Considering a macbook pro 13 for school

[bentotbox]

I'm about to graduate high school and considering a macbook pro 13 to use for the next few years of college. I have always been a windows person but like the macbook and macbook pros. My question is if i get the macbook pro 13in and duel boot it with windows 7 or even just run parallels with vmware when i need to use the windows. Whats the performance like if i were to get these specs?

2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide

Thanks for the input

PS main uses for it would be
typing documents
school stuff
movies
and some light gaming like quake urban terror
and some windows programs

 

[Ca$hflow]

I'm about to graduate high school and considering a macbook pro 13 to use for the next few years of college. I have always been a windows person but like the macbook and macbook pros. My question is if i get the macbook pro 13in and duel boot it with windows 7 or even just run parallels with vmware when i need to use the windows. Whats the performance like if i were to get these specs?

2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide

Thanks for the input

That will work great. Not sure if you will have enough room on your hard drive. Window 7 OS is 20GB plus whatever programs you want to install and you will also need to make sure you have 25% space left on your windows partition as well as 25% on you mac os partition. If not then you'll notice a big slowdown. Just saying.

It all depends on how much HD you need. That I can't speak for you. I have allot of content. Congrats on your new machine!

 

[dukebound85]

why not get a mb? you save 200 plus you get a bigger hdd with the exact same performace

 

[Ca$hflow]

Duke does have a point.

 

[snowman1]

Whats the performance like if i were to get these specs?

You'll be fine! I have the exact same specs as you and 4gb of RAM is plenty for running Mac and Windows at the same time.

I am fine with 160 gb (40GB boot camp, 40GB vmware, rest for mac) but the performance is not the greatest. It's definitely gotten slower and slower as i've filled up the hard drive, so it might be better to switch out your hd for a larger one if it becomes very slow.

 

[xlii]

The 13"MBP is a great machine. I know, I have one. Buy one with the stock 160 GByte drive in it and then buy a 500 GB drive for about $100 and put it in yourself if you are concerned about disk space.

 

[bentotbox]

The 13"MBP is a great machine. I know, I have one. Buy one with the stock 160 GByte drive in it and then buy a 500 GB drive for about $100 and put it in yourself if you are concerned about disk space.

Wait if i take out the HDD and replace it with a new one, doesn't that mean i have to reinstall the OS? I Have a Western Digital HDD 500GB one.

Another Question, Whats the major differences between the macbook pro and the mac book. I do like that back lit keyboard does mac book have that.

I know what vmware is but I havn't really used it personally, is it free and does it actually install the OS onto the HDD?

 

[vistadude]

Yeah, you'll have to reinstall the OS-es. I'm not sure if there's a ghost equivalent for mac os.

The pro has a firewire port (not to useful unless you edit video), an SD slot, smaller hard drive, backlit keyboard, and is slightly thinner.

The regular macbook is made of scratchable plastic, but does have a bigger hard drive and a better power cord. The battery life is supposed to be slightly better, probably cause the keyboard isn't backlit and the design is newer.

VMware is not free. Some universities give it at a discounted rate.

Wait if i take out the HDD and replace it with a new one, doesn't that mean i have to reinstall the OS? I Have a Western Digital HDD 500GB one.

Another Question, Whats the major differences between the macbook pro and the mac book. I do like that back lit keyboard does mac book have that.

I know what vmware is but I havn't really used it personally, is it free and does it actually install the OS onto the HDD?

 

[CJS7070]

Wait if i take out the HDD and replace it with a new one, doesn't that mean i have to reinstall the OS? I Have a Western Digital HDD 500GB one.

Another Question, Whats the major differences between the macbook pro and the mac book. I do like that back lit keyboard does mac book have that.

I know what vmware is but I havn't really used it personally, is it free and does it actually install the OS onto the HDD?

Yes, you'll need to reinstall the OS, but if you do it immediately after you get the MacBook Pro, all you need to do is run the install discs that came with the MBP and you'll have an install that's exactly the same as when you received it from the factory. Easy process.

 

[dukebound85]

use virtualbox, not vmware if you want a free alternative

 

[Harmush]

i use a macbook, not pro, but the uni body one. windows 7 on bootcamp. 2gb ram and a 160gb hdd. i give windows 32gb as i only rearly use it for some visual basic if i ever need to and its fine for me. i have VB2008pro and windows 7 on windows and with the 32gb partition i still have 12.8gb free space and 65.2gb free on mac partition

speed isnt an issue i find. even with my low ram and small hdd.

its the lowest spec UMB 2ghz core 2

speed is no problem.

i would advise spending the money on VM or something however as you can then run your bootcamp partition as a VM as well. which i find useful if i only want windows for 5 mins in university