Buying a mac for my last two years of college

[PzychOut]

So about a month ago I posted on this site how I wanted to get a rMBP and was totally sold, until the econ minor in my was like 'wait a minute you ****... you dont have 2400 to spend nor will you use the thing for what it is ment to be used for... MAXIMIZE UTILITY.' So I was like 'ya econ me you are probably right .' So now that I have come to my financial senses I am considering buy either the better MBP 13" or the MBA. I am leaning towards the Air personanlly, I love the size, and ease of portability. I am definatly going to upgrade the memory to 8GB but now I am stuck between getting 128 SSD or 256. My ideal situation for this mac is to be as inexpensive as possible so I can sell it or buy a new computer after school (maybe a graduation present) for what I may need it for in my career. I think I could live with 128 SSD if I get a nice new external hardrvie. should I just bite the bullet and get the 256? in that case its a 1599 dollar comuter for slower processor than the MBP which would have 750GB hard drive space... so now I am like wtf. I need to hear from some mac peps about this...
SO my choices are

MBA base model with 8GB memory and 128 SSD priced at $1,300
MBA badass model with 8GB memory and 256 SSD priced at $1,600
MBP 13" badass model with 8GB memory and 700GB harddrive priced at $1,500

For those of you who will undoubtly want to know before answering. I am a marketing major and a double minor in Sport and Event Mangement and Economics. I have access to two mac desktops in a extra curricular job that I have and do most of my design work there. which is why I feel that air will be okay. My main use for the computer will be Papers... lots of papers... powerpoint, slight graphic work. internet, excel, and maybe watching some movies (internet or external hard drive). I like the idea of mobility but I am a big guy so the MBP wont kill me haha

To summarize, I guess my main question is, will 128 SSD be too little for me? or should I be okay.
Badass MBA vs badass MBP
and just general opinions. REMEMBER this is all coming outta my pocket so being conservative is never a bad thing!

 

[Spink10]

Get the cheapest one - maybe only 4GB for your use.

 

[PzychOut]

I was recommended by a friend to get the extra memory because I like making my computer last. just got rid of my old MB after 6 years. also I use my computer a lot, always have a ton of things open and running at once

 

[Spink10]

Sounds like a good plan - thought you were selling in 2 years? In order to lose the least amount - purchase the most basic model.

 

[PzychOut]

Sounds like a good plan - thought you were selling in 2 years? In order to lose the least amount - purchase the most basic model.

well it is a possibility that I sell in two years. If I need a PC for work then absolutly not, because I love Macs. Or maybe I grow to love the smaller comp and use that for fun and the New Kid on the Block for work.

 

[boomboom2]

Yeah, I'd buy the cheapest one if I were you as well. Get an external harddrive if you need the extra storage!

 

[Spink10]

well it is a possibility that I sell in two years. If I need a PC for work then absolutly not, because I love Macs. Or maybe I grow to love the smaller comp and use that for fun and the New Kid on the Block for work.

What is the price difference from 4GB to 8GB?

 

[PzychOut]

What is the price difference from 4GB to 8GB?

I believe it is $90 for students and $100 normally

 

[Spink10]

go for 8GB

 

[-tWv-]

go for 8GB

I agree. If you are buying the MBA you will have to go through Apple but if you buy the 13" MBP buy the RAM from Amazon or something and put it in yourself and save some money.


If I were you, I would buy the base model 13" MBP for $1100 with education pricing. Then go on Amazon and get a Crucial m4 256Gb SSD for ~$210 and 8GB of ram for ~$50. Install those yourself. Gets you the speed of the SSD and more memory for much cheaper than apples pricing.

 

[PzychOut]

Is there a place that can install that for me? bad past experiences with iphones haha (for example Best Buy?)

 

[takezo808]

Is there a place that can install that for me? bad past experiences with iphones haha (for example Best Buy?)

worst to go for assistance. majority of the people their have much less schooling than you did. Sure diffrent topics, but it's like going to see a lazy med student than going to a real doctor.

The genius bar is far better for most people. Just don't expect them to know anything beyond basic troubleshooting (example "they would not know how to run ifconfig on the terminal, or may not know what DHCP is.). But as far as product knowledge goes (syncing phones, setting up icloud, using time machine etc...) best buy geeks (wich by the way would not know the advanced stuff either) have nothing on the geniuses.