook models you can upgrade them to 4GB, but that's certainly overdoing it. If you want to upgrade though you'll have to actually buy 2x1GB ram, since by default it's taking up both your slots with 2x512MB. I think the price for both of them would be around $140. I paid €70 here for each (unfortunately apple very rarely makes a distinction between a euro and a dollar). If you find there are better prices in Canada though, then you might also want to consider installing RAM by yourself. It's fairly easy to do so...

Apple just announced a new notebook lineup, both the macbook and macbook pro's have been updated with Penryn processors and a multitouch touchpad (similar to the multitouch iPhone or iPod touch interface, pro only tho). The $1299 (or 1199 for us europeans or $1349 for canadians) macbook is especially interesting. Coming with 2GB standard and 160GB harddrive, it offers quite a lot more then their previous counterparts. Also if you don't mind buying a little outdated hardware. Now is a good time to get good deals on older models with full warranty....

Sounds good. Are you going back to school? I'm currently trying to combine a full time job and doing my studies in part time (but I'm seriously considering going back to part time work).

Also if you turn up a good profit from the stock market you may even want to upgrade to 4GB. The prices for memory are getting cheaper by the day. I tested one of those machines out this week with a little RAM upgrade and it's incredibly fast (then again I don't know if you're that much of a power user)...