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I'm a College Student Looking to Switch

T

The_Wall

macrumors member
Original poster
Hi. This is my first post here and I am a sophomore college student looking to switch to a Mac. I am looking at botht he 12" ibook, and 12" powerbook. If possible depending on how much I earn this summer I may be able to get a 15" powerbook. I will be using Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop. Photoshop more than the other two, and I am looking to start editing movies a little as well.

The only problem I have is that I am required to take a Computer Informations Systems(CIS) course that covers Word, Excel, and Access. My problem is Access is not out for the Mac, so how much difference would I have running Virutal PC 6 on the new 900mhz ibook vs. the 12" or 15" 867mhz powerbook.

Any other advice you fine folks could give would be much welcomed also. Thanks.

The_Wall
 
Re: I'm a College Student Looking to Switch

Originally posted by The_Wall
Hi. This is my first post here and I am a sophomore college student looking to switch to a Mac. I am looking at botht he 12" ibook, and 12" powerbook. If possible depending on how much I earn this summer I may be able to get a 15" powerbook. I will be using Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop. Photoshop more than the other two, and I am looking to start editing movies a little as well.

The only problem I have is that I am required to take a Computer Informations Systems(CIS) course that covers Word, Excel, and Access. My problem is Access is not out for the Mac, so how much difference would I have running Virutal PC 6 on the new 900mhz ibook vs. the 12" or 15" 867mhz powerbook.

Any other advice you fine folks could give would be much welcomed also. Thanks.

The_Wall
Click to expand...

well does the course require that you use your own computer? if it doesnt then use your mac for all thoe apps it can run, and the schools comp's for ACCESS. best of both worlds if you ask me. If however you must run VPC, I think it will will run ok, although not as decently as the G4 PB. I will be honest with you, even VPC on a dual 1.42 ghz with 1 gb of ram, it is still slow to run XP , well with eye candy, but still. If you have to use VPC then by all means use it on the much cheaper ibook, just make sure to bu a 512 stick (NOT FROM APPLE) to make a grand total of 640mb of ram in the ibook. Of course this is all assumign you do not want to pay the extra 500 for the PB.

I hope that helps
 
For video editing I'd get the 15" PowerBook when it is updated to the Aluminum version. Not only do you get an L3 cache, which is good for graphics apps, but you also get the widescreen, which is a great format for editing and design apps in general.
 
The Wall,

First off, on purchasing - become a student member of ADC. It's $99 for a year (free OS upgrades for a year) and you get a one-time hardware discount of a LOT more than $99. The 17" Powerbook costs $2680something instead of the normal educational discount of $2999. You can also sell the new OS as new on Ebay to make back part of the $99 if you like.

If you have the option, forget about the one App that you need a PC for. Do your work for that program in a computer lab. You won't even have to worry about Virtual PC that way.
 
I know how you feel! I'm a mac guy at an almost all PC school where their network wont' even recognize a mac (though we easily got aroudn it by manualy configuring our IP settings, don't worry though, most colleges' IT dept. aren't as bad). However, I bought Virtual PC with PC-DOS at academicsuperstore.com for cheap and used the school's Microsoft license to get a hold of a few versions of Windows and a copy of Office 2K. If you go for XP, its going to be slow (heck, its slow on my parrents PC, and its brand new!) I recommend 98 or even 2000 instead. VPC works wonders for me especialy for accessing other student's PCs. Typicaly, VPC has a realistic emulation of 50% of what the mac's processor. I have a dual 1Ghz MDD powermac and I'd say I get the performance of about a 1Ghz Pentium. I think the key to it all is RAM, its cheap so why not max out? Hope all that helped!
 
Originally posted by ibookin'
For video editing I'd get the 15" PowerBook when it is updated to the Aluminum version. Not only do you get an L3 cache, which is good for graphics apps, but you also get the widescreen, which is a great format for editing and design apps in general.
Click to expand...

I agree with this.

However, if you can't get a 15", I'd still go with the 12" PB over the ibook. On other threads I have reccomended the ibook to people, but as I always say in my posts, it depends on what you need it for. In your case, with all those graphical apps like photoshop that are altivec aware, you'll get much better results with a G4 than a G3.
 
Originally posted by ibookin'
For video editing I'd get the 15" PowerBook when it is updated to the Aluminum version. Not only do you get an L3 cache, which is good for graphics apps, but you also get the widescreen, which is a great format for editing and design apps in general.
Click to expand...

I agree as well. Right now we (students) are enjoying our summer break, and I think there are high chances that we will see new portables before school starts in August. That being said, I will recommend the 15”. It’s not like the ibook or 12” PB can’t handle video or Photoshop, but if you are going to use your computer for that, you will love the extra real state the 15” has to offer. Heck, my three year old dual G4 handles Video and Photoshop no prob…. but virtual PC is really slow, and my computer has only half of the clock speed of the current portables. I understand the 15” will be more expensive, but you don’t need to buy the fastest 15”, the fast on will do. I’m going to start my junior year in August, and I’m also waiting for the new alubooks to be released. Lets cross our fingers, hopefully they will pack brand new G4 up to 1.33+Ghz, and if Apple uses the new G4’s we can expect at least 6 hours of battery life!!!
 
I use dreamweaver and fireworks alot - bigger is ALWAYS better for this kind of stuff. I run my 19" Sony CRT in 1600x1200 (85 hz) and i'm looking at getting a second display, probably flat screen for space reasons.

Soo.. go for the 15" if you can.

Also: Wait for the new hardware to come out before you buy anything. Unless you're taking summer classes and need it immediately, wait as long as possible. And check this website often, it will give a pretty good indication when new hardware is coming out.
 
If you can save for a 15" PB do - the L3 cache that is present on that (but not on the 12" PB or the iBook) makes a hell of a difference to VPC performance.
 
I've tried VPC running XP on an 800MHz ibook and a DP 1GHz Powermac and it's slow but bareable on the PM but really, really slow on the ibook. I haven't tried using W2K or (ughh) W98 though... If you need portable I'd go with G4 machine with an L3 cache and as much RAM as you can get.
 
if you decide to go the route of 15'' powerbook, wait until they have an upgrade, which will prolly include aliumiun (shudders, wrecking the last cool looking laptop on any market) and DDR memory. Don't hold out for the backlit keyboard tho; that is probably going to remiain an incentive to purchase the 17''.
 
Thanks for all your help. I think I am most likely going to try for the 12" Alu PB, but if I can go for the 15" inch when it gets updated. As far as a warranty goes, would you get the Applecare of go for the COMPUSA warranty. If I buy it I will be getting it from COMPUSA, or the Apple Store online, so which of the two would you guys recommend. I do know the COMPUSA warranty covers the screen so that is a plus.

Thanks
 
Originally posted by The_Wall
Thanks for all your help. I think I am most likely going to try for the 12" Alu PB, but if I can go for the 15" inch when it gets updated. As far as a warranty goes, would you get the Applecare of go for the COMPUSA warranty. If I buy it I will be getting it from COMPUSA, or the Apple Store online, so which of the two would you guys recommend. I do know the COMPUSA warranty covers the screen so that is a plus.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Since you are a student, you can get an education discount at apple.com. It may not be a lot, but it will help. I personally didn't have much help with the CompUSA the one time I needed it with my old iMac, so I recommend AppleCare. That being said, AppleCare does cover the display if there is a problem.
 
CompUSA??

I don't think I'd buy my machine from CompUSA. I wish I was a student like you. I would take the advice given earlier in this forum and pay the $99 to become and Apple student developer. You can save about $300-400 on most machines (12" PB combo = $1439).

CompUSA offers no discounts and no free add-ons like online vendors. Go to MacPrices.com and look at the deals. Apple ships with no shipping charge. Some other vendors do as well, and some charge NO TAX to certain states. Is there a bookstore at your university that sells Apples? Their educational discount is OK, but the ADC student discounts are the best. Check out the hardware and other discounts:
ADC student discounts

Of course you have to join first:
ADC student program

Parsa
 
Originally posted by The_Wall
Thanks for all your help. I think I am most likely going to try for the 12" Alu PB, but if I can go for the 15" inch when it gets updated. As far as a warranty goes, would you get the Applecare of go for the COMPUSA warranty. If I buy it I will be getting it from COMPUSA, or the Apple Store online, so which of the two would you guys recommend. I do know the COMPUSA warranty covers the screen so that is a plus.

Thanks
Click to expand...

go applecare. They really take care of you. If you need to send it in for repair they send you a prepaid box and pick it up by courier. You have the computer back in your hands about 2 business days after it leaves your house (sent mine on a friday and got it back on tuesday- 2 business days later). Personally, I always trust my hardware to the orginal manufacturer over a 3rd party retailer.
 
Re: CompUSA??

Originally posted by Parsa
Apple ships with no shipping charge. Some other vendors do as well, and some charge NO TAX to certain states.
Click to expand...
While it is certainly true that most catalog vendors only charge tax in the state(s) that they maintain a physical presence, most (perhaps all) states that HAVE sales tax, require that you claim and pay tax (use, personal property, etc) on items purchased out of state. So you're not really saving as much as it seems like you are... unless of course you cheat on your taxes.
 
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