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Need help, someone respond! Is it worth taking loan out for a Mac Pro
- Thread starter bphill4
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Tesselator
macrumors 601
the key word was "unnecessary". Obviously the debt incurred by the sales price is necessary. 😉
Typically not if they don't have to.
Yeah, that happens sometimes. 🙂
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Yup... there ya go. I'm actually an exception to my own post. I walked in and paid the ¥260,000 in bank stacks of ¥1,000 ($10) bills. 😀
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OP, you don't need a Mac Pro. It would be over kill for you course needs. The price of a Mac Pro would leave you in debt and most likely low on cash. Sure you'd have an amazingly fast computer with a load of power in reserve. Since you won't need the power in reserve though, it's worthless.
A MacBook Pro Retina would be cheaper, and just as fast for your needs. Especially later this year when the flash storage gets an upgrade. A 13" is light and portable making it a great course companion. It'll cost at least a thousand less as well.
Never borrow what you can't afford to pay back though.
A MacBook Pro Retina would be cheaper, and just as fast for your needs. Especially later this year when the flash storage gets an upgrade. A 13" is light and portable making it a great course companion. It'll cost at least a thousand less as well.
Never borrow what you can't afford to pay back though.
This is terrible financial advice. Honestly, really terrible advice.
OP, don't take on unnecessary debt. Don't take on more debt than you can afford. If you buy a Mac Pro on loan, you need to calculate your true cost.
I graduated with a CS degree. You do not need a Mac Pro for CS. Honestly, the programs you'll be writing in the first 2 years would run like a dream on an old Pentium I ~ 200Mhz. Not to mention, your university will be providing bad ass CS labs. For example, my uni had a lab stocked with ~ 20 absolutely loaded Mac Pros. You are wasting money.
That said, if your heart really is set on getting a Pro, don't buy it on a loan. Your true cost will be lower if you save the money up front and pay in full. When you're out of college and are faced with the reality of paying those loans, you will regret buying that Mac Pro that you didn't need.
Get a MacBook.
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I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, so please excuse me if I come off that way 🙂. I'm just wondering, what are your expectations of what Computer Science will be like? The questions you've asked lead me to believe that your expectations are something different than what it actually is.
I don't buy things research grants haven't already paid for. Never bought a Mac Pro, or any Mac, on credit of any kind.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
The clear majority of people who take advantage of 0% interest fail to live by the guidelines, i.e., paying on time or not paying off the debt before the allotted time and when that happens all the accrued interest from day one is added back into the outstanding balance.
I'm not knocking using 0% financing, I've used it myself but you need to be disciplined.
As for the OP, I and other's stated that blindly buying a computer without knowing what is needed is probably not the best move. Additionally taking a student loan (which is not 0%) is also perhaps something that should be avoided.
I think the OP is putting his cart before the horse. First figure out what he may need to buy before figuring out how he'll have to pay for it.
My college is like around $7,000 full time per semester. I'm not going to a huge college where I will have expenses of 100k+ when I get out. Around 50k out of college won't be that bad, wil it?
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I used an Atom-powered netbook for all of my programming work in my EE curriculum.
Now if you were going into graphic design, preferably 3D animation, then it may be worth considering.
Now if you were going into graphic design, preferably 3D animation, then it may be worth considering.
NT1440
macrumors P6
Your first few years will just be typing code, anything is strong enough to do that. I suggest you read up a bit on what exactly a computer science program is like before you go any further.
I had a Mac Pro for a CS degree, but I could have gotten by on a MacBook Pro just fine. Plenty of students had plain MacBooks, or even Netbooks.
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Not that this is on topic or even important but don't US banks make payments for you automatically? In Japan you just set it in motion and they make all the payments for you. They'll even make a payment if the funds are not actually deposited in your account.
I had a CBM PET myself.
designs216
macrumors 65816
Sounds like a want and not a need. Your goal should be to graduate with zero debt. I would say get by with your current rig and take anything it can't handle to the university computer lab.
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Yeah, it's not a "default" thing here either. Ya gotta press a few buttons on the teller machine or in your browser to set it up.
GermanyChris
macrumors 601
If you're going to go 50k in the hole for school build a Linux box..
50K in student loans makes me cringe
NKU is $7,000 a semester?! Have you considered UK? Yes, 50K in student loan debt is quite large.
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This is excellent advice.
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Get a credit card with 0% interest. If you still havent paid it off by the time the 0% period finishes, transfer the balance to an new card with 0% interest, keep doing that until you've paid it off. As people have noted however make sure you pay when you should or else youre in the the pooper.
If you have no regular income don't get a credit card!
If you have no regular income don't get a credit card!
UK is around 16k that's more than what I would want to do. Plus, I live at home and have a new car, so the only thing I pay for is wants/gas. So close to 50k when I get out, really isn't that bad. In my opinion.
dukebound85
macrumors Core
Dark Dragoon
macrumors 6502a
I would go onto http://www.everymac.com and look up the maximum RAM it can take, and then go an buy what you need from Amazon, OWC, Crucial or some other online store.
You could also consider upgrading to a SSD as that may make your computer feel a lot faster.
To echo most other people in this thread, as a computer science graduate myself you don't need a fast computer, and if you do for some specific purpose the university will likely have machines you can use. A laptop (preferably an older one so it's not such a target for being stolen, and doesn't matter as much if it's damaged) is nicer to carry around, take to group meetings, show things to your lecturer, use for presentations etc...
If you must get a new computer, I wouldn't buy one until you've started and know what you will be needing it for. It may even be more beneficial to buy something on completely the other end of the scale like a Raspberry Pi, which you can hook electronics up to directly and can mess around with without worrying too much about breaking it.
You could also consider upgrading to a SSD as that may make your computer feel a lot faster.
To echo most other people in this thread, as a computer science graduate myself you don't need a fast computer, and if you do for some specific purpose the university will likely have machines you can use. A laptop (preferably an older one so it's not such a target for being stolen, and doesn't matter as much if it's damaged) is nicer to carry around, take to group meetings, show things to your lecturer, use for presentations etc...
If you must get a new computer, I wouldn't buy one until you've started and know what you will be needing it for. It may even be more beneficial to buy something on completely the other end of the scale like a Raspberry Pi, which you can hook electronics up to directly and can mess around with without worrying too much about breaking it.
Tesselator
macrumors 601
Used on ebay (or some other buy & sell site) is the way to go.
I read almost every day here people saying that RAM is "crazy expensive" but the truth is it's dirt cheap. Ya just have to NOT buy it from a vender or individual advertising "Apple Approved" memory. And used is just as good as new but with a 30 to 40% discount.
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