I'll be starting my technical classes at New England Tech and wanted to know if a 13" MBA 4GB 128SSD would be fine or should I go with 13"MBP 4GB 500GB Harddrive. I would be replacing optical drive on MBP with an SSD drive this summer. Thanks in advance.
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Any college Software Engineers???
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Either should work just fine for you. If you need space you can get an external USB drive for the Air or an SD card.
Up to whichever format you prefer.
I'm an electrical engineering student, but I've been required to take two different programming classes, and have to learn a couple different programming languages for my research.
I would suggest the 13in MBA, because when you program, you'll want as much screen real state as possible, and the MBA's resolution trumps the MBP's in that aspect.
Granted, if you're going to be hooked up to an external (which is highly suggested), perhaps my aforementioned statement is a moot point. I'd still suggest the MBA though.
I would suggest the 13in MBA, because when you program, you'll want as much screen real state as possible, and the MBA's resolution trumps the MBP's in that aspect.
Granted, if you're going to be hooked up to an external (which is highly suggested), perhaps my aforementioned statement is a moot point. I'd still suggest the MBA though.
What are you using for development? You may need to install Windows 7 if it's Visual Studio, for example. You could do a dual-boot partition or run it in a Virtual Machine.
I use my 13" MBA for Xcode (iOS) and Eclipse (Java), which works perfectly fine. I have the 2011/i5/4GB/256GB model. I've installed Windows 8 using VirtualBox and it works just fine, but more RAM would certainly be preferred.
I use my 13" MBA for Xcode (iOS) and Eclipse (Java), which works perfectly fine. I have the 2011/i5/4GB/256GB model. I've installed Windows 8 using VirtualBox and it works just fine, but more RAM would certainly be preferred.
I run a Win7 VM with 1GB of RAM set aside for it. Visual Studio works pretty well in it. Using Unity mode, it's like VS is running on OS X (almost).
I use VMWare Fusion. Can't compare to parallels as I haven't tried their product.
Definitely wouldn't mind a RAM upgrade over 4GB, but my laptop certainly never slows down.
I also have a MBP 13" with 16GB of RAM. I don't see a performance difference when only running 1 VM. I usually run 4 on the MBP though (each with 2GB of RAM). The MBP is my personal laptop, the MBA my work laptop.
I use VMWare Fusion. Can't compare to parallels as I haven't tried their product.
Definitely wouldn't mind a RAM upgrade over 4GB, but my laptop certainly never slows down.
I also have a MBP 13" with 16GB of RAM. I don't see a performance difference when only running 1 VM. I usually run 4 on the MBP though (each with 2GB of RAM). The MBP is my personal laptop, the MBA my work laptop.
I'm a CS student right now, with a 13" i5 MBA with the 128 GB SSD. it's been great so far, though I definitely recommend having a large external - I have a terabyte drive on the wireless that I keep my iTunes library, movies, backups, and other big things that I don't use often.
The air has such a portability benefit even over the 13" pro, I'd totally recommend the Air.
Power-wise, the air can keep up with everything I've done on it so far, including Xcode and video stuff.
The air has such a portability benefit even over the 13" pro, I'd totally recommend the Air.
Power-wise, the air can keep up with everything I've done on it so far, including Xcode and video stuff.
Id grab the air with the SSD and use an external for any additional storage. The air is perfect for college.
So what are you going to get?
Ended up getting a base model 13" Macbook Pro. I was able to get for a really good price. I decided to go with something more future proof. Also, when ssd's drop, i'll put one in and take optical drive out.
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Appreciate all the advice, thanks again.