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Getting my first Mac - Apple's special student CS3 deal

A

angela44angela

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I'll be going to school to become a graphic artist starting this summer. I see that Apple is offering a nice discountl on various Adobe CS titles when purchased with a new Mac. Savings are as much as $300 on the student versions.

A few questions:
- Which Mac notebook should I buy?
- When should I buy?
- What is the difference between software student versions and retail versions of CS?
- Any other pointers for a new to Mac user?
 
I would say MBP. If you don't know what model you are interested in, you need to do more research. Don;t necessarily act because of the deal. My school sells cs3 even cheaper then that deal. Perhaps your school does also.
 
aaronw1986 ,

Thanks for your reply. How much can I get CS3 at my school? Does Adobe sell a cheaper versions at university bookstores?

I see a big price difference between the MBP models, I would get a 15" because I think it would be easier to carry around.

Is it worth the extra $500 between the 2 models?
 
It depends on the bookstore. At my bookstore the fullest cs3 version is about $300. For your needs, the price difference is probably not worth it. I have a friend who got along with 64MB of video RAM for years, and the MBP has 256.
 
I guess I'll check the pricing at the bookstore. I was thinking that the base model would be enough but wanted some feedback. Thanks 🙂
 
I have a 15" MBP (the standard 2.4 ghz version) and have the CS3 suite. I use it casually for some apps (ie not for school/intense professional use) and that works just fine for me. You may want to consider upgrading from 2gb of RAM to 4 (after market - it is much cheaper and easy to do. Search the MBP forum for threads on it.) if your computer lage a bit. You can never have too much RAM. That said, there is some natural lag in the CS3 suite, especially with the loading of the apps, so don't confuse that with a need for more RAM.

As for which screen size to get, it depends on your needs and budget. The 15" is fine for me and looks great (I prefer the matte screen to a glossy, but other folks differ). In the 17" you get more screen real estate which you may or may not need. You also have the option of upgrading to a HD screen. It costs more, but again your budget and needs need to dictate that. The 17 ", aside from being bigger than the 15, will also be a bit heavier. Perhaps a consideration for you? One thing not worth the money is the faster processor throughout the line. The stock speed (2.4 ghz on the 15") is more than sufficient. Faster processors will certainly give the computer a bit more speed, but not so much as to justify the higher price IMHO while also draining the batter a bit quicker.

Bottom line, you should go to a local Apple Store if you can and play with the display models. Folks working there should also be helpful and you can get a better idea on size you would be looking for. Also, you may want to check out the MBP forum on this site (vs. the Mac Applications where you posted). It's more active and people there are pretty opinionated. You can also search for which MBP should you buy as there are MANY threads dedicated to this.
 
Also, if you can get the CS3 suite through your school at a better/same/close to the same price as the current Mac deal, it may behoove you to hold off on the purchase. Apple usually runs a "Back to School" promotion late summer (July-August) wherein you buy a new Mac and you can get a free iPod nano or a discounted iPod classic (not sure how the new iPod Touch will fall into this, but it surely will somehow). It may be a better buy for you, PLUS Apple may have refreshed their notebook line by then , too (rumors, rumors....).

Food for thought. No rush to buy unless you need the computer soon.
 
Did anyone actually go through with this deal yet? I have been waiting to buy a laptop and debating whether the switch over to mac would be worth it. After seeing this deal, I decided it was a good time to switch over and placed my order last night. However, the advertising description and instructions weren't very clear... my total came out to be ~$2200 (MacbookPRO for $1799 + CS3 Design Standard for $299). I didn't see the $300 discount that they said would be on TOP of the student discounted prices. The site did say to call in to complete my purchase, but when I did, nobody seemed to have heard of the deal. The last person I talked to was convinced that the discount was already included, though the only discount I saw was the $100 off CS3. 😕

I'm still going to stick with my purchase.. though I'm very confused and discouraged with Apple right now. But if someone can clearly explain how the deal works, better than the reps at Apple... that would be great.
 
beautyfades said:
Did anyone actually go through with this deal yet? I have been waiting to buy a laptop and debating whether the switch over to mac would be worth it. After seeing this deal, I decided it was a good time to switch over and placed my order last night. However, the advertising description and instructions weren't very clear... my total came out to be ~$2200 (MacbookPRO for $1799 + CS3 Design Standard for $299). I didn't see the $300 discount that they said would be on TOP of the student discounted prices. The site did say to call in to complete my purchase, but when I did, nobody seemed to have heard of the deal. The last person I talked to was convinced that the discount was already included, though the only discount I saw was the $100 off CS3. 😕

I'm still going to stick with my purchase.. though I'm very confused and discouraged with Apple right now. But if someone can clearly explain how the deal works, better than the reps at Apple... that would be great.
Click to expand...

If you take a look at the link at the top of this page, it clearly states how much you save for each version. The version you ordered is indeed stated as a $100 savings.
 
They usually offer a student discount on the computer in the summer as well. The past 2 summers they were discounted and came with a free iPod and free printer.

Cheers.
 
aaronw1986 said:
If you take a look at the link at the top of this page, it clearly states how much you save for each version. The version you ordered is indeed stated as a $100 savings.
Click to expand...

I know. Mm, I guess the ad was a little misleading, stating that you save up to $300 on top of the student discounts, so I assumed that the discount was more than just the $100. Had the reps clarified that when I called... I wouldn't feel so cheated or something. It just seemed like they all had never heard of the deal and was reading it for the first time.
 
beautyfades said:
I know. Mm, I guess the ad was a little misleading, stating that you save up to $300 on top of the student discounts, so I assumed that the discount was more than just the $100. Had the reps clarified that when I called... I wouldn't feel so cheated or something. It just seemed like they all had never heard of the deal and was reading it for the first time.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you feel mislead. The keyword to be on the lookout for was up to $300 I guess...sometimes the Apple reps aren't aware of everything, so that's not really surprising.
 
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