Im not saying Mac is shit but for the price I would go for a decent AW. A low end Alien laptop is about 200 u.s.d cheaper then the $1000 Mac book. Spewing out about 1.3k dollars to get a decent Alien and you ultimately have a better system the the Mac, gfxly speaking. Mac would be a cheaper choice so if money is tight then he should go with that one, but if he can go about 300 more dollars go with an Alien.