Macbook for uni

[ZacT94]

For college? 13" Air, upgraded to 8GB ram. Fast, light, good battery life, and reliable. Plus a heck of a lot cheaper than the rMBP. Should chew through whatever work college throws at you without any issues at all, and they're great laptops besides.

The rMBP is complete overkill for college, IMHO. It's a great machine, but you can handle the work with an Air, and have enough left over to furnish your dorm room with a nice HDTV and sound system. You'll get a LOT more enjoyment out of that in your college stay

I see where you're coming from but I don't live at university. I live at home.

 

[FastEddiebags]

Get the rMBP since your living at home and the extra power will be put to use. ALso you don't have to worry about it getting stolen(hopefully).

 

[ZacT94]

I might put a padlock on the section of my bag that the macbook will be in when I take it to university. I know it seems overprotective but you can't be too careful with possessions.

 

[FastEddiebags]

Couldn't agree more. You lose nothing by taking precautions.

 

[ZacT94]

Ok, I've decided that I'm going to buy a Retina MBP. I'd also like to ask if I should also buy an iPad. I already have a Motorola Xoom Wi-fi that works well but the wireless network at my University doesn't support Android OS. I want to buy an iPad 32GB Wi-fi + 3G/4G but the 4G doesn't work in Australia so I don't know if I should buy an iPad.
Thanks everyone.

 

[leenak]

Doesn't support Android OS? Do they require some kind of client to connect to the WiFi for some reason?

 

[stevelam]

I don't mind the extra weight in my bag as I am used to carrying very heavy textbooks in my bag. I was considering the MBA 13" but my mother who will also be using this laptop likes to leave everything open at once and I don't think that the RAM or the processor could take it so I'll need quad-core and maybe even 16gb of RAM. Thanks for your advice though.

Wow really? your mom leaves programs open so you think you need 16gb of ram and quadcore? Are students getting dumber or what?

 

[ZacT94]

Doesn't support Android OS? Do they require some kind of client to connect to the WiFi for some reason?

No it has something to do with proxy issues. Every OS except Linux, Android & Blackberry can connect to the wireless network at my University

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Wow really? your mom leaves programs open so you think you need 16gb of ram and quadcore? Are students getting dumber or what?

I plan on keeping the computer for at least 5 years, hopefully even up to 7 years. I also like to experiment with some programming and software design. That's why I might need the 16GB and quad-core.