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New MacBook or wait for NetBook?

M

marddin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
401
38
My white 13" MacBook is slowly deteriorating after 2 years of heavy use so I've decided I'm going to purchase a new MacBook for college.

One small problem, all this hype about a touch screen netbook has caught my interest and I'm not sure if I should wait for the release of the touch screen netbook or go head and purchase a new MacBook.

A little sidenote. I will be using my new MacBook for everything, school, work, and personal use, so is waiting for the new netbook worth it, or will the netbook even be useful for a college student, or are they strickly focusing on a super compact laptop for business men?


Any discussion or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks :)
 
I don't think I could use a netbook for day to day college work, currently I have an imac at home and then I have a black macbook that I use in college everyday etc... In terms of picking up a netbook, sure it would be pretty awesome but I have an ipod touch for looking stuff up on the net.

Basically go with the macbook
 
What are your school program? Are you in need for processing power or it's just for words, etc. ?

If I were you I would wait for the back to school promo that are usually during summer, so you can get a free printer and free iPod, that you can then sell if you have no use, which gave you a MacBook at an even lower price.

Summer isn't so far away anyway. Around 4 months!
 
I'm going into Graphic Design which will require intense work in Adobe Creative Suite 4 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc.)

I was thinking about waiting for back to school specials as well actually. Makes sense to wait but I'm not sure if I should wait for Back to School MacBook special or wait for netbook.

if only apple would make a Touch Screen iMac or Touch Screen MacBook like the HP TouchSmart. I would buy a touch screen 24" iMac in a second.
 
marddin said:
A little sidenote. I will be using my new MacBook for everything, school, work, and personal use, so is waiting for the new netbook worth it, or will the netbook even be useful for a college student, or are they strickly focusing on a super compact laptop for business men?
Click to expand...

As miles01110 says this is just a rumour - we don't even know if there will be one, let alone what the design/specs will be!

That said, do any of the netbooks on the market fulfil all your needs?Personally, I see netbooks (especially the really compact ones) as a complement to a desktop - and that's how most people I know use them. I would say they are handy for college, though - just not on their own!
 
marddin said:
I was thinking about waiting for back to school specials as well actually. Makes sense to wait but I'm not sure if I should wait for Back to School MacBook special or wait for netbook...
Click to expand...

If you can wait and see if there is a special, I would. Knowing my luck, if I waited there wouldn't be and vice versa! :D
 
I suggest you wait for the back to school's special deal on the macbook as i highly doubt that a netbook of any description will be able to handle intensive work in the adobe creative suite. Netbooks are designed for word processing, checking email and surfing the web and, at the moment, "apple's netbook" remains merely a rumor.
 
marddin said:
I'm going into Graphic Design which will require intense work in Adobe Creative Suite 4 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc.)

I was thinking about waiting for back to school specials as well actually. Makes sense to wait but I'm not sure if I should wait for Back to School MacBook special or wait for netbook.

if only apple would make a Touch Screen iMac or Touch Screen MacBook like the HP TouchSmart. I would buy a touch screen 24" iMac in a second.
Click to expand...

Then forget the Netbook and Macbook entirely. Buy yourself a MacBook Pro or an iMac this summer. The screen alone will be really useful to you, believe me.

I'm into the same thing, it's my first year, I own a 2.4 GHz Macbook and I hate working on this small screen which isn't that great. I already found a buyer for my Macbook (thx to the exchange rate) and buying myself a MBP through ADC for the discount once I'm 18 (24th March :))

Touchscreen is just a gadget, don't handicap your workflow with the small screen of a netbook, especially if it's going to be less then 10'' (according to the rumors).
 
I would go with the new 13-in Unibody MacBook. The netbook seems like it will only be for basic purposes since it probably will not have a physical keyboard. If you enjoy the touch screen keyboards though, I would wait for the netbook.
 
Can't understand the hype with touch screens. Sure makes sense in the Iphone, but I wouldn't want it for everyday use, so I would just go with the Macbook
 
Grolubao said:
Can't understand the hype with touch screens. Sure makes sense in the Iphone, but I wouldn't want it for everyday use, so I would just go with the Macbook
Click to expand...

I sit in my animation class at school, where they have a lab of 24" iMacs and just imagine what it would be like using my fingers to maneuver the interface and not a mouse. It seems like a pretty cool and fun idea for me, but then again thats just my personal opinion.

Thanks for all who replied, it helped a lot.

I think I'm just going to buy myself a 24" iMac then save up for a notebook after that, working on a 24" screen I just cannot pass up.
Thanks again. :)
 
marddin said:
I sit in my animation class at school, where they have a lab of 24" iMacs and just imagine what it would be like using my fingers to maneuver the interface and not a mouse. It seems like a pretty cool and fun idea for me, but then again thats just my personal opinion.

Thanks for all who replied, it helped a lot.

I think I'm just going to buy myself a 24" iMac then save up for a notebook after that, working on a 24" screen I just cannot pass up.
Thanks again. :)
Click to expand...

you can already do that, just apply a cheap touch sensitive film on the screen, its unnoticeable and works great.
 
marddin said:
there's like a touch screen mode for iMac?????????
i don't recall this.
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Its a bit more complicated than that, you can mod any computer screen to make it touch screen. This company's famous for doing it. http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook

Anyway as you intend to use CS4 suite even if Apple do release a netbook it wont be any good for you. I'd recommend a base model Macbook Pro.
 
marddin said:
I'm going into Graphic Design which will require intense work in Adobe Creative Suite 4 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc.)

I was thinking about waiting for back to school specials as well actually. Makes sense to wait but I'm not sure if I should wait for Back to School MacBook special or wait for netbook.

if only apple would make a Touch Screen iMac or Touch Screen MacBook like the HP TouchSmart. I would buy a touch screen 24" iMac in a second.
Click to expand...

Or you could buy a Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz with the LED cinema screen. You get the best of both worlds
 
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