Macbook Pro Advice - For Student

[kokhoong0624]

I am currently doing medicine and I am planning to get the MBP15 2016 RP460 and I would like to ask a few questions regarding this purchase as it is very expensive...

I am an amateur photographer, I use PS very often, AI and I'm learning Motion Graphics on AE on my free time.. And plan to learn Maya/Cinema4D in the future.
I have A LOT of medical notes and some of the medical softwares only work on Windows. Plan to use bootcamp for that.

1. Do you think this computer will be sufficient for my needs for the next few years?

2. Should I upgrade my storage to 1TB?

3. Will battery life be significantly shorter (<50%) if I use bootcamp on windows?

Thanks in advance for any advices. Plan to place my order tomorrow if it's sufficient for my needs.

 

[Altis]

1. I would suspect so.

2. I would since you can't upgrade after buying, and you may want lots of space for both operating systems and the things you describe.

3. It's usually a bit less but not <50%. It does depend on what version of Windows and what applications you're using. It's worse if you run Windows in a VM rather than booting natively.

I found Windows 10 can be a lot harder on my MBP when it goes nuts with updates while I'm on the go. That's the only time that battery life gets noticeably worse for me (hence I switched back to Windows 7).

 

[kokhoong0624]

1. I would suspect so.

2. I would since you can't upgrade after buying, and you may want lots of space for both operating systems and the things you describe.

3. It's usually a bit less but not <50%. It does depend on what version of Windows and what applications you're using. It's worse if you run Windows in a VM rather than booting natively.

I found Windows 10 can be a lot harder on my MBP when it goes nuts with updates while I'm on the go. That's the only time that battery life gets noticeably worse for me (hence I switched back to Windows 7).

Thanks so much! Does windows 7 work on the latest MBP?

 

[Altis]

Thanks so much! Does windows 7 work on the latest MBP?

I suspect it might not. If I recall correctly, they stopped adding new hardware compatibility as part of their plan to make everyone move up to Windows 10. I'm almost certain the 2015 MBP works though.

If you get Windows 10 Pro, you do have more control over the updates at least and there are ways of disabling them from working automatically if it becomes a problem.

I just never wanted them downloading when I was tethered to my phone or needed to extend my battery life.

You can always run Windows 7 in a VM, though I'm not sure the battery life would be any better as you're running two operating systems.

Good luck!

 

[ixxx69]

3. It's usually a bit less but not <50%. It does depend on what version of Windows and what applications you're using. It's worse if you run Windows in a VM rather than booting natively.

Hmmm... that's curious. 😕 Source for that?

Thanks so much! Does windows 7 work on the latest MBP?

Windows 10 should be better for power management than W7, even if Boot Camp drivers aren't optimized for Windows on the Mac.

 

[Altis]

Hmmm... that's curious. 😕 Source for that?.

Running an operating system over top of another rather than on its own means you're running two operating systems, plus the virtualization software. That takes more power than just running the OS on its own.

Even running Linux Lite in a VM on OSX reduces the battery life pretty significantly.

 

[PaulWog]

I am currently doing medicine and I am planning to get the MBP15 2016 RP460 and I would like to ask a few questions regarding this purchase as it is very expensive...

I am an amateur photographer, I use PS very often, AI and I'm learning Motion Graphics on AE on my free time.. And plan to learn Maya/Cinema4D in the future.
I have A LOT of medical notes and some of the medical softwares only work on Windows. Plan to use bootcamp for that.

1. Do you think this computer will be sufficient for my needs for the next few years?

2. Should I upgrade my storage to 1TB?

3. Will battery life be significantly shorter (<50%) if I use bootcamp on windows?

Thanks in advance for any advices. Plan to place my order tomorrow if it's sufficient for my needs.

1. Yes.

2. No. I do photography. The #1 thing is organization of storage, and storage methods. Most photos should end up on external storage. Since you're amateur (as am I), a dual/triple backup system isn't necessary, but external storage is still the best way to do things. USB-C will be more than fast enough. Go with 512GB if you want some head-room.

3. I don't have experience with this.

 

[davis_fang]

Yeah, definitely go with the 1tb storage option. I'm currently using a Macbook Pro with 512gb and with Bootcamp, storage space does feel very limited.

 

[kokhoong0624]

Hmmm... that's curious. 😕 Source for that?


Windows 10 should be better for power management than W7, even if Boot Camp drivers aren't optimized for Windows on the Mac.

Thanks for letting me know. I'll keep in mind 🙂

1. Yes.

2. No. I do photography. The #1 thing is organization of storage, and storage methods. Most photos should end up on external storage. Since you're amateur (as am I), a dual/triple backup system isn't necessary, but external storage is still the best way to do things. USB-C will be more than fast enough. Go with 512GB if you want some head-room.

3. I don't have experience with this.

All the external drives I found are ridiculously expensive like the Samsung t3... any good recommendations?

Yeah, definitely go with the 1tb storage option. I'm currently using a Macbook Pro with 512gb and with Bootcamp, storage space does feel very limited.

How much it takes to install windows 10 natively? :O