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Macbook for college

J

Jaket92

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2009
7
0
Hello to anyone who is reading this. First of all I would like to state that I will be graduating from high school in 2010 and I would just like a little foresight about what may be coming to MacBook by then.

I was thinking about buying the whitebook until I realized that it probably won't be around by then. So I decided on a aluminum unibody (assuming the whitebook won't be around). What kind of processor and graphics updates can I expect by then? I was hoping for a bump up to 512mb dedicated or integrated graphics and maybe a 2.2 ghz to a 2.4 ghz core 2 duo processor. Is this relalistic? If not what is? I would also have 4 gig ram and a 160 gb hdd
;)
My main purpose for this computer will be some web browsing, light multi media tasks, word processing, powerpoint projects, and some light gaming. I also plan to dual boot with windows 7. Any information provided is welcome (except arguments for PC, been there done that lol) including what you think I should get. Thanks in advance!
 
Essentially, you're asking us what Apple will roll out 12 months from now? hahaha...who knows.

Probable/possible things: USB 3.0, next gen CPU's, i7 type as opposed to Core architecture (integrated memory controller, etc, etc), on-cpu die graphics possibly, next-gen integrated graphics technology?

Computer technology advances fairly quickly, and there are a lot of things in the upcoming pipeline as far as Intel/nVidia are concerned.
 
Honestly, the base macbook right now would be more than perfect for you, and it would probably last 3-5 years (more, but with newer technology by then..) Since you aren't buying right now, we can't really tell you what to get, as maybe new products will be out, or completely different specs.. so I guess you'd have to wait
 
Thanks for the speedy responces! Now on the note of graphics how is the 9400m (or is it the 9600m) I've heard mixed reviews
 
Jaket92 said:
Thanks for the speedy responces! Now on the note of graphics how is the 9400m (or is it the 9600m) I've heard mixed reviews
Click to expand...

For what you've described, the 9400M will be plenty (that's what the MB has). It kind of varies with what your "light gaming" is comprised of game-wise.
 
Games like battlefield 2, call of duty, I heard it can even handle flight sim X
 
Yup, it'll run all three of those no problem. Maybe not at the maxed out settings, but the MB is well above the minimum requirements.
 
Do you think snow leopard will support 64 bit bootcamp on MacBook?
 
Jaket92 said:
Do you think snow leopard will support 64 bit bootcamp on MacBook?
Click to expand...

10.5 already does. Set it up today. The only difference is you need to run a specific program on your OSX CD instead of using the program that autoruns.

OP, the Macbook is going to be much different by then. I wouldn't even bother trying to guess what hardware's going to be in it.
 
Jaket92 said:
So it works perfectly? How hard was it
To run?
Click to expand...

Works perfectly. There are some online tutorials on how to do it. Basically, you follow the exact procedure listed online (MAKE SURE you do a windows update after 7 first boots up) and then go into drivers->apple->bootcamp64 on the cd instead of using the program that autoruns.

It's completely functional, and worth it considering you need all the ram you can get when you game on an integrated chip.
 
I'm graduating next week and am still wondering if I should go with a macbook or laptop for med school.
 
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