College MacBook or iMac

[tears2040]

So what kind of college work are you doing that you cannot do on an iMac?


Also being in ANY College they always have multiple computers for anyone ready available. I just don;t see the need of buying such an expensive laptop when you can buy an iMac and an Ipad 2 which would be able to handle anything you throw at it.


Even a base line imac can run any program you throw at it. Heck you can put 3 hard drives in an imac and even an external eSata connection if you wanted too.

On top of that an iMac can be filled with 32gb of ram, something you cannot do with a MBP.

 

[DustinT]

Buy the MBP and get a TV or Monitor. Then you can use the MBP portably or connect it to your TV.

 

[nateo200]

You probably won't need to take it to class, but I'd suggest a MBP anyhow, probably the 15", as the i7 quads are actually more powerful than the i5 quads in the iMac.

I would use some inductive thinking and say that's probably not always the case. I bring my MBP with me to every class...you never know...Even though its a little more weight its nice and compact and not THAT heavy, I have a spine injury too and I don't find it cumbersome to throw in my bag. Most of my binders are thicker than my MBP too.

For college, you'll want a laptop. I used my laptop daily.

Agreed. If you are ever away from your dorm/home, you decide to head somewhere without grabbing your MBP, etc. its nice to have it so you can get to work from anywhere.

To OP, get one of the quad core i7 15" MacBook Pro's with the higher end graphics card. It'll smoke basic stuff you'll need to do and hold up against some pretty heavy tasks. I have a 13" Core 2 Duo MBP and I do allot of video rendering while multitasking, while doing more stuff..lol it slows down allot but then again this guy is stock :O If you can pay for it I would honestly grab an SSD and/or 8GB's of RAM, but not from Apple unless you want to pay a bunch more.

 

[Sparticu$]

MacbookPro - if you want portability, of course you'll have to upgrade the proccesor, RAM, HDD and video card to your needs. It will probably cost you more.

Imac- Probably spend less money, "more bang for your buck"

 

[marcusj0015]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a bit of a dillema because I need quite a lot of processing power for what I do (programming, rendering images and video, occasional gaming), but I'm off to college in 6 months or so, and I don't know whether I'd benefit more from being able to take a more expensive, less powerful, but portable computer with me to college. The iMacs are much better value for money, it's just I might need to be able to take my computer into college to use for a computing course I might take, and Music or Music tech (logic)

I guess all I'm asking is for your suggestions

The truth of the matter is, the iMac IS a MacBook with a bigger, higher resolution display.

the GPU and CPU are notebook parts...

 

[velkr]

You aren't going to beat the convenience of a laptop in college.

Taking notes on a keyboard, personally, is far faster than trying to use a stylus or typing on an iPad. And the flexibility you have between classes is invaluable, feel free to work on homework, group projects, Netflix, etc. on campus rather than having to go back to your dorm/apartment every single time.

Also, with the suggestions... lets be real, he won't need 32GB ram in any computer for college, its pointless to point that out as an advantage.

If you can fix up the keyboard on your old macbook, maybe then you can go for the iMac or a Mac Mini in your dorm room. That way you can still have sufficient power for college work and still maintain practical portability, with the downside being maintaining two computers.

 

[randomrazr]

just buy the macbook pro

 

[Adamantoise]

Sounds like you just need to sort out your own priorities and you'll have your answer.

Honestly.

I never understood people who were stumped by the laptop vs desktop dilemma.

You just need to ask yourself one question. Will I need my computer when I'm not at home?

How this became a common problem to ask on these forums, only God knows.

 

[o0samotech0o]

Honestly.

I never understood people who were stumped by the laptop vs desktop dilemma.

You just need to ask yourself one question. Will I need my computer when I'm not at home?

How this became a common problem to ask on these forums, only God knows.

Hahaah, this is very true, however I already have a banged up 2ghz Macbook, and it's hard to decide whether I buy a MacBook pro and render my old macbook obsolete, and not sale-worthy, OR get an iMac which is still tonnes more powerful than my current machine, and have a MacBook for basic tasks at college. I already have a 24" monitor at home, but I am looking for more screen estate when I am at home.

So I guess now what I'm asking is, can the MacBook pro power two external displays (as I might get another 24" to hook up to it), if so then I might as well get a MacBook Pro, i guess you never know when you might need it outside of home, especially as I'm into music and gigging which could possibly take me other places

 

[peapody]

For me, macbook was important in college for portability. Post college iMac made more sense.

 

[o0samotech0o]

I think i'll probably go for the MBP, but do you suggest I wait until mar/apr of next generation/redesigned MBP?

 

[gordoalac]

Get the Macbook pro so that you can take it to class and multi-task between facebook, surfing the net and any given game, while the guy up front bores the rest of the non-MBP carrying classmates, with some major babble lecture that nobody cares about anyway.
You will need a dongle for internet though, unless you use the university's wi-fi.

Class lectures will go by like a breeze this way...

No guarantees on grades though. Oh, well, nobody's perfect.

 

[Bloodstar]

I think i'll probably go for the MBP, but do you suggest I wait until mar/apr of next generation/redesigned MBP?

Look at it this way: Is your MacBook not too beaten up to function properly, and can it at least do what you ask of it reasonably well?

If it's serving you fine now, I'd wait it out - of course, this is coming from someone who's just upgraded from an iBook G4 and got by fine on it. It'll save any potential "ugh, I wish I could've held off just a bit" thoughts. (Even if you don't feel the need to have the newest (I surely don't) it'd be a little frustrating to buy so soon before an update. Of course, considering we're talking about next year, it's tough to tell.)

If it's about to die, or you need more power, go for the MBP now. I fell into this situation - while I said I was getting by on my iBook, one of my classes requires an Intel-only application, so I was a bit pushed into purchasing my new laptop. I do love the thing, though - it's chewed right through everything I've thrown at it so far, and as an enormous plus I can actually virtualize Windows on it for more than the simplest of applications.