Thanks everyone for your input! Very helpful after reading each post!
I talked to several more people and Vista apparently needs more patching and might be a little bit more difficult (to work with) in the long run.
I'm concluding that I'll go with the MacBook which I'll be ordering tonight and it includes a rebate for a printer! I need a laptop by next month, so I wouldn't get the academic deal with the nano and printer -but thanks for pointing that out. Could be very useful for someone else!=)
Thanks guys and perhaps others will also find this thread equally as useful.