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Macbook Pro For High School Student

T

theRkid

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
41
0
Hi, I'm getting a Macbook Pro for high school and was wondering three things...

1. Are high school students eligible to be apart of the summer Back to School Program

2. would a 13" Macbook Pro be sufficient for holding my books on the laptop as eBooks, school work, internet browsing, and light music and video editing?

3. Since the AppleCare program is only extendable to up to three years, to my knowledge, is there any reccomended alternate program to put it under during the fourth year? I'm going to be using it for the full four years so...yeah.

Thank you by the way!
 
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theRkid said:
Hi, I'm getting a Macbook Pro for high school and was wondering three things...

1. Are high school students eligible to be apart of the summer Back to School Program

2. would a 13" Macbook Pro be sufficient for holding my books on the laptop as eBooks, school work, internet browsing, and light music and video editing?

3. Since the AppleCare program is only extendable to up to three years, to my knowledge, is there any reccomended alternate program to put it under during the fourth year? I'm going to be using it for the full four years so...yeah.

Thank you by the way!
Click to expand...

1. Yes
2. Yes, but for your workload it seems like the air or the regular macbook can do the trick for you. It's also cheaper!
3. No, not that I know of.
 
xdbuix said:
1. Yes
2. Yes, but for your workload it seems like the air or the regular macbook can do the trick for you. It's also cheaper!
3. No, not that I know of.
Click to expand...

Oh, ok thank you! What would make the air or white macbook better for me than the macbook pro? I know that the SSD makes everything faster and things like that, but what would the i5 help to do with tasks and things like that? (sorry I'm clueless with all this intricate tech stuff, I just know the basics haha)
 
Buy a 17 inch Macbook Pro 2.3 ghz highest end model. It will be future proof and in 4 years, it will still be worth $1000 for resale value. Pretty good for a 4 year old computer.
 
From my observation, most high school kids need more powerful computers than most adults:D : games, videos editing of their prom, photo editing of the girls they date, etc.

Anyway, Sandy Bridge in the 13" might do you fine but scratch hardcore games. Get what you can afford. High school kids need power unless you're one of those kids who hardly spend most of their time using your machine.
 
MultiMediaWill said:
High Schools do not count in the program. Anyways I would apologize to your parents for suggesting that they buy you a MacBook.
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So high school students cannot participate? Slightly confused at the moment... If I were to buy online or in store, how would they check if I was a college student if my parent bought it for me? Sorry, I don't really know how this whole thing works again.

On the other hand, I don't think I should apologize... I'm definitely thankful for the future Macbook Pro and everything else. Plus, I need a computer for high school, it's mandatory at the high school I'm going to. Plusx2, I even suggested that I could get a cheaper option, but they said I should get what my first choice was: a Macbook Pro.

arctic said:
From my observation, most high school kids need more powerful computers than most adults:D : games, videos editing of their prom, photo editing of the girls they date, etc.

Anyway, Sandy Bridge in the 13" might do you fine but scratch hardcore games. Get what you can afford. High school kids need power unless you're one of those kids who hardly spend most of their time using your machine.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure if this is sarcastic or not, but I'm going to take it as a real answer :p

I'm not going to be doing any hardcore gaming because I'm not really into the whole "gaming" thing. I don't really play frequently enough for it to matter from what I've read. The Macbook Pro would really just be for the books, school work, and personal use. Nothing "professional" or game crazy.
 
theRkid said:
I'm not going to be doing any hardcore gaming because I'm not really into the whole "gaming" thing. I don't really play frequently enough for it to matter from what I've read. The Macbook Pro would really just be for the books, school work, and personal use. Nothing "professional" or game crazy.
Click to expand...

Then the low end 13" will be awesome for your needs. Putting the GPU aside (because you won't game much), the CPU of the low end 13" can go toe to toe with last year's fastest 15". That's how the Sandy Bridge optimization is awesome! Go for it!
 
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Honestly dude, if you're not going to use it for gaming or any CPU/GPU intensive applications, I would go with the ultimate 13" Air. The speed and size of the flash built in would be much more valuable than a SNB processor for your needs, I would think. Then again, I don't know exactly what you're going to be running, and I mysel actually used a 15" MacBook Pro throughout high school which I am about to retire to my parents for a new 17".

What size were you thinking?
 
1) Not that I'm aware of.
2) Yeah but I'd go with an Air.
3) The computer comes with a one year warranty, AppleCare extends it for three years past that. 1+3=4. You'll have four years of warranty if you buy AppleCare.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro and I also am in high school. It's a great computer but the battery life and weight of the computer are god awful. My sister has the newest MacBook Air w/ the SSD, etc and the battery life on that thing is outstanding. It's incredibly portable also. I'd much rather have that than my MacBook Pro for what I use it for. Hindsight is 20/20 though. I plan to make this computer last another 3-4 years into college. I've had it since the first unibodys came out in late 2008.
 
I'm in HS too :)
The low end MBP is very capable for highschool. I personally have last years' model which is the 2.4Ghz. Just like you, I am hoping mine will last 4 years (the end of HS). These machines are fairly reliable so I wouldn't worry about anything in the fourth year. Because there really isn't anything you can do protect it since AppleCare is 2 additional years. Not to mention, by then, your computer will be fairly old.

I would go with the 2.3Ghz Core i5 if I were you. It will be more than what you need for HS.
 
so wait ... you are in middle school... and want a mbp for your next 4 years of high school? Dude, with $1k+ go do something else. Trust me, go buy a 200 dollar laptop and with the other 800 do something fun for the rest of the 4 years :p
 
I think we should drop the sarcasm. Clearly the guy or girl doesn't know what computer he needs and isn't one of those spoiled brats like "Richboy."

But I say get the Air or a white or a 13" MBP.

As a senior I have a high end 15" for video editing on premiere (school copy) and heavy gaming. Other than that, I'd be very happy with a 13" or a low end 15". But word of caution, if you're a skinny Asian like me, the 15" isn't that portable.
 
i've never ever heard of a school (high school especially) requiring students to have a laptop. What if a student can't afford one?
 
arctic said:
Then the low end 13" will be awesome for your needs. Putting the GPU aside (because you won't game much), the CPU of the low end 13" can go toe to toe with last year's fastest 15". That's how the Sandy Bridge optimization is awesome! Go for it!
Click to expand...

Awesome! But for educational and personal use put together, which one would be more beneficial and which would be more "future proof": the Air's SSD or the Pro's SB i5?
Apple 26.2 said:
1. Don't know.
2. More than sufficient.
3. Your parents' home insurance?
Enjoy your new machine!
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I asked my parents to check it out.

And thank you for the last part!

KJmoon117 said:
I think we should drop the sarcasm. Clearly the guy or girl doesn't know what computer he needs and isn't one of those spoiled brats like "Richboy."

But I say get the Air or a white or a 13" MBP.

As a senior I have a high end 15" for video editing on premiere (school copy) and heavy gaming. Other than that, I'd be very happy with a 13" or a low end 15". But word of caution, if you're a skinny Asian like me, the 15" isn't that portable.
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Thank you for the first paragraph part, first of all.

I like the SSD because of the speed, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna need an optical drive for books and things like that. I would get it but it's also more expensive, and with the AppleCare ($250) and the book charge ($300) it's gonna be about $1850 against $1750 with the MBP. So, I'm still debating on that.

HBOC said:
i've never ever heard of a school (high school especially) requiring students to have a laptop. What if a student can't afford one?
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure on that. There are two options for our program: one is a Toshiba R700-S1312 that the school is supplying and letting you keep for about $1400, including the yearly $300 book fee, with on site support and the other is to bring your own laptop and pay the $300 and buy your own support. I've chosen the second option after my parent's approval on which to get. I was super hesitant on the second because 1. it had no on site support and 2. it would cost more, but they said to choose what I would want to be using for the 4 years. So I'm very grateful for that.

So honestly, I don't think you could go if you can't provide a laptop. Unless there is some program I don't know about where you don't need a laptop and all of your books are physical and not just some like in the laptop program, I'm pretty sure you can't go because we use the laptops everywhere (I witnessed it when I shadowed there)
 
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As someone who *did* have a Macbook Pro in High School (well, at that time, a 15 inch PowerBook)...

1. Not as I recall, except as "I'm heading to college", when at least when I worked in the store, we could technically ask for like an admissions letter or something, which we never did. But no, middle-of-high-school students don't count.

2. It sounds like what you'd be better off with is a Macbook Air or Macbook. If you do decide to go with the Pro, and aren't much into gaming, the base 13 inch model should work just fine.

3. Presuming your parents are buying (or you can get them to buy and pay them back), American Express cards often have an additional 1 year of warranty in addition to what the manufacturer has (including extended warranties like AppleCare). That's the only way I know of to cover yourself for the whole four years.
 
I'd also recommend a MacBook Air. The Core 2 Duo in it is more than sufficient for anything you'll be doing in high school, the SSD will make everything feel a lot faster, the NVidia graphics in the MBA should give it an edge over the Intel HD 3000 in the 13" MBP for any gaming you might want to do, and it'll be a helluvalot easier to carry around.

If you have any hobby interests that you're really serious about that would benefit from more CPU power, then a MBP might be better, but for everything you describe, the MBA will be fine.
 
theRkid said:
Awesome! But for educational and personal use put together, which one would be more beneficial and which would be more "future proof": the Air's SSD or the Pro's SB i5?
Click to expand...

If you think you won't have a problem with minimal drive space, the Air is awesome! But "future proof", it'll be a PITA to look for anyone that can replace or upgrade the Air's SSD and RAM. The 13" Pro is cheaper and you'll get more power and SSD/RAM customization.

SSD vs Sandy Bridge in future proofing? Well, neither. SSDs get cheaper as months go by and Sandy Bridge will be replaced with Ivy Bridge next year. But If you'll compare the current 13" MBA or a 13" MBP, in the future if you can spare the cash and max out their specs, an MBP with 8gb RAM and 512gb SSD is a beast of a machine than a max'd MBA. You even have OptiBay option for your MBP.
 
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