The plastic on the white macbook can crack, although they will fix it for free if it does (they just did on mine.) The MacBook Pros are the aluminum ones and they are pretty cool. My husband just got a 15" Wait until after Sept 9th though - there is a big Apple announcement and it's probably iPods, but you never know. They did just drop the prices in June though, so it's probably a new product and not a price drop.
Get the Applecare extended warranty - you don't want to be without a computer for 2 weeks or whatever if it breaks. With Applecare they will fix anything right there in the store or in a day or two if they need parts.
We've always had a good experience at our local Apple store. Just last night my husband's mouse broke - we went at like 8:30 at night, put our name on the list and a genius helped us. He said it was under warranty and gave us a new mouse. Just like that. We bought it at a store that went out of business, so we didn't even have a receipt. Wow!
Sorry for the random thoughts! If you have any questions let me know.
