MBP vs. MBA Question (for school)

[Peter Curious]

Hi, I'm just entering a private high school, and I am looking at buying a new mac to replace my HP craptop. I was wondering, if I have about $1,500 to spend, which would be a better way to spend my money, a new MBA or MBP? I probably will wind up upgrading it as much as I can, and I will be taking the Education Discount. Also, it will be used for some Cinema 4D, word processing, and photo work. Also, I need as much battery life as I can get.

On a separate note, how much of a difference does CPU speed make vs. RAM speed?

 

[Kyllle]

They will both do pretty much anything, but the pro will be a bit faster at things like video editing.

Oh, and you don't get the education discount for high school.

Ram helps you run more programs at once (multitasking), while cpu affects the speed a certain task can be finished.

 

[2IS]

Unless you need an optical drive, there's no reason not to get the Air IMO

 

[Bob Coxner]

Oh, and you don't get the education discount for high school.

If you buy online there's no proof required for the education discount.

 

[Fraaaa]

I bought the MBA 13" last year for uni to replace a white MacBook due to the weight issue.

MBA 2011 is comparable to some MBP models in performance, and the MBP weights nearly twice as much.

I can tell you that kilo less will make you happy when you will carry it around. MBA is the way to go for school. No regrets.

PS: As far as I know you have to be connected on the school's WiFi when you access the online store -throught the educational page - to get the education discount. At least that is how it worked for me.

 

[saintforlife]

If you buy online there's no proof required for the education discount.

Can you elaborate? I always thought they ask you for an .edu email address as proof or something.

 

[P0stalTek]

Can you elaborate? I always thought they ask you for an .edu email address as proof or something.

No, you just plunk in the city and state of your university, choose from the list and BOOM educational store. Atleast that's been my experience.

 

[brand]

If you buy online there's no proof required for the education discount.

This forum has so many members that are willing to disregard their ethics just to save I mean steal a few hundred dollars. In turn those are the ones that will screw it up for everyone else that uses the program legitly.

 

[Jaro65]

You would be most likely quite happy with an MBA. Don't worry about RAM speed - just get as much as you can (4GB for MBA).