Ideal MBA Model for University Student

[VMMan]

Got the 11" with i7, 4 GB RAM, and 128 SSD. :]

That's a wise choice for a college student. Greater mobility allows greater chances of meeting meeting girls/women/chicks*.

Those chances only go downhill after you graduate.

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*I don't mean this offensively. Let's face it, college is a time to explore your boundaries and deal with your raging hormones.

 

[talkMac]

I think the 11" is fine depends on screen size you required but you can pinch to zoom to make things bigger. I went with 13" because I use AutoCAD as I am an engineering student and need to view steel frames and building plans, Matlab should work fine as i know it has ran perfectly well on slower computers in university. Also my friends also used AutoCad on the old Macbook Pros 2010 2009 and prior and they installed it when Autodesk released Mac compatibility and it seemed to run fine.
Should be fine for your needs.

 

[DeusInvictus7]

That's the same model I bought, and I love it. I also bought mine for college, and have gone from a 2010 15" MBP (then to a 2010 13" MBA) to this. The portability just isn't matched. And to the person that said you can't tell the weight difference, .6 pounds is a decent amount, and I can tell the difference pretty easily.

As far as battery life goes, I personally haven't had any problems with it with a few tabs in safari open browsing the web. Getting rid of flash or at least using clicktoflash really helps, as well as getting an ad blocker. I can average at least 4 hours doing that. I imagine if I wasn't browsing and was typing away for a paper, then it should be more tthan that.

 

[B.Chang]

That's a wise choice for a college student. Greater mobility allows greater chances of meeting meeting girls/women/chicks*.

Those chances only go downhill after you graduate.

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*I don't mean this offensively. Let's face it, college is a time to explore your boundaries and deal with your raging hormones.

Haha! I thought that was high school!

Plus, I'm a graduate student. No more fun and games . . . :[

 

[VMMan]

That's a wise choice for a college student. Greater mobility allows greater chances of meeting meeting girls/women/chicks*.

Those chances only go downhill after you graduate.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*I don't mean this offensively. Let's face it, college is a time to explore your boundaries and deal with your raging hormones.

Haha! I thought that was high school!

Plus, I'm a graduate student. No more fun and games . . . :[

Unfortunately, I think dealing with those hormones during high school turned out to be a solo affair. Neither the 11" or 13" would have changed the situation then. :|

 

[Streffert]

I just returned for pre-pharmacy and got the 11", I didn't even consider it until last week because I am so anal and have buyers remorse, however coming from a 13" MBP it is perfect!

 

[ZBoater]

That's a wise choice for a college student. Greater mobility allows greater chances of meeting meeting girls/women/chicks.

Yeah, but bear in mind when they tell you size doesnt matter, they lie.

Go big!

 

[B.Chang]

Yeah, but bear in mind when they tell you size doesnt matter, they lie.

Go big!

Strangely enough, when I approached my girlfriend with my dilemma that's what she told me. "Go big, or go home" . . .

 

[joshuaginter]

Hello

I have recently decided that it would be beneficial for me to acquire a MBA since I am a commuting university student and need to bring my computer with me for classes and lab.

I currently have a mid 2010 15" MBP, but this is rather heavy since I commute by bicycle and have notebooks and some books as well.

I have read many threads and articles online about comparing 13" with 11" and I am very split. My main concern is that although the MBA will be my "second" computer, it will still be my main computer when I am on campus and sometimes I will need to work very late in my lab.

My main concerns are the battery life on the 11" as well as how feasible it is to work on MS Office files and run Matlab on it, as those are the main program I will be using. I will also be doing some programming using Eclipse.

Will I be able to multitask well between documents and browsers?

I know the 13" overall seems to be more capable than the 11", but my current initial impression is that it would be better to get the 11" due to the fact I already have a 15" MBP. I was hoping for some input from the community in this matter, hopefully from people with firsthand experience.

Price is not a concern since I have been allocated significant funds for a new laptop by my scholarship.

Thank you for any replies.

I was in the exact same position as you going into this school year. I had a 15" MBP which I found to be too heavy and not portable enough for class. Therefore, I sold it and took that money and purchased a base-line 21.5" iMac. Then, I bit the bullet and bought the base-line 11" MacBook Air with 4GB RAM. My reasoning was this: I thought having two laptops was extremely redundant. Especially when the current MacBook Air is actually more powerful than my 15" MBP was.

As far as model for MacBook Air, I believe the extra power and screen real estate would be nice if you have software that is demanding for such things. A 13" MacBook Air seems ideal to me, especially if you have a powerful desktop at home.

Therefore, do you absolutely need to have portability for your main computer? If not, consider a base-line iMac and an 11"/13" MacBook Air. That way you have power at home and power/portability on the go.

 

[B.Chang]

I was in the exact same position as you going into this school year. I had a 15" MBP which I found to be too heavy and not portable enough for class. Therefore, I sold it and took that money and purchased a base-line 21.5" iMac. Then, I bit the bullet and bought the base-line 11" MacBook Air with 4GB RAM. My reasoning was this: I thought having two laptops was extremely redundant. Especially when the current MacBook Air is actually more powerful than my 15" MBP was.

As far as model for MacBook Air, I believe the extra power and screen real estate would be nice if you have software that is demanding for such things. A 13" MacBook Air seems ideal to me, especially if you have a powerful desktop at home.

Therefore, do you absolutely need to have portability for your main computer? If not, consider a base-line iMac and an 11"/13" MacBook Air. That way you have power at home and power/portability on the go.

Strange that you bring this up, since I was actually considering this as well.

However, I decided that since the power of my 15" MBP has been adequate for my uses I was just going to get an ACD and hook it up to that. It was my opinion that the ACD would be more versatile than the iMac since I could use it with any future computers I choose to buy when my MBP is no longer adequate.

Most of all, I didn't want to go through the hassle of selling my MBP, mostly since I probably won't get much back compared to what I paid for it, and especially since it works perfectly fine with what applications I currently use and will be using for the rest of my days at this university . . . :]

Another issue is that I am using some money I got through my scholarship to purchase this MBA. I can use the remaining funds to get accessory items and monitors count as accessory items . . . however I can't use them for a second computer :[

I'm glad your configuration is working well though! The new iMacs look really great, and thanks for the suggestion. :]

 

[artcb]

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of programs do you tend to use?

I will be doing basic MS Office work with Doc, PPT, or Excel; Research/browsing on internet; and the most intensive will be programming on Eclipse and Matlab. Do you or anybody reading this have any experience on these with an 11" vs a 13" screen? I have difficulty gauging at the Apple store myself.

Power Point and excel on an 11" display is pretty horrible (personal experience on a Vaio) I am a university student and I got the 13" high end. I was in the same position as you, but came to the conclusion that the 13" is better. When you are at the university doing some research, writing a paper or using statistics programs, then I would like to take to the university the big screen that the 13" offers. If not, you would be stuck with a small screen all day! Besides, it is very light and you will not perceive its weight in you backpack.

 

[palpatine]

regarding the 11 v 13 in terms of getting work done, i think it depends entirely on the person. i spent years with netbooks (10.5), i have an mbp (13) now, but i do most of my work on the iPad (9.7). i have used all three sizes without difficulty.

i find i work the most efficiently with at least two devices, though. usually i pair my bluetooth with my iPod (3.5) and take notes / write on it while viewing other materials on the iPad. Alternatively, I read on the iPad while I type on the mbp.

making power point slides isn't terribly difficult or time consuming if you have made the text ahead of time, so i usually work it all out ahead of time and build the file on the mbp after i come home at night. i could easily do that on an 11" screen as well.

in short, screen size doesn't matter much to me. workflow seems more important (do you need to work at all times directly in word/ppt or can you do drafts and revisions in text files to receive final formatting later?).

 

[filnyc]

Size matters! Have mercy to your sight))
My choice is 13". Not a big difference in price and weight but great difference in performance.

 

[The Catalyst]

Thanks for all the feedback and help everybody.

I tried going to the Apple Store, but they didn't have the model I wanted so I just ordered it online.

Got the 11" with i7, 4 GB RAM, and 128 SSD. :]

Cool, enjoy the new toy. Let us know how that works out for you!