Choices, choices...

[DoctorDan]

Hokay. I'm planning on getting a laptop in the near future. After some research and some thinking, I am likely getting a MacBook. There are a few reasons:
-I like the simplicity/easiness of Macs. I think the OS is great for personal use.
-It looks nice.
-My graphic/web design interests... Macs are known to be great for such things.
-I can effing TRIPLE BOOT OSX, Linux, and Windows. OSX for graphics/web/general use, Windows for certain games/programs, and Linux for experimentation/programming/who knows. I found this b-e-a-utiful tutorial: http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Trip...t_via_BootCamp .

Here are the MacBooks: Clicky. I'm looking at the two on the right (white and black).


I am still, however, faced with some questions and some things I need your opinion on:
-After reading the triple boot tutorial it seems as though I can only install a live Linux distro. Did I interpret this correctly/is there a way around that (when it comes down to it I'm sure I can find a nice live distro to install, but I do enjoy Debian )?
-I'm planning on updating the default 512MB RAM/60GB hard drive to 1GB RAM/80GB hard drive(20GB windows/20GB Linux/40GB OSX maybe... unfortunately triple booting with a Mac doesn't allow any more partitions than 1 for each OS).
This costs $150 more JUST to have the black MacBook with the same insides as the white. This pisses me off because I find the black MacBook to look damn cool and I really prefer how it looks. Would you get black for 150 bucks more or go with the white?
-Would you get 100GB hard drive instead of 80GB? The only reason I ask this question is because of the 3 separate partitions. I'm afraid each OS won't have enough hard drive space. Who knows.. if I decide I need more than 20GB on the Linux partition I would be screwed, wouldn't I.
-Does anyone know if OSX can read/write/safely interact with the Linux ext3 partition (had trouble finding this on Google ) as well as Linux working with the HFS+ OSX partition (I actually found a driver for HFS+ but does anyone have any personal experience with doing this?). That would help solve my previous problem.
-Any other suggestions? Anything you think I should know?

Phew.... thanks much for reading. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Be well!
Peace!
-Dan

[Cabhan]

Well, I own a Macbook Pro: it's a bit higher-end, but I've been having some great experiences with it.

What you were saying about the MacBook depresses me: I was under the impression that the black case had a faster processor. But that saddens me greatly.

Looking at the tutorial, it seems to me that it is using "LiveCD" to refer to a booting environment off the CD: in this case, it includes install discs and everything. You will, of course, need to ensure that it uses your own partitioning scheme, and you'll need to create a swapfile manually. Having said that, I've not actually tried it: but I see no reason that this should be such an issue.

Even if you do need an official Live distro, Knoppix is Debian-based, and will probably do what you need.


As far as the coloring scheme: do you have $150 to spend on it? I mean, it looks nice, and if you have the money, you may as well go for it. If it's such a tight squeeze as is, then don't. That simple.

The hard drive, well, here's the thing: are you REALLY needing to triple-boot this computer? I mean, you obviously have another computer around: maybe you shouldn't make it such a squeeze. Mac OS X is Unix-based: almost any programming you'd do on Linux (unless, obviously, it's absolutely Linux-specific with libraries and such), can likely be done on Mac OS X. And I take it you'll be keeping your current Linux box.

If you do still want to triple boot, it's an extra $100 for the 100 GB hard drive. If you can afford the black, you can afford the hard drive, I would assume: if you can only choose one, it's really up to you.

[DoctorDan]

You are absolutely right. I can probably do without the triple boot. I think I got a bit excited by the thought of 3 OSs on one 5lb machine :P . I'm sure I'll be fine with a smallish windows partition and a larger Mac partition. Then I'm not too worried with the 80GB hard drive. New question!!

-Is FAT horrible? I wan't to be able to share files between Mac and Windows. I suppose that means Windows partition should be FAT. Am I risking anything here?

Thanks for allowing me to think rationally again Cabhan
-Dan

[techieMoe]

This costs $150 more JUST to have the black MacBook with the same insides as the white. This pisses me off because I find the black MacBook to look damn cool and I really prefer how it looks. Would you get black for 150 bucks more or go with the white?

You're talking to someone who waited 2 extra months just to get a black iPod Nano. If black looks that much cooler to you, pay for it. You know you want it.

-Would you get 100GB hard drive instead of 80GB?

I have a MacBook Pro (100GB harddrive), but as far as worrying whether they'll have enough space, I've barely used 20 GB of my 100 with just OS X. XP can go on as few as 10GB if you only have a few applications installed (in my case Oblivion and Doom 3).