Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
School Purposes - Macbook vs macbook air?
- Thread starter bluedoggiant
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Best Mac Book you can.
IMO I just can't think why you would get one apart from its lighter.
I can see the point of having one... but school isn't.
Get a decent spec MacBook and a BACKUP!!!
IMO I just can't think why you would get one apart from its lighter.
I can see the point of having one... but school isn't.
Get a decent spec MacBook and a BACKUP!!!
Best Mac Book you can.
IMO I just can't think why you would get one apart from its lighter.
I can see the point of having one... but school isn't.
Get a decent spec MacBook and a BACKUP!!!
The original poster has already made up their mind!
Wait a minute here.
A computer does not automatically become useless after a period of time. Heck, I still use my PM933 (6 years old) and PB15 (4 years old) on a daily basis. I have older ones that I use as well.
Not everyone needs to have the latest and greatest to be functional.
BTW, I have yet to see anybody out type a computer. So let's not get carried away with specs.
If by "out type" you mean type letters quicker than the computer can display the characters, then you obviously have never used Word 2004 under rosetta on an Intel Mac.
Iam a university student focusing on business and political science and I do a lot of research and Iam constantly on the move so I don't mind paying a premium for having the lightest/thinnest computer possible the macbook air is perfect for me (iam upgrading form a mb btw)
the macbook air is perfect for me (iam upgrading form a mb btw)The MacBook Air would be an excellent companion to your iMac I would definitely take the portability of the MBA given your situation. I reckon the MBA is really tailored to your demographic.
I repeat: the MacBook Air is NOT "tailored" to the college demographic.
That is MacBook (and MacBook Pro, for graphics/engineering students) territory. The ONLY advantage to purchasing a MacBook Air is to save two pounds of weight while sacrificing the ability to have a remotely powerful consumer laptop. This is good for businessmen and women who must bring all of their needs with them to their work or destination, and having a thin, viable machine with a low weight is useful.
If you live on campus, especially at a school with higher class sizes, you're bringing no more than one or two books to class, and perhaps none if it's a lecture course. Saving two pounds does nothing when you have little to carry. I myself commute to school -- one that has a smaller class size. For someone in my situation, I usually need to bring more books (the average careless student brings nothing, though, from what I see). However, assuming that like most commuting students, you have a car to get to school, you're not going to be carrying all of your books at once if you have a long day of classes.
I just leave my books I don't need in the car, go to a class or two, then drop them off in the car in the parking lot when I'm done -- only a short walk from the buildings. As a college student, it's usually not my laptop that adds any weight or thickness to my bag. It's the books themselves that add all of that weight and make the bag bulge a foot off of my back. The 1" MacBook is going to take up the space it takes up, and compared to the thickest part of the MacBook Air (.76", I believe), it's really not a significant difference.
Again, the bottom line is that the MacBook is THE best decision. This comes from a student that's used one extensively in and out of commute for over a year.
All the people who are saying that the MBA is for business people as a second computer to give presentations, etc... Well guess what... I am a business type road warrior who does that stuff... and I thought this would be the perfect computer... until It came out... and now I cannot ever imagine buying it!!!
It is too big - same screen size as a MB. The thickness is irrelevant - at its thickest point it is similar to a MB. The overall weight - also not important because the MB itself is pretty low in weight...
It is WAY too underpowered. 4200 ipod hard drive? Not useful for presentations when having video, etc. One USB port? Awful - I use a mouse, mobile broadband, USB keys, presentation remotes, etc. Dongles for adapters? No ethernet? Very sketchy when on the road. It is bad enough carrying a MB mini DVI adapter, but having to carry one for ethernet also?? No way.
I use computers at a corporate level. Dropping 2grand is not a big deal at all. But I dont understand who in the heck the MBA is for. It is NOT for us road warrior types. way too many compromises when a deal is dependent on a presentation.. It is just not enough. This is regardless of price.
Now, others say it is a second computer for surfing, email, notetaking, etc. Come on - that is ridiculous. A PC laptop can do all of those things with no compromises, and if you give me the MAC fanboy crap about crashing, etc, you are wrong. It just doesnt happen with MS office and the usual business stuff for BASIC computer needs. The MB can do the these things better also.
I use both PCs and Macs. I love doing creative work on apple products. I usually take m MB on the road, not my small thinkpad. But the MBA? it is NOT what I want as a heavy corporate user or road warrior. I will stick with a MB until I can get a small MBP.
This thing does not meet our needs. And it is independent of price. Ironically, the 12" PB did everything we needed in a small package. Too bad they didnt make one of those with a SSD and an intel chip. I would buy 2 today. MBA - no. And none of my apple toting road warrior friends are considering it either. We are hugely let down.
It is too big - same screen size as a MB. The thickness is irrelevant - at its thickest point it is similar to a MB. The overall weight - also not important because the MB itself is pretty low in weight...
It is WAY too underpowered. 4200 ipod hard drive? Not useful for presentations when having video, etc. One USB port? Awful - I use a mouse, mobile broadband, USB keys, presentation remotes, etc. Dongles for adapters? No ethernet? Very sketchy when on the road. It is bad enough carrying a MB mini DVI adapter, but having to carry one for ethernet also?? No way.
I use computers at a corporate level. Dropping 2grand is not a big deal at all. But I dont understand who in the heck the MBA is for. It is NOT for us road warrior types. way too many compromises when a deal is dependent on a presentation.. It is just not enough. This is regardless of price.
Now, others say it is a second computer for surfing, email, notetaking, etc. Come on - that is ridiculous. A PC laptop can do all of those things with no compromises, and if you give me the MAC fanboy crap about crashing, etc, you are wrong. It just doesnt happen with MS office and the usual business stuff for BASIC computer needs. The MB can do the these things better also.
I use both PCs and Macs. I love doing creative work on apple products. I usually take m MB on the road, not my small thinkpad. But the MBA? it is NOT what I want as a heavy corporate user or road warrior. I will stick with a MB until I can get a small MBP.
This thing does not meet our needs. And it is independent of price. Ironically, the 12" PB did everything we needed in a small package. Too bad they didnt make one of those with a SSD and an intel chip. I would buy 2 today. MBA - no. And none of my apple toting road warrior friends are considering it either. We are hugely let down.
Well, I'm also a college student who's been using my MacBook regularly (and taking it to class) every day this year.
I can definitely say that there's no way to definitively classify the MacBook or the MacBook Air as tailored for a college student or not. It still depends on the student and what you want/need. The MacBook Air may not be good for a student in your situation, but, personally, I think I'd find it very useful--especially if I had a secondary computer (like an iMac) to back it up.
I have to walk about a mile to and from campus, so I don't usually carry any books with me, just my computer and my notebooks. A regular MacBook vs. a MacBook Air is the difference between having the room/weight to bring a textbook or not. Right now, any books would just be too heavy to comfortably carry all the way from my off-campus apartment (and I don't have a car) and while having a textbook in class is usually completely unnecessary, sometimes I get those one or two hour breaks between lectures during which it would be nice to do homework....if I had a textbook.
So students may not be the target demographic for the MacBook Air, but that doesn't mean it can't be perfect for some of our needs. It's still really up to each person's own situation.
Oh--and as for the iPod Nano vs. Classic and the MacBook Air vs. MacBook drop....
Yes, they will fall at the same rate. It doesn't matter which is heavier for that. However, the OP is right that the lighter product will hit the ground with less force. It's called impulse, and it's the change in momentum of an object resulting from integrating an amount of force F exerted during a given time t. That is, [delta]mv = int(F*tdt). Both objects will obviously hit the ground in the same amount of time t if we're talking about impacting on the same surface, and both objects will hit with the same velocity v, so in each case the object's mass is proportional to the force involved in the impact.
Bottom line: the MacBook Air has about 40% less mass than the ordinary MacBook, so it will be subjected to about 40% less force. Remember that in figuring out how the drop will effect the hardware.
I can definitely say that there's no way to definitively classify the MacBook or the MacBook Air as tailored for a college student or not. It still depends on the student and what you want/need. The MacBook Air may not be good for a student in your situation, but, personally, I think I'd find it very useful--especially if I had a secondary computer (like an iMac) to back it up.
I have to walk about a mile to and from campus, so I don't usually carry any books with me, just my computer and my notebooks. A regular MacBook vs. a MacBook Air is the difference between having the room/weight to bring a textbook or not. Right now, any books would just be too heavy to comfortably carry all the way from my off-campus apartment (and I don't have a car) and while having a textbook in class is usually completely unnecessary, sometimes I get those one or two hour breaks between lectures during which it would be nice to do homework....if I had a textbook.
So students may not be the target demographic for the MacBook Air, but that doesn't mean it can't be perfect for some of our needs. It's still really up to each person's own situation.
Oh--and as for the iPod Nano vs. Classic and the MacBook Air vs. MacBook drop....
Yes, they will fall at the same rate. It doesn't matter which is heavier for that. However, the OP is right that the lighter product will hit the ground with less force. It's called impulse, and it's the change in momentum of an object resulting from integrating an amount of force F exerted during a given time t. That is, [delta]mv = int(F*tdt). Both objects will obviously hit the ground in the same amount of time t if we're talking about impacting on the same surface, and both objects will hit with the same velocity v, so in each case the object's mass is proportional to the force involved in the impact.
Bottom line: the MacBook Air has about 40% less mass than the ordinary MacBook, so it will be subjected to about 40% less force. Remember that in figuring out how the drop will effect the hardware.
As a college student i don't think that the air will meet my needs. I would recommend a macbook to you because it is small enough and much cheaper.
Is it only me or is that website not responding? I really want to see if that app is really worth it as they say, but I can't...
I just went through the same situation ... I'm a returning college student and I've got a new imac (the 2.4 not the 2.8 like you )
Anyways I wanted a laptop to tote to campus .... I decided on the macbook.
2 pounds won't make much of a difference, its probably more durable and it will "blend" in better on campus ... ie lots already have them on campus making you less of a target for thieves.
Not to mention the base macbook is a heck of a lot cheaper and will be fast enough to do everything you need to do on the go. No need for a large hard drive or a superdrive ... your imac already has those.
The only thing I'm doing in addition is I purchased some third party used ram (2GB) for $35 bucks ... should make a heck of a upgrade. Oh yea and I will be using either BusySync or SpanningSync to keep my calenders sync'd on the computers.
)Anyways I wanted a laptop to tote to campus .... I decided on the macbook.
2 pounds won't make much of a difference, its probably more durable and it will "blend" in better on campus ... ie lots already have them on campus making you less of a target for thieves.
Not to mention the base macbook is a heck of a lot cheaper and will be fast enough to do everything you need to do on the go. No need for a large hard drive or a superdrive ... your imac already has those.
The only thing I'm doing in addition is I purchased some third party used ram (2GB) for $35 bucks ... should make a heck of a upgrade
. Oh yea and I will be using either BusySync or SpanningSync to keep my calenders sync'd on the computers.Mba
The air isn't crammed with super-duper-sized hard drives and processors, because it's all about portability. As for the longevity, you cannot assume that the MBA will not have a longer life because there is no data. Personally, I just sold my MacBook for a new Air, I use my computer only for school and trust me, 5 lbs can make even a short trip across campus seem like an eternity. As long as your not into video editing or heavy into gaming there is no reason to go MacBook. Plus, if you buy the MB and decide you want the MBA (or vise versa) you can always sell it for within $50 of it's original price. In fact, when I sold my MacBook I made $100 and it was a year old.
The air isn't crammed with super-duper-sized hard drives and processors, because it's all about portability. As for the longevity, you cannot assume that the MBA will not have a longer life because there is no data. Personally, I just sold my MacBook for a new Air, I use my computer only for school and trust me, 5 lbs can make even a short trip across campus seem like an eternity. As long as your not into video editing or heavy into gaming there is no reason to go MacBook. Plus, if you buy the MB and decide you want the MBA (or vise versa) you can always sell it for within $50 of it's original price. In fact, when I sold my MacBook I made $100 and it was a year old.
mbp for the price of an air!
Id have to say the new macbook air is the worst mac ever. Im not saying its worse than others in the past what im saying is that at this moment in time. Anyone even remotely considering this laptop is completely ignorant/conceited. Compared to a macbook pro which is only 1/4 of an inch bigger (whoops did i just drive the macbook airs claim to fame into the ground?) and the regular macbooks are only about a 1/3 of inch bigger. Now onto the stats. They are complete bu11****. The processor is the same as in all the macbooks but with a worse speed. The air was origionally supposed to have the new 45nm chipsets designed to save battery and even allow apple to pump up the processing speed, but the air got stuck with a 65nm chip shoved into a slot designed for the 45 lol. Video card is ridiculous. 3500 gma grpahics is lame and most games for mac will not be able to run on these graphics (not compatible at all but that odesnt mean they arent bad). I could go on but i have some buisiness to take care of so ill try and end with a few comments. The macbook air is marketed as an ultraportable but it is far from it with a massive 13 inch screen (plus apple still hasnt gotten rid of those ugly oversized edges around the screen that are also on the regular macbooks and not on the pros). Also whats with the stupid gross black keys?
Id have to say the new macbook air is the worst mac ever. Im not saying its worse than others in the past what im saying is that at this moment in time. Anyone even remotely considering this laptop is completely ignorant/conceited. Compared to a macbook pro which is only 1/4 of an inch bigger (whoops did i just drive the macbook airs claim to fame into the ground?) and the regular macbooks are only about a 1/3 of inch bigger. Now onto the stats. They are complete bu11****. The processor is the same as in all the macbooks but with a worse speed. The air was origionally supposed to have the new 45nm chipsets designed to save battery and even allow apple to pump up the processing speed, but the air got stuck with a 65nm chip shoved into a slot designed for the 45 lol. Video card is ridiculous. 3500 gma grpahics is lame and most games for mac will not be able to run on these graphics (not compatible at all but that odesnt mean they arent bad). I could go on but i have some buisiness to take care of so ill try and end with a few comments. The macbook air is marketed as an ultraportable but it is far from it with a massive 13 inch screen (plus apple still hasnt gotten rid of those ugly oversized edges around the screen that are also on the regular macbooks and not on the pros). Also whats with the stupid gross black keys?
Oh lordy. Are we really going to do this again? Another MBA is a terrible computer rant?
I don't care if you don't like it, but don't insult everyone who does. Just because it isn't right for you doesn't mean it isn't right for anyone at all. I think that would be pretty conceited, don't you? The MBA makes some concessions that some people can't live without, and that some people don't find to be that big a deal. I can agree to disagree. But come on. It's a matter of taste and needs, and the MBA meets some people's needs and not others. It's worth it to some people and not others. That's all there is to it. I don't understand why some people feel a need to be "right" and call others "wrong," when it really isn't an argument of right or wrong...
I buy cheap, comfortable shoes, but do I go around complaining when other people find it worth it to spend hundreds of dollars on beautiful heels that are the most uncomfortable thing since walking on coals? People have different needs. That's why different kinds of computers exist.
I don't care if you don't like it, but don't insult everyone who does. Just because it isn't right for you doesn't mean it isn't right for anyone at all. I think that would be pretty conceited, don't you? The MBA makes some concessions that some people can't live without, and that some people don't find to be that big a deal. I can agree to disagree. But come on. It's a matter of taste and needs, and the MBA meets some people's needs and not others. It's worth it to some people and not others. That's all there is to it. I don't understand why some people feel a need to be "right" and call others "wrong," when it really isn't an argument of right or wrong...
I buy cheap, comfortable shoes, but do I go around complaining when other people find it worth it to spend hundreds of dollars on beautiful heels that are the most uncomfortable thing since walking on coals? People have different needs. That's why different kinds of computers exist.
LOL
Well, I wasn't going to trawl through 120 posts to get to where he was.
I got straight to the point
Well, I need a laptop for school, and I'm, well STUCK!!! If I get macbook air, I would leave it at a standard configuration. if i get a macbook, it will be 2gb, 2.2ghz, 160gb, and well, color i dont know.
So basically if i get a macbook air it would be the cheapest i can get, and if i get a macbook, it would be ALMOST high end.
My real question is, which would be better for taking to school to type on and take notes, and take home and move the files to my imac for printing and homework? I like the portability of the macbook air, power, not so much, but I think i can get by it, since i cant get a 1.8ghz (dont ask why i cant). but that means ill get the macbook air only for school, and i can take it everywhere, and use it for web surfing, and due to the small HD size, there is really no use for putting my photos and music, and music wont sound good on its mono speakers anyway.
If i get a macbook, i can use it for school, I would have to care for it more cuz in my opinion, the heavier something is, the more fragile when you drop it (dropping a nano vs a classic). and i can put all my files on the macbook (well, almost all), and keep it for a very long time (2-4 years).
macbook air will be more convenient, but will have a shorter time span.
So all in all, what i think, is that the macbook air (yes, im repeating my self), will be more convenient, i dont mind no optical, nor a second usb port, but the mba will have a shorter life span.
the macbook air, a little heavier, is nice, isnt as slick as the mba (and if i get a macbook, i would have to wait for penryn), but will last longer, but i will use it more, but in less places.
so from that (btw, sorry for the lengthy post), i would use the mba more in its small life span, and the mb less in its longer life span.
and i already have an imac that I LOVE, and getting a macbook will start to get me comparing the two, but an mba just means that i will love my imac, and use my mba as just my second computer.
What do you think i should get?? sorry for the lengthy post.
P.S. for some reason i dont think i mentioned everything
I'm kind of in that same situation. I already have a Dell laptop at the house which is only three months old. But when the Macbook Air came out, I wanted to get another Mac laptop very very badly. I had a G3 Wallstreet that lasted 6 or 7 years, so I knew about them.
I can get the education discount: 100 off the Air, or 200 off the base 15" Macbook Pro. Portability is a big deal, so I'm leaning towards the Air. But my eyesight is making me lean towards the Macbook Pro. Either way, I've got choices to make. I'd like to see the LED screen in person before I made a decision. My stepson has the black Macbook and the screen, frankly, stinks. It isn't bright at all.
The cpu in my two month old 17" Dell Inspiron is a C2D at 1.66 GHz. It runs very very fast. This also has the Intel GMA chip and I have no complaints. Now this stuff is pushing a 17" screen. I seriously doubt that the Macbook Air is going to be so slow that it will be unusable. From the videos I've seen on the Apple website, it seems very fast.
Get the air for a second computer then if you're certain you don't need the power and storage on the 'road'.
Again, an 80 gig drive is a lot. You still have 76 gigs available after the Leopard installation. That's a lot of space. If it starts getting tight, invest 50 bucks and get a high capacity USB thumb drive. Viola, more space.
I'll bet you didn't pay 1700 for that computer with a 80gig 4800 RPM hard drive and no video card.
No, the Inspiron 1720 was almost 1500 the way I had it configured. But the Vostro and Lattitude lineup is more expensive. I fail to see the point?
Oh, you can't wait for the drive platter to spin around and get read by the read head on a 4200 rpm drive. That extra 1 millionth of a second means life and death by having a 5400 rpm drive, right? LOLOLOLOL
Yes, but i have a desktop, as ive said, i dont want to use one more than the other. i know its kinda dumb, but i would need to use my imac more (i got the 2.8 for a reason, one is for that). if i get an mba, i will only use it for what i intend to use it for. i dont plan on mice or anything, just a plain laptop. not a desktop replacement or anything.
EDIT: i should have made a poll
I think the MBA is perfect for your needs, then. You basically need a terminal to the internet for when your away from your main computer which is what you'll be using for processor intensive stuff.
I really see the MBA as a device that helps you get things done but not have to kill your back to do it.