Financing Retina MacBook Pro Advice

[surjavarman]

1. I'm an Electrical Engineering Major (Need to run powerful apps with ease... I AM NOT GOING TO PURCHASE A WINDOWS LAPTOP. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I WILL NOT DO)

2. Student loans will kick in late September (taking out these loans specifically to purchase a laptop. Will only be a one-time deal type of thing).

I want a computer that will last me right around 5 years

Thats BS lol!!

I am doing Electrical Engineering too and you don't need any apps at all. And even if you do, any computer with a c2d and up will able to run all the engineering software with ease!

Trust me buddy I am already doing this for a few years.

 

[mohsy90]

Let's face it. More than 90% of the individuals buying it, probably don't need it and can go with a cheaper option if they wanted. I know for sure I can and so can many of the individuals on this site that purchased it. This also applies to the millions of college kids buying MBPs for college every year just to use it for word/excel.

Lets take a chill pill people!!

Luckily in my case I graduated with no debt and have a job!!

 

[aznguyen316]

Give up donuts for a couple months, those suckers add up.

I finally understood this after getting to the 3rd page haha

I'm thinking about going with the Bill Me Later option (Mom will co-sign). However, do I have to make mandatory monthly payments? Or am I able to not pay for July and August, and then just pay the laptop off entirely in September?

I have BillMeLater, it's through PayPal. I like it and NO you do NOT have to make mandatory monthly payments for the first 6 months since they have a financing promotion for Apple (and several other websites *cough NewEgg*). So you'll have 6 months to blow off payments but the interest will accrue during this time and you will have to pay the entire balance off before ALL the interest built up in 6 months will be tacked on to your account. Then you will have to make monthly payments after that. But that's 6 months from now and sounds like you have 3-4 months before you get your loan. Good luck. I won't judge you as I've done the same before during grad school.

 

[beamer8912]

Thats BS lol!!

I am doing Electrical Engineering too and you don't need any apps at all. And even if you do, any computer with a c2d and up will able to run all the engineering software with ease!

Trust me buddy I am already doing this for a few years.

It's amazing the BS soon to be college students try to come up with to justify a $2k laptop. The truth is, a 2011 MBA (~$750) refurb would do them just fine for all 4 years.

Not sure what these kids think they'll be doing in college, but they sure aren't going to be using apps that significantly tax their computer. Any real computation will be done on a cluster anyways, so no sense it taking out extra loans, or blowing their entire savings on a new toy.

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Let's face it. More than 90% of the individuals buying it, probably don't need it and can go with a cheaper option if they wanted. I know for sure I can and so can many of the individuals on this site that purchased it. This also applies to the millions of college kids buying MBPs for college every year just to use it for word/excel.

Lets take a chill pill people!!

Luckily in my case I graduated with no debt and have a job!!

Amen! I was one of the fortunate ones too.

I also have my grad school paid for by the DOE

The grant I'm receiving in a couple of months is going to pay for my new retina.

 

[mohsy90]

It's amazing the BS soon to be college students try to come up with to justify a $2k laptop. The truth is, a 2011 MBA (~$750) refurb would do them just fine for all 4 years.

Not sure what these kids think they'll be doing in college, but they sure aren't going to be using apps that significantly tax their computer. Any real computation will be done on a cluster anyways, so no sense it taking out extra loans, or blowing their entire savings on a new toy.

Exactly, no need to come up with the BS, it's all WANT!!! New technology, latest design, amazing display = greed/desire/want....w/e you wanna call it. "Need" is likely the last, so stop with the BS

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Amen! I was one of the fortunate ones too.

Can't even tell you how good that felt while all my friends were freaking out trying to get a job or get accepted into grad school to defer their loans.

 

[beamer8912]

Exactly, no need to come up with the BS, it's all WANT!!! New technology, latest design, amazing display = greed/desire/want....w/e you wanna call it. "Need" is likely the last, so stop with the BS

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Can't even tell you how good that felt while all my friends were freaking out trying to get a job or get accepted into grad school to defer their loans.

I was really worried when I first started, because I picked a private school over a state school (w/ full ride). I had a scholarship, but it was still going to be 2x the cost of state school. A part-time job, some good summer internships and a couple of nice christmas presents (I like to call it the grandparents scholarship ) helped me pay it all off.

I never even imagined putting $2k onto my loans just for an unnecessary toy.

 

[krspykreme2]

Alright, you guys are right...

Suggestions on what Apple laptop I should buy for an Electrical Engineering Major that will last me 5 years or even more?

 

[mohsy90]

Alright, you guys are right...

Suggestions on what Apple laptop I should buy for an Electrical Engineering Major that will last me 5 years or even more?

A 13" MBP or MBA will do just fine. Don't screw yourself by taking a loan out for a computer you don't need!

 

[beamer8912]

Alright, you guys are right...

Suggestions on what Apple laptop I should buy for an Electrical Engineering Major that will last me 5 years or even more?

13" MBP or MBA. The pro is nice because you can upgrade it yourself later.

My suggestion, take a look at the recommended specs on your school's IT website. If they're anything greater than the specs of the basic MBP, order the base and upgrade it yourself (you will be a EE after all). Obviously if they want an upgraded processor you have to do that BTO.

In 3 years after your applecare runs out, put in an SSD using optibay and upgrade the ram to 16GB (should be super cheap by then). This will give it new life and will get you through the next 2 years.

For reference here is MIT's suggested specs

These are last year's specs so adjust accordingly but the RAM and HDD you should plan on upgrading yourself. It's much cheaper.

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One more suggestion, do NOT buy a copy of windows. I'd say there's an 80% probability that your school will have a software bank that you can use to get windows.

You'll most likely need for some engineering application (they're not all available for mac). Even if its an "upgrade" version of windows, you can DL it, stick it onto a thumb drive and use that to install windows via bootcamp.

 

[0r30]

Alright, you guys are right...

Suggestions on what Apple laptop I should buy for an Electrical Engineering Major that will last me 5 years or even more?

If possible I recommend a 15" I do a lot of school work and tend to strain my eyes with my MBP 13". If you are doing EE you will use multisim,labview and Matlab for school.

If a 15" is still a lot of money get a 13" and finish up all your work in a computer lab at school.

 

[mohsy90]

I was really worried when I first started, because I picked a private school over a state school (w/ full ride). I had a scholarship, but it was still going to be 2x the cost of state school. A part-time job, some good summer internships and a couple of nice christmas presents (I like to call it the grandparents scholarship ) helped me pay it all off.

I never even imagined putting $2k onto my loans just for an unnecessary toy.

I had a scholarship as well and kept a cheap $500 dell for my first 2 years of college and then finally got a MBP after that piece of shizz broke down on me. I just graduated and "wanted" the rMBP even though I could've kept my 13" MBP ( which i sold for $1000). Parents decided to give me the rest as a graduation gift.... All I had to do was find one!

I will be using it for med school over the next 4-years. But aside from some lab programs and basic computing, I won't be using it to it's full potential.

 

[thekev]

Unfortunately I do not have any credit. Therefore, what are my options?

Your best option would be not to buy things you don't need. Apple has a lot of shiny marketing targeted naive people. If you have to do work that chokes your computer, they will most likely have some kind of lab at the college with computers appropriate to real heavy lifting. If they did not tell you that you require a computer with whatever minimum specs, for this program, you probably don't need it.

I went to University over 14 years ago, but I certainly did not have $2,200 lying around back then. As a student I spent my money on custom surfboards, beer, petrol and women. The rest I squandered.

I also don't think a university student requires a $2000 laptop.

That sounds like more fun than spending it all on computers.

1. I'm an Electrical Engineering Major (Need to run powerful apps with ease... I AM NOT GOING TO PURCHASE A WINDOWS LAPTOP. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I WILL NOT DO)

2. Student loans will kick in late September (taking out these loans specifically to purchase a laptop. Will only be a one-time deal type of thing).

I want a computer that will last me right around 5 years

Computers break and they're stolen. There's no way to guarantee yourself 5 years out of this. What applications are you running? Some things just don't run that well on a laptop. It doesn't matter if it's a Windows or OSX based laptop. If it's beyond the typical capabilities of one, they will most likely have a lab of some kind. Have you asked the college what is actually required for their program? This would be a good idea. They're not always helpful, but you should still consider your needs today, not try to project them over 5 years as you can't really future proof anything. Once you're up to 4 cores + OpenCL, you don't gain much from that point on.

Alright, you guys are right...

Suggestions on what Apple laptop I should buy for an Electrical Engineering Major that will last me 5 years or even more?

You need to find out exactly what you will be running on your own computer as well as some of the potential problem sizes. You also need to figure that 5 years isn't a practical guarantee. There's just no way to guarantee that one will last you that time and another won't either in terms of reliability (note logic board threads) or computing resources. You really should at least ask the college you will be attending. How can anyone on here tell you what you'll have to run?

 

[surjavarman]

Seriously I would just buy the rmbp if you can do it without going into debt.

You are going to save money cause if you go for a 2011 MBA or something similar, then you are going to keep upgrading laptops every 1-2 years or something similar. But with the RMBP you are set for 5 years at least and you're desire has been fulfilled. You are not going to crave for more

 

[beamer8912]

I had a scholarship as well and kept a cheap $500 dell for my first 2 years of college and then finally got a MBP after that piece of shizz broke down on me. I just graduated and "wanted" the rMBP even though I could've kept my 13" MBP ( which i sold for $1000). Parents decided to give me the rest as a graduation gift.... All I had to do was find one!

I will be using it for med school over the next 4-years. But aside from some lab programs and basic computing, I won't be using it to it's full potential.

I got a good HS grad present (a 2008 white MB). It stood the test of all 4 years of a Physics degree.

My grad school is funded via a stipend and I won a small grant from the DOE. Since the stipulations on the grant are very strict a rMBP (to me ) is the best option.

 

[molingrad]

My advice is if you are that broke you have very little money until september then surely buying a $3000 or so laptop is the last thing you should be doing.

See Above...

 

[krspykreme2]

What is the CHEAPEST option (I'm alright with refurb.) for me according to the following criteria.

1. Will have the power to run Bootcamp and applications specific to Electrical Engineering or Engineering in general.
2. Will last me at least 5 years of college.

 

[surjavarman]

What is the CHEAPEST option (I'm alright with refurb.) for me according to the following criteria.

1. Will have the power to run Bootcamp and applications specific to Electrical Engineering or Engineering in general.
2. Will last me at least 5 years of college.

The RMBP for $2200 before discounts. Its cutting edge and in its own league compared to the rest. Its more future proof than anything out there. Even if you are going for the 2012 MBA its not going to satisfy you in 2-3 years cause its already surpassed by the current RMBP now. Might as well pay a bit more upfront, enjoy the superior machine now and reap the rewards later.

 

[beamer8912]

What is the CHEAPEST option (I'm alright with refurb.) for me according to the following criteria.

1. Will have the power to run Bootcamp and applications specific to Electrical Engineering or Engineering in general.
2. Will last me at least 5 years of college.

All of the 13" MBA and 13" MBP fit into those. You can add in an external HDD for data storage too.

Honestly, with the education discount ($100) and the $100 App Store card, not much sense in buying a refurb. The only 13" MBP in the Apple refurb store was $170 off. In that case, I'd just go with a new one.

Also, look to see if your state offers a tax holiday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_holiday

This can save you another $100 in taxes if you buy at the right time.

In the end, with the right research, you could end up with a great 13" MBP for less than $1200.

Have you checked out your schools recommended specs yet?

 

[Slowball41]

except i didn't fail, everyone here is being holier than thou
most things in life we have we dont NEED
of course for college you dont need the new rmbp
and you most certainly dont need tons of other crap its about wanting and yeah why not buy 2k is a drop in the pail compared a 60k loan you wont be able to pay off, who in here is not in debt? as a matter of fact my first credit card came bc i was a college student? he'll probably be in debt until the day he dies running and living the rat race, may as well buy it a get some joy

 

[beamer8912]

except i didn't fail

he'll probably be in debt until the day he dies running and living the rat race, may as well buy it a get some joy

Yes, you did. Clearly.

It really isn't hard to avoid debt. Some work and a little responsibility and you can make quite a living for yourself.

 

[wct097]

1. I'm an Electrical Engineering Major (Need to run powerful apps with ease... I AM NOT GOING TO PURCHASE A WINDOWS LAPTOP. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I WILL NOT DO)

I have a little bit of knowledge about apps that engineering students need to run. Please elaborate on the 'powerful apps' that you expect to be running on OSX for an engineering major?

 

[Slowball41]

actually i am a debt free (no student loans, credit card debt, own car) college grad and owner of a rmbp, though i did move back in with my parents (transiting and unfortunately for me not the basement)

my point is all these people saying dont buy it unless you have cash, while great advice should maybe try their own advice, as usual do as i say not as i do

 

[beamer8912]

actually i am a debt free (no student loans, credit card debt, own car) college grad and owner of a rmbp, though i did move back in with my parents (transiting and unfortunately for me not the basement)

my point is all these people saying dont buy it unless you have cash, while great advice should maybe try their own advice, as usual do as i say not as i do

I guess I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that we're all buying retinas before entering college.

Both mohsy and myself gave examples of how we bought lower-end macs in college and waited until we graduated and were out of debt to buy nicer computers.

 

[KPOM]

What is the CHEAPEST option (I'm alright with refurb.) for me according to the following criteria.

1. Will have the power to run Bootcamp and applications specific to Electrical Engineering or Engineering in general.
2. Will last me at least 5 years of college.

I like the idea of base MacBook Air or a refurbished 13" 2011 MacBook Air. The refurbished model is a little cheaper, since you can get last year's base i5 with 128GB SSD for $929. The base 13" is $1149 with the student discount, but you get the gift card for now, so it might make sense.

Chances are pretty good you can make either last 5 years. My Pentium M Dell notebook lasted nearly 6 years before I decided to replace it. Even if you do conclude in 3 years that you need some more power, you can take the money you saved this year and get an updated model then, and still wind up paying about the same or less, and get a newer processor on top of it.

My advice is to take the $2300+ that you were going to spend on the rMBP, spend half of it on a MacBook Air, and put the other half of it in a savings account at an online bank and forget about it until you graduate. Trust me. You'll be glad you did (even though interest rates are low right now).

 

[Slowball41]

it was a generalization didn't specifically single you or anyone out. your advice is solid and worth giving, i was commenting about the general tone of most of the advice given to the young man