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Please recommend gift ideas for a macbook pro user

V

Vg12th

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
6
0
Hi everyone,

first post here. I have taken a glance using the search bar but did not find what I wanted so here is my question. I need advice on what to get a university student macbook pro a gift for christmas. She's only had it for a few months and she has the basics. If possible I would prefer to get her something she can use on her mac that will complement her in her studies. So I'm not interested in iPods or iPhones etc.

Google searching around I saw some new products such as this "magic mouse". I think it has a nice design but apparently it is not as useful as it looks, especially compared to the touchpad of macbook pros. I also noticed Wacom bamboo fun touch and pen tablet. Basically can be used to draw on her laptop hard characters, good for notes I guess. Can anyone give their experience on it? The pen-related input is the only worthy note since apparently the touch-related stuff pale in comparison again to the macbook pro touchpad. Unless someone can tell me otherwise?

If anyone can give me advice on what to give a new macbook pro user for christmas... hardware or software, please do so. On a different note, are there any recommended mics compatible with OSX (apparently the iMic is not worth it?)

I apologize for the long topic, and I appreciate your taking the time going through it. Happy holidays~
 
Vg12th said:
I also noticed Wacom bamboo fun touch and pen tablet. Basically can be used to draw on her laptop hard characters, good for notes I guess. Can anyone give their experience on it?
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Graphic tablets are usually used for graphic design, not for taking notes. Mainly because it'd be a pain to take the tablet to class.

If anyone can give me advice on what to give a new macbook pro user for christmas... hardware or software, please do so.
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How about something like a carrying sleeve?

On a different note, are there any recommended mics compatible with OSX (apparently the iMic is not worth it?)
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Most Macs come with a built-in mic, which model are you needing a mic for?
 
Have you given any thought to MobileMe? As a former grad student, I can't tell you how many times I used my iDisk. If she has an iPod Touch, it gets even better with the iDisk app. She can forward on large files and iWeb makes a huge impact on Professors. I've suggested to many of my students that they present their projects using iWeb - blogging about their progress and then turning in a web URL instead of a paper copy.

Amazon has it for a good price and you could pair it with a domain name for a little more customization. Just an idea!
 
Unfortunately the sleeve was one of the first things purchased haha. I guess the tablet would be too annoying to bring just in case of rare graphs and the like. And the pro does have an in-built mic however I am looking for one that can record a higher quality input, particularly vocals. Singing is very important for her so I'm sure a good mic would be well received. I'm just not musically or mac inclined to know enough what is compatible nor what is good for the price.

I also thought about Logic express 9, but the reviews do not really say much on how much it is better for vocals than Garage band. Thanks for your input by the way!
 
miles01110 said:
She probably already has university webspace. DropBox is also free for 2 GB.
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This is very much true and I'm a big fan of dropbox. However, the iWeb integration should not be overlooked. Besides, the MobileMe provides a decent "non-ad" based email account. It also allows for photocasting which I just recently discovered. It makes it easy to share photos with my technically challenged family members. Just an option...

Another obvious choice would be a time machine drive if she doesn't already have one. I may be a jerk but I warn my students at the beginning of the semester and go over basic backup procedures. I openly encourage students to find a service like dropbox to back up their stuff. Invariably, I get a couple of students per semester who come whining. They get a big fat F.

Finally, another great option as it sounds as if she may be a music/voice major would be the Apogee One as she could buy her own mic and then upgrade later down the road while maintaining the same interface. A bit spendy at $250 though...
 
kufford said:
Besides, the MobileMe provides a decent "non-ad" based email account.
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She already has university email (I assume). Almost every university provides an email address for their students.

I openly encourage students to find a service like dropbox to back up their stuff.
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DropBox is good for small file backups, but for something like TM it would be discouragingly slow.
 
I think the magic mouse would be a perfect complimentary gift. One thing that I use with my mbp a lot is a laptop pad. I don't know the right name, but it's like a hard pillow that you rest on your lap then put the laptop on that to protect you from the heat.
 
I've never heard of the Apogee microphone until now, but I might look into it for myself! The only thing that makes me nervous is how much latency it has when recording and monitoring. I seems like a good price until you have to buy the mount and cables seperately.

Logic Express might be overkill for recording vocals alone or vocals with a backing track. Logic is more about mixing multiple tracks.

Maybe more simple than you were thinking, but a skin might be a nice touch. Gelaskins offers gift certificates and I'm sure there are other skin makers out there that offer the same.
 
Alright so no to Logic Express and I'll look around for nice hdd. The magic mouse complementary? Can anyone has it with a laptop and not a desktop tell me how well it works for you?
 
Vg12th said:
Alright so no to Logic Express and I'll look around for nice hdd. The magic mouse complementary? Can anyone has it with a laptop and not a desktop tell me how well it works for you?
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I use the magic mouse with my MBP and it works great. I had the mighty mouse before but frankly the scroll ball sucked on that. The touch scrolling is great and it's the primary reason why I got it.
 
either an external drive for time machine. How much do you want to spend? Perhaps getting the apple LED screen and an external keyboard/mouse would be really nice of you.
 
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