Well, the easy answer here is you can’t.  Sorry, I know that is not the answer you are looking for, but I have a little help.  I have been a windows user my entire life.  I’ve had access to Macs, but never have used them regularly.    It’s time for a new laptop, and I’ve decided to make the plunge.

After carefully weighing all the options, I decided on the following minimum specifications:  15.4″ screen, 4GB RAM, 512MB on board video, 7200 RPM hard drive.  I set my overall budget for this computer at $2,400 to my door.

Unfortunately for me, Apple doesn’t carry the exact configuration I need in any of their “standard” packages in my price range.  Once you get up to the faster processors and $2500+ models, you can get close, but it looked initially that this was an impossible task.

I went to the local Best Buy, and they carried two models that were close.  The first, a $1,999 model had 215Mb video, 5400 RPM hard drive, and 2GB RAM.  I strongly considered this option, but the fact that the RAM was two 1GB sticks completely killed that consideration.  No way was I buying a brand new computer only to upgrade the RAM and throw away what was in it.

Their next option was a $2,499 model that fit my specs much closer but with sales tax was over $2,700.  I buy a lot at Best Buy and know some of the employees quite well.  I’m about as close to a VIP as you can get there, but they had no play on working with me on the price.  I thought about upping the budget, but decided to get online and see what I could find before caving in.

If you go to Apple.com you can do slight customizations to the available models and get one within my specs.  Unfortunately, Apple.com charges sales tax just like local stores.  That, plus the fact that my specs put the model at or over my budget makes this option a no-go as well.

I finally decided that the only way to get a deal on a large Apple purchase like this one was to find someone who had free shipping and no sales tax to my state.  This alone could save me up to $300 on this $2400 purchase, freeing up more money for a better computer.

After a lot of searching around, I came across the following model at ABT.com.

Apple MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Silver Notebook Computer – Z0G0320/ 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/ 320GB 7200-RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive/ 15.4″ LED-Backlit Glossy Widescreen Display/ Built-In iSight Camera/ Built-In AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi And Bluetooth/ NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT Graphics Processor/ Dual Display And Video Mirroring/ Multi-Touch Trackpad/ 85W MagSafe Power Adapter/ Mini DisplayPort/ Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard/ Silver Finish

ABT is having a sale through next week that includes free shipping, and being an online retailer they don’t charge tax to my state.  WIth my research, I’ve gotten a better overall computer than Best Buy was offering for about $400 less.

The downside is that I have to order it online and wait for it to get here.  But $400 extra in my pocket is worth the wait.  However, I’ll probably pay an extra $50 and have it sent next day shipping, because I’m not that patient.