Macbook Pro For College

[trb102589]

Hi! I was recently accepted into the University of Cincinnati's College of Computer Engineering and am interested in getting a Macbook pro for it. I've been religiously reading this site/forum and have obviously been thrown into the new macbook pro confusion. My question is if school starts in september 08 what are the chances of a new model soon after that month, say October. I don't want to see my money go to waste. Regardless I WILL need to buy a computer before I leave, but any information would be nice.

Thanks!

 

[DocSmitty]

Don't think we can answer that question until we see when it's updated next. I think everyone here would agree there will be an update before September 08, but beyond that guesses range from next week to June / July.

If an update comes out in February, you'd stand a decent chance of seeing another revision by November. If the new version isn't seen until June or July, then there's no way there will be a second update just 3 months later. Hope that helps

 

[elmo151]

check with your school about recommended PC.

 

[skyrider007]

hold out until the summer as there will be good deals for students

 

[pinwanger]

well for computer engineering...u best get a pc or a copy of windows for bootcamp.

 

[trb102589]

I do plan on installing windows xp so I'm not worried about that. I've been looking forward to getting an Apple for awhile now and I'm pretty sure I've got all my bases covered.

 

[trb102589]

another question- does anyone have any suggestions when it comes to programs for a college student ?

 

[Andrew D.]

I love my MacBook Pro, even though I'm just a Nursing student.. everything about the computer helps me survive each and everyday. I would also suggest waiting out until the summer before College to see what Apple has out during that time. Good luck!

 

[MacBookJoePro]

well for computer engineering...u best get a pc or a copy of windows for bootcamp.

As a fellow computer engineer, you will definitely need windows to run different engineering software. I have a MBP and I keep windows xp in parallels running all the time. You need to a lot of memory to be able to run 2 operating systems and the different software. Even with this configuration, it is still better than having any pc.

Bottom line... Get a mac when its time to get the latest and greatests.

-JoE

 

[heatmiser]

Golden rule of purchases: if you need it, get it. If you don't, wait it out. Since you won't start school for a while, it sounds like you can wait it out. There will likely be an MBP update this spring/summer.

 

[trb102589]

As a fellow computer engineer, you will definitely need windows to run different engineering software. I have a MBP and I keep windows xp in parallels running all the time. You need to a lot of memory to be able to run 2 operating systems and the different software. Even with this configuration, it is still better than having any pc.

Bottom line... Get a mac when its time to get the latest and greatests.

-JoE

I'm planning on buying 4 gigs of ram from new egg around the same time I buy my MBP. Can you use your Boot Camp partition in parallels?

 

[MacBookJoePro]

I'm planning on buying 4 gigs of ram from new egg around the same time I buy my MBP. Can you use your Boot Camp partition in parallels?

Haha excellent. I just bought 4 gigs of RAM for my MBP. I do not run boot camp at all since I really hate MS, But you can access and integrate your Boot camp partition with parallels. I've never really ran into a problem where I needed to independently run Xp by itself.

-JoE

 

[trb102589]

Alright thanks! I've been wondering how often I would need to boot into Windows and if running engineering programs in Parallels would suffice. So from what I understand is that you havn't had many problems running engineering software under parallels?

 

[Michael CM1]

I would agree with the people saying you'll need to get something like Parallels to run Windows XP or Vista. Engineering nerds are still on the PC bandwagon about 99%. Maybe that's why so much stuff breaks.

Get one with the 2GB of memory that comes standard, then order another 2GB from Crucial. If they have the option when the next update hits, get a 200GB 7200rpm hard drive.

Whatever you get, make sure to get it directly from Apple. You can get a 10% education discount. My MBP was $1799 instead of $1999. Apple did this on iPods before the second 5G models (when they dropped to $249), which made me wonder why anybody bought them for a kid in a store.