The "Genius Bar" is hte support desk at the Apple Store. Most major cities have an Apple Store now and the Genius Bar is awesome! The "Geniuses" are trained to handle almost any problem you could have with your computer (or ipod) and will even book time to show you how to use it, for free. They are sort of like "triage" for any problem you may have. I had a cd stuck in my laptop and while they couldn''t fix it for me, they boxed it up and sent it to the factory for me for free. The problem was under warranty, but I would have had to pay for shipping if I''d done it myself. When I had the keyboard problem, they ordered it for me and replaced it in store, in 15 minutes, and only charged me for the part. I was thrilled!
My ibook battery lasts about 3 hours when I run a lot of stuff, longer when I''m just using 1 program.
As for what to get in it, most of the Macs come loaded with everything you''ll need... just be sure you get a wireless router so you can have wireless internet in your home, if you don''t have one already. Focus on getting as much RAM as you can... it''s important. As for file transfer, I usually just use a usb keychain thing. works better than a quick cd burn, but then I don''t transfer large files usually.
But more moderate users would be very happy with 1 GB. If the $ is not super tight, better to just order it up front than worry about it later.
