hey whatz up? depends on what environment you will be in? If you will be in the sciences I would go with a windows based, if not and you just need a lappy for music word docs and web I would go with a mac. You can get a windows and put a linux on it but thats if you are good with computers. I have used both OSs and I love them both the cheapest macbook is really good and make sure you dont get less than 2gb of ram I would jus tbuy the comp with 1 gb and then upgrade it myself