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Freshmen in college. Need laptop! HELP!

G

GeorgeD

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 10, 2007
66
0
So here's my dilemma. I've been waiting for a really long time to buy a MBP and as a freshmen in college, I am finally NEEDING a laptop.

I have three main choices. The current MBP, current MB, and previous MBP.

At the student store at my school I can get the previous MBP for $1300 (brand new) or the new MBP or the new MB. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

I will be using my new laptop for writing papers, surfing the internet, playing games, video editing (with FCE or equivalent), and possibly some other heavy work (im an undeclared major, so I don't know how good my laptop should be for the future). PLEASE HELP. Any suggestions are highly appreciated!
 
I'd go with the previous-gen MBP.

Bigger, higher-res display, better graphics card, better ports (FireWire and DVI).

At $1300 I think it is an excellent deal.

Of course the new MBP is also excellent if you want to spend the money.

The new MB really doesn't make sense with prevous-gen MBP prices so low, unless you are in love with the new case design or you want something smaller and lighter.
 
remember to get applecare. i would go with the old mbp beacuse of the larger screen ability to play games. dirt cheap ram.
 
Take the $1300 MBP (assuming it's the model just discontinued and not older) and run. Use it for a year. When the Nethalem chip MBPs come out next year sell it for $1000 and buy one of those. That way you'll have the power when you actually need it, not that last month's MBP is a slouch.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Take the $1300 MBP (assuming it's the model just discontinued and not older) and run. Use it for a year. When the Nethalem chip MBPs come out next year sell it for $1000 and buy one of those. That way you'll have the power when you actually need it, not that last month's MBP is a slouch.
Click to expand...

I agree with the posters who suggest the just-superseded MBP, it's a great machine, excellent screen and with the discount, affordable. I agree also with jbrenn; make sure you get Applecare.

Cheers
 
Another vote for the previous MBP for the reasons listed by previous posters.

To further elaborate it also uses DDR2 RAM which costs much less than DDR3. Looking at Newegg maxing it to 4GB with DDR2 is less than half the price of 4GB DDR3 $60 vs $145. It also uses a DVI port instead of the displayport so it will be much easier to find an external screen without a special adapter.

edit: Honestly the decision between the three would not even give me pause. I would take the previous generation Macbook Pro in a heartbeat. Heck I would not even take the current regular Macbook for more than $500 as the lack of Firewire would be a major drawback to me, especially with no PCCard slot for expansion. If looking at a Macbook I would only look at the previous generation until the Macbook gets eSATA or USB 3.0.
 
GeorgeD said:
So here's my dilemma. I've been waiting for a really long time to buy a MBP and as a freshmen in college, I am finally NEEDING a laptop.

I have three main choices. The current MBP, current MB, and previous MBP.

At the student store at my school I can get the previous MBP for $1300 (brand new) or the new MBP or the new MB. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

I will be using my new laptop for writing papers, surfing the internet, playing games, video editing (with FCE or equivalent), and possibly some other heavy work (im an undeclared major, so I don't know how good my laptop should be for the future). PLEASE HELP. Any suggestions are highly appreciated!
Click to expand...

The new MacBook Pro. The key is Freshman - you want something probably for four years...that would be your choice. Although you could go the other route and dump the old one within the next year...?
 
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