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MBP 15" 2.8Ghz vs MBP 17" 2.66Ghz for Engineering student

D

deanmadoo

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 25, 2008
46
0
I am going to university this May and would like to buy a MBP.

because i think that the MB screen is to small for all the engineering programs that i will be using.
And i would be using this laptop for all 4 years of college.

and was wondering which one should i get between
1. CTO Macbook Pro 15.4" 2.8Ghz
or
2. Stock Macbook Pro 17" 2.66Ghz

I would be using a lot of engineering programs such as
matlabs, CAD, video editing, a lot of music encoding, Photoshop, Bittorrent, and i will be playing games using VMware Fusion

which one should i get?:D
 
id get a mb with an external monitor personally and a game console for games.

thats a cheaper alternative

keep in mind, all the programs you will be using in engineering school most likely will NOT have licesnses for you to put on your laptop. The only one that I was able to was ProE, which the mb was able to handle fine for the hw assignments

Even then, the lab computers are so much more powerful thats its silly to do it on your own laptop

I speak from my expereice when I was an undergrad in engineering recently (graduated this past May)
 
Well, you'll need to choose if you want the higher resolution and larger screen of the 17" or the smaller, lighter, and more powerful 15". I'd go for the 15" because of the weight and power personally, as you could always get another display for more screen space but you can't make a laptop lighter.
 
heres a related thread, maybe you'll find it helpful

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/444408/

and my response in that thread so take it for what its worth:p
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/5124492/

just trying to spare you from spending more than you need to if your budget is tight (as mine was in college).

However, if you want a mbp and can afford it, more power to you. Of your options, i'd pick the 15" if you were totally set on getting a mbp
 
infernohellion said:
Get a MacBook or a MacBook Air AND a homebrew desktop computer with 9800GTX graphic card.
Click to expand...

The games arnt that important its just Warcraft3, thats all

But while using VMware i will be using matlabs, CAD, video editing, a lot of music encoding, Photoshop, Bittorrent

all at the same time.
 
dukebound85 said:
well i gave you mine:p

any present mac laptop will be able to play WoW fyi
Click to expand...

Thx but i will be using my computer for a bit more stuff than you did.

and at my university in Thailand, I dont think there will be a 16core 32gig ram machine in my computer lab:D
 
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