MacBook Pro for college or Windows?

[Closingracer]

I have absolutely no complaints with my 13" both OS X & Windows have positive & negative regarding HiDPI displays. The 13" rMBP is by far Apple`s most balanced portable and offers the best value for money, given it`s specifications. I have to admit that as much as I like the SP4, going back to a limited battery life is not where I want to be.

"Murphy`s Law" always applies, when you need to recharge the most, there is never an outlet available I am now at a point where I want a minimum of 8 hours, if not the trade off needs to be tangible & beneficial on several levels to make this compromise.

Q-6

As far as high res screens goes I have no issues with 1080p with Windows. I found some apps on the surface pro to be a to small. Wasn't a deal breaker though and wasn't terrible. What was the deal breaker for me was the battery life and the amount of ram Web browsing took for just one tab. Guess I am just used to 8gb of ram with my main windows laptop. I also don't feel like I want to purposely gimp the device to get the best battery life out of the device. On Windows central they suggested I should limit the cpu to 50%. Yes these are very good suggestions and I agree I should do that but I don't want to limit myself. One of the reasons why I chose a Macbook Pro over the Air is because of the better screen. Yes the Air probably would of been better for me since I could get a 13 inch Air with a bigger ssd and even better battery life but the 10 suggested hours is fine for me. I've also found myself using the device longer than what Apple has suggested for their devices be it an iPad, iPhone or iPod. If I was rich or won the lottery I would love to get both devices but unfortunately I need to budget and could only choose one lol.

 

[lowendlinux]

Why not learn both? The more skills one has makes one more valuable. Or so the theory goes. And the only real differences are ones a person will never use, since the applications and fundamental theories behind design, programming, baking a pie, whatever, don't change between platforms because of a branding logo.

I was an exclusively Windows guy until going back to college, when I picked up a MacBook Pro since some of the instructors indicated that some shops are Mac-only, and I knew the lower-end Macs were much slower (coming from Windows, which uses the same Intel hardware and knowing what it's capable of...) The applications that run on Mac and Windows are 99% identical in most cases, though the Windows version of certain Adobe applications were far more stable. Performancewise neither OS had a big advantage. On certain details, OS X was better and for others Windows has it. Neither terribly impacted what I was learning in college, but learning both platforms gave me a lot more insight into each's strengths and weaknesses.

It honestly didn't take long to learn how to use OS X and make backups of data. Keystroke shortcuts and the new location of close/minimize/maximize buttons were simple. If it took long to learn an OS designed for "ease of use" then the word "embarrassing" comes to mind. Where and how to save data or school files was identical.

Plus, lots of students asked various questions on both platforms. Again, with registry issues, there are reasons OS X is better. and on the flip side, I think Windows handles preemptive multitasking smoother... like rendering 3D in a couple applications I use, I can load a game and have no ill effects in Windows. In Mac OS X, same Mac hardware, the same conditions cause stuttering. So it's better just to go for a walk and let the computer have 100% of the processor time for the rendering task...

Now if people are going from Mac or Windows to, say, a portable Commodore 64 or Timex ZX81 or anything running CP/M and have to learn a CLI... Or Unix/Linux prior to the creation of "X Window System" (and even then, LOL), then I agree. But windowing operating systems came about because people did not want the complexity of command line interfaces.

I'll never say OSX, Windows, or Linux is better because better is completely subjective. What I will say though is you're learning to be a chef which is very much art. I think you need to learn your craft and not play games with your computer. I'm a bit of a cook myself and in my junior year in HS I was accepted to Johnson and Wales with a 50% scholarship on the strength of my professional references after almost a year of talking with my parents, two visits to the campus and seeking financial aid I just couldn't put together the funding to go so you're sorta living my dream. That said judging from the curriculum that I was introduced to 22 years ago you really won't have time to play games with the computer you will need to focus completely on your chosen art. Knowing OS X will be of little value to you as a chef most restaurant SW is windows based and most pay SW is Linux based OS X really doesn't pay anywhere in the system. If you really want a Mac which you seem to I won't stop you it's good stuff that I use for work everyday but it's really not beneficial to you as a student either professionally or personally. I still say keep the Surface, keep your notes in a non-proprietary format and if after you graduate you want to be Apple only go for it.


When you're done with school please share some recipes with we heathens on the net I'm always looking for new stuff to put on the family table my repertoire is getting old, just ask my wife

 

[Queen6]

As far as high res screens goes I have no issues with 1080p with Windows. I found some apps on the surface pro to be a to small. Wasn't a deal breaker though and wasn't terrible. What was the deal breaker for me was the battery life and the amount of ram Web browsing took for just one tab. Guess I am just used to 8gb of ram with my main windows laptop. I also don't feel like I want to purposely gimp the device to get the best battery life out of the device. On Windows central they suggested I should limit the cpu to 50%. Yes these are very good suggestions and I agree I should do that but I don't want to limit myself. One of the reasons why I chose a Macbook Pro over the Air is because of the better screen. Yes the Air probably would of been better for me since I could get a 13 inch Air with a bigger ssd and even better battery life but the 10 suggested hours is fine for me. I've also found myself using the device longer than what Apple has suggested for their devices be it an iPad, iPhone or iPod. If I was rich or won the lottery I would love to get both devices but unfortunately I need to budget and could only choose one lol.

Yeah I see, I would be looking at 8Gb or 16Gb, on a Surface Book/MacBook Pro. 4Gb on either OS X or Windows is severely insufficient for my usage. The Air is a good portable, however sadly crippled by the poor quality TN display panel, Apple should have moved the Air to a decent quality IPS display years ago, as opposed to "making out" on their already exorbitant margins, it`s a greed thing really. Especially when you factor in the Air`s in-house upgrades.

Multiple devices are now far easier to mange, to many extents this is Apple`s strategy, with nothing fitting all, so; phone, tablet and computer are all strictly diverged for the benefit of the stockholder, not the user. Microsoft`s Surface Book is a solid proposition, equally pricing is harsh for those that will not make a return on the hardware, given the next Gen will undoubtably significantly improved, as Microsoft does not hold it`s hardware users in disregard, as the SP4 clearly illustrates...

Portables are all about compromise, the trick is working out what works best for you, irrespective of brand & OS

Q-6

 

[Closingracer]

Yeah I see, I would be looking at 8Gb or 16Gb, on a Surface Book/MacBook Pro. 4Gb on either OS X or Windows is severely insufficient for my usage. The Air is a good portable, however sadly crippled by the poor quality TN display panel, Apple should have moved the Air to a decent quality IPS display years ago, as opposed to "making out" on their already exorbitant margins, it`s a greed thing really. Especially when you factor in the Air`s in-house upgrades.

Multiple devices are now far easier to mange, to many extents this is Apple`s strategy, with nothing fitting all, so; phone, tablet and computer are all strictly diverged for the benefit of the stockholder, not the user. Microsoft`s Surface Book is a solid proposition, equally pricing is harsh for those that will not make a return on the hardware, given the next Gen will undoubtably significantly improved, as Microsoft does not hold it`s hardware users in disregard, as the SP4 clearly illustrates...

Portables are all about compromise, the trick is working out what works best for you, irrespective of brand & OS

Q-6

Yeah I was fine with 4gb but after using 8 going back to 4 is hard lol. As far as the screen goes I like TN panels specially for gaming where viewing angles aren't a necessity and the gaming laptop o have which cost me $1,500 when I bought it has a really good TN panels. I actually prefer it over ips that particular screen. The viewing angles aren't that bad and almost as good as an ips display.

 

[Closingracer]

I'll never say OSX, Windows, or Linux is better because better is completely subjective. What I will say though is you're learning to be a chef which is very much art. I think you need to learn your craft and not play games with your computer. I'm a bit of a cook myself and in my junior year in HS I was accepted to Johnson and Wales with a 50% scholarship on the strength of my professional references after almost a year of talking with my parents, two visits to the campus and seeking financial aid I just couldn't put together the funding to go so you're sorta living my dream. That said judging from the curriculum that I was introduced to 22 years ago you really won't have time to play games with the computer you will need to focus completely on your chosen art. Knowing OS X will be of little value to you as a chef most restaurant SW is windows based and most pay SW is Linux based OS X really doesn't pay anywhere in the system. If you really want a Mac which you seem to I won't stop you it's good stuff that I use for work everyday but it's really not beneficial to you as a student either professionally or personally. I still say keep the Surface, keep your notes in a non-proprietary format and if after you graduate you want to be Apple only go for it.


When you're done with school please share some recipes with we heathens on the net I'm always looking for new stuff to put on the family table my repertoire is getting old, just ask my wife

I will never go Apple only but then again I also said I'll never get Apple devices again after the iPhone 4 lol and now I own or owned an iPhone 6, iPad Air, iPad Air 2 and now a Macbook Pro. My main device will be a gaming laptop which has windows 10 and top notch hardware. 8gb of ram, Intel i7-4710MQ, and a nvidia 970m gpu. This Mac will primarily be for note taking and while the Air would be a good device for that I hate the panel that they use so I really only considered the Macbook Pro non retina and retina displays. The Air that I considered was the 13 inch one with the bigger ssd.