I'm studying computer science in the fall and I am looking to get a Mac. Right now I have my eye on the new 13" MBA with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM, and maybe an upgrade to the i7 processor. My question is will this be able to run everything I need (Parallels with Windows and Linux, I'm assuming some high end software for development) or should I go for the 13" MBP? Thanks in advance.
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MBA or MBP - Studying CS
- Thread starter gt94
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Hi
I finished now the second year in CS and I have a MBP 15''
I am switching now to a MBA because all of the stuff we do isn't that demanding to the comuter. An in the worst case (I don't believe this will ever happen) there are most likely also Lab PC's available which could be used if the work which is to demanding for a MBA.
I finished now the second year in CS and I have a MBP 15''
I am switching now to a MBA because all of the stuff we do isn't that demanding to the comuter. An in the worst case (I don't believe this will ever happen) there are most likely also Lab PC's available which could be used if the work which is to demanding for a MBA.
I just checked out benchmarks for the new MBA. It shows that the new 13" MBA i7 is faster than all the current MBP/rMPP that have i5. I didn't know it was THAT powerful. I think the portability, size, and most important the battery life will make the MBA better than the MBP in my case. Thanks!
Hi!
In addition to what has already been said I would like to suggest you to think if you really need the i7 upgrade for the macbook air that you are considering.
Provided you will not be editing video/ photos I think that the cpu upgrade is not really needed.
As somebody who is now finishing up his postgraduate studies in software engineering I can pretty much tell you that what you will be doing wont be cpu intensive.
Yes you need all this RAM no doubt about that.
The nice thing about the macbook air is that its like... really easy and nice to carry around. And since you wanna learn stuff, you can go to meetups, events etc etc and you can easily have your computer with you at all times.
I could suggest you save the money from the CPU upgrade and buy an external monitor with those. And/Or maybe a really good chair. I am serious - ergonomics are important if you going to have this as your career. This will pretty much ensure that you have a nice working setup whenever you need to work for an extended period of time non stop.
In addition to what has already been said I would like to suggest you to think if you really need the i7 upgrade for the macbook air that you are considering.
Provided you will not be editing video/ photos I think that the cpu upgrade is not really needed.
As somebody who is now finishing up his postgraduate studies in software engineering I can pretty much tell you that what you will be doing wont be cpu intensive.
Yes you need all this RAM no doubt about that.
The nice thing about the macbook air is that its like... really easy and nice to carry around. And since you wanna learn stuff, you can go to meetups, events etc etc and you can easily have your computer with you at all times.
I could suggest you save the money from the CPU upgrade and buy an external monitor with those. And/Or maybe a really good chair. I am serious - ergonomics are important if you going to have this as your career. This will pretty much ensure that you have a nice working setup whenever you need to work for an extended period of time non stop.
