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High School Laptop Recomendations?

appleguy123 said:
The MacBook air's screen is better than the 13" MacBook pro. It has the resolution of the 15" MacBook pro.
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Just because the resolution on the MBA is higher than the 13" MBP doesn't mean that the quality is better. The 13" MBP screen is of higher quality than the MBA as stated previously in this thread.
 
DWBurke811 said:
Just because you didn't need a laptop in highschool doesn't mean the OP doesn't. Either because his HS requires one, his parents don't want to share their computer, or whatever his reason is is kinda irrelevant IMO. If (s)he wants a laptop, and his/her parents are down to buy him one, it's not really my place to judge his reasons.

I say get a new base 13" pro and 3 years of AppleCare. I don't get why anyone would say to get a $500 POS clunker to use for 4 years; if your family is in the position to get you a Mac, why not? You shouldn't has to suffer with a junk laptop through highschool if you don't have to; and to everyone who's thinking something along the lines of "it's crazy to spend $1xxx on a laptop for a kid," to some (more like a ton of, but won't get into semantics) people it's not like that is a lot of money to spend, let alone on something that will last a few years.

To recap; no reason not to get a good laptop, I say 13" pro and 3 years of AppleCare. Enjoy
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Well said although i would much rather the 11.6 inch mba than the 13 inch mba anyway; it seems too big for such a thin computer. The 11.6 i7 256 ssd is what i plan on using for the 1st year of university. After that i will probably make the jump to the 15inch 2012 mbp. mainly for diablo 3 😀 however a mba is great for 90% of people going into uni OR hs. it just depends how often that person will be tempted to game or not. Why would anyone need the fully loaded mbp for uni? its not like EVERYone is uploading HD videos every other day? word projects and stuff is nonsense. anything can do that even a freakin tablet. Anybody who purchases anything mac related isn't because they want to "save" money.
Id recommend the mba. for everything except gaming of course. Get a chill mat also.
 
If you require an optical disk drive for class and assignments, that rules out the Air unless you want to carry around an external drive or piggyback off another computer. IMHO carrying around a drive defeats the purpose of paying a premium for the small and light form factor of the Air.

I would imagine that both the MBP and MBA would be equally durable.
 
GoGamecocks said:
You need a laptop for high school these days?

Geez, what happened to using the family computer
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I need the laptop for all classes in school. And all students at my school are required to get a laptop for class. The family computer wouldn't cut it
 
Joyrider07 said:
I need the laptop for all classes in school. And all students at my school are required to get a laptop for class. The family computer wouldn't cut it
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really! your school requires you to pay hundreds of dollars to purchase a laptop?

i doubt that, and if so, you must be in a private school somewhere with a very questionable policy of (apparently) forcing students to take notes by typing on a keyboard. i don't think i am the only one who can attest to the power of pen and paper for learning information. good luck with that 🙁

for the sake of your back, i'd get an 11" air with a nice hardcase and sleeve to protect it.
 
I would strongly recommend that you get a 2011 13" MacBook Air. It has a great hi-res display, it's portable, and it's no slouch in terms of performance. You'll really appreciate how light and thin it is in comparison to a 13" MacBook Pro (34% lighter and 28% thinner). I wouldn't get an 11" MBA because the screen is tiny and it might be difficult to do a lot of word processing or research on it. The 13" MBP is cheaper, but the 13" MBA is much more portable and looks amazing 😉
 
palpatine said:
really! your school requires you to pay hundreds of dollars to purchase a laptop?

i doubt that, and if so, you must be in a private school somewhere with a very questionable policy of (apparently) forcing students to take notes by typing on a keyboard. i don't think i am the only one who can attest to the power of pen and paper for learning information. good luck with that 🙁

for the sake of your back, i'd get an 11" air with a nice hardcase and sleeve to protect it.
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My brother goes to a high school (Private, but public, magnet school) where they all use laptops, specifically, they require MacBooks because of the work done on OSX.

OP, in this case, I would suggest shooting for a maxed out 13" Air or low end MBP. You can upgrade the MBP to 8GB of RAM and a nicer HDD, but you can never shave the weight off to make it as light as the Air 😛
 
Buy an older Macbook or Macbook Pro, there's no point spending a ton of money on a brand new mac for high school.
 
You could go to a microcenter nearby and get a MBP for $999, but if your parents are like mine, they would want to buy NEW at the best deal possible, but not used. My parents hate the idea of used in case something goes wrong.
 
palpatine said:
really! your school requires you to pay hundreds of dollars to purchase a laptop?

i doubt that, and if so, you must be in a private school somewhere with a very questionable policy of (apparently) forcing students to take notes by typing on a keyboard. i don't think i am the only one who can attest to the power of pen and paper for learning information. good luck with that 🙁

for the sake of your back, i'd get an 11" air with a nice hardcase and sleeve to protect it.
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Actually, yes, laptop computers are required. They suggest an 11" thinkpad which ive heard is very cheap and doesnt last along with constant breakage and freezes according to quite a few older friends who wish they got Macs when they had the chance. My friends said Macs are the best option available; furthermore, they are preferred according to the teachers I met durring my Freshman-For-a-Day trip.
 
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