buying my first mac

[gilljoy]

Hey,

Im thinking of getting myself a mac laptop in the new year as my current dell peice of crap is on its way out and i was wonderin if i could get some advice.

I've a budget of around £800 and im currently a computer science student at uni. Was wondering if anyone knows about the student ADC and wither it would be better to use over just using student discount. Im thinking of getting either the macbook or the 13" mac book bro. I'll be doing alot of photo editing and a fair bit of video editing as well as abit of gaming on the go but nothing too modern.

Just got a few questions, is the mac version of office compatable with files made on a windows system and vice versa.

Can windows xp / 7 be installed via bootcamp?

 

[Hellhammer]

Because you are buying a laptop, I advice you to wait for an update which should be out in early 2010.

As you are a higher education student, you get access to HE store which gives you nice discount + 3 years of warranty. For photo and video editing I would get a bigger screen because 13" is quite small for bigger photos and videos.

Office for Mac files are 100% compatible with Windows but so are iWork files as you can save them in Windows format too. Windows 7 isn't officially supported in Bootcamp yet but it works fine, so yes you can install Windows XP or 7 if you want so

 

[aforty]

The ADC paid dividends for me personally because I went for the most expensive MBP model when I bought it almost 2 years ago. I know the ADC program costs upfront but then provides you with 20% off your purchase (I believe). Get all the latest prices and discounts, do the math and see if it is the best choice for you. If you're only getting a 13" MBP, I'm not sure it would.

As mentioned, for video editing I'd go larger with the screen anyway. Bootcamp is useful for one thing only anyway: Gaming. Trust me, once you've used OSX for a while you dread having to boot into windows and will do so as little as possible.

Good luck!

 

[ipodftw]

When i got mine i got 13 percent, i think it varies

atleast its a discount!

 

[aforty]

When i got mine i got 13 percent, i think it varies

atleast its a discount!

Not sure how it is in the UK, but you can usually already get 10% by just being a student. So the price of the ADC package needs to be less than the additional 3-10% you get for having it versus just the regular student discount. OP, do your math.

 

[gilljoy]

I can get 15% discount so the basic 13" MBP will be about £760...

I cant really afford the bigger size macs but i've a 22" moniter that i could hook it up too if i need more space.

Anyone know any more about the ADC student membership?