I'm Ready to take a BITE out of Apple - HELP?

  I am a PC Guy!

Microsoft, Dell, looking at and through "Windows" has been my life!

I have resisted "Apple", "Mac" even getting an iPhone, which I finally did get in December as a birthday gift from my sister, forever!

Now I'm READY, I think, to finally get my first MAC. But which one to get? I really want to start out small, but have enough power to possible develop an App I am working on for IOS! My thoughts are to get a laptop NOT a desktop, I think!

Apple really makes it easy as far as choices. Or is it. There are only TWO Laptops

 

Below are the two choices. You can custermize your MacBook Air, not like I am use to in building my own DELL, but here are some of the choices.

8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM [Add $100.00] (More memory (RAM) increases overall performance and enables your computer to run more applications at the same time.) More Memory is always important.Would say worth the extra expense!

Apple USB SuperDrive [Add $79.00] (Compact and convenient, the external Apple USB SuperDrive connects to your MacBook Air with a single USB cable and fits easily into a travel bag. It lets you install new software and play and burn both CDs and DVDs, including double-layer DVDs.) So NO CD/DVD drive in a MacBook Air!

Keynote [Add $19.99] ( Keynote is the most powerful presentation app ever created for the Mac. Its easy-to-use tools let you add tables, charts, shapes, photos, and videos to slides—and bring it all to life with stunning cinematic animations.) Not really sue about this one. Don't really think it's for me!

Pages [Add $19.99] (Pages is the most beautiful word processor ever created for the Mac. It is also a powerful, yet easy-to-use, page layout application. So you can be a writer one minute and a designer the next, always with a perfect document in the works.) Now this is a MUST! Unlike it's Microsoft counterpart, WORD, very inexpensive! 

Numbers [Add $19.99] (With great-looking templates, easy-to-create formulas, and dynamic tables and charts, Numbers spreadsheets make perfect sense. Choose one of the 30 gorgeous Apple-designed templates to use for home, work, and school, and make it your own.) Again, this is a MUST! Unlike it's Microsoft counterpart, EXCEL, very inexpensive! 

OR

 

The other choice is the  MacBook PRO!

 You have three choices with this one! 

 

OR

OR

 

With these choices you can upgrade the Memory, Processor, Hard Drive as well as the other options listed above.

I have purchased MANY PC's over the years and for me building it up and configuring it myself rather then just purchasing one that was already in the box was half the fun and getting what I wanted and needed. 

While you can somewhat configure the Mac Laptops, choices and options are limited to the basics! 

Now for my work and just because I use it and LOVE it I need to have Microsoft Office! 

To use Office on a MacBook Air you have the problem of getting it on there with NO CD/DVD drive not a problem on a MacBook Pro! Microsoft Office for Mac costs $127.49 and you get Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook! 

Now you can install Microsoft Windows on both by partitioning the drives, so a BIGGER hard drive would be better.

I am at this point leaning towards a MacBook Pro! THOUGHTS!?