Hi everyone,
My story:
Last year I started with a study, mechanical engineering, for which I needed a lot of windows programs and some of those were very GPU intensive (SolidWorks). So I bought a HP DV7 Pavilion 6190ED last year, a machine that has a 17inch screen and weights in at about 5 kg. For several reasons I decided to change the study I did.
Now I'm going to study Business Economics, and since I don't need a heavy GPU for that, I plan to buy something more portable since I do have to walk a lot around campus. So, these are the choices I considered;
MacBook Pro 15 inch ... Too expensive, although it offers upgradebility, with the upgrades I want (SSD & more Ram) its going to be just as pricey as the rMBP.
MacBook Pro Retina ... Not gonna buy this since its a first gen product and there are still some issues with it that I can't justify right now spending 2,500 euro's on it.
MacBook Pro 13 inch ... Although it offers great upgradebility (Ram, HDD/SSD) I think its EOL very soon and I think the resolution (1280x800) doesn't offer enough screen estate to comfortabely work on.
So, what's left then. The MacBook Air line, both models (11&13) are very portable and powerfull enough for my stuff (mostly excel, word/pages, web stuff). 11 inch is too small, since I already own a iPad 3 (64GB, LTE model).
...
So the laptop I plan on buying is the MacBook Air 13 inch, however about that I have several questions that I cant find the answers on.
The configuration I want is gonna be the; i5 1.8 Ghz CPU, 128 GB SSD, 8GB Ram.
Ram upgrade since it can't be upgraded later on. I think 128 GB is enough for the stuff I need and the SSD is a plainoff ripoff if you buy from Apple (300 euros overhere...)
The software I plan on running is;
- Safari/Chrome
- Office 2011 for Mac
- iLife & iWork
- VLC Player
- some kind of FTP program for FTP access to my website.
- *software that school wants me to run, possibly windows only*
All these programs arent that big in file size I believe so I think 128 GB should be enough. I don't plan on storing a lot of movies on it since I still have the HP laptop at home for that. I also have a subscription to iTunes Match so all my music that I already own will be available threw iCloud. I also plan on having Photostream set up so I don't have to store a lot of photo's on it.
One thing I have no clue about yet, is windows stuff school maybe wants me to run. (most of it will be Excel and since that has a Mac version it wont be a problem). However now I have no clue what to do with the windows only stuff. I have been reseaching it and there are 2 options left. Bootcamp or Parallels 7.
So my questions basically are:
1. Is the MBA that I plan on buying good enough (2012 model, i5 1.8 Ghz, 128 GB SSD, 8 GB Ram)?
2. What do you guys recommand for the Windows only software? Bootcamp or Parellels? I know Bootcamp has more resources available since it doesn't require OS X to be activated, but Parallels makes it easier to stay within the OS X environment.
3. Does Os X use a different file structure thing then windows (NTFS)?
Since if I need to travel and want to view some video's on airplane/train/bus, I plan on having a 256 GB external SSD (Samsung 830) in a USB3 enclosure.
4. If I need to co-work on a project together with class mates, who are using Windows Excel 2010, will they be open and edit Mac Excel 2011 files and vice versa without having compability issues?
5. Between the Windows & Mac side I think I am gonna use Dropbox. I know that and I love it so far, however, are there better solutions on this or should I stay using dropbox to sync files between the two OS'ses?
Hopefully you guys can help me with this stuff. I really am enthausitac about getting a Mac since I'm done with Windows (that Windows 8 Metro interface... so difficult to use).
If I need other advice, please reply below.
Thanks in advance,
Remy aka Flying Dutchmen
(p.s. if all the stuff turns out to be true about OS X I plan on buying a rMBP (2nd gen) when it comes out and/or a iMac and totally ditch Windows)
My story:
Last year I started with a study, mechanical engineering, for which I needed a lot of windows programs and some of those were very GPU intensive (SolidWorks). So I bought a HP DV7 Pavilion 6190ED last year, a machine that has a 17inch screen and weights in at about 5 kg. For several reasons I decided to change the study I did.
Now I'm going to study Business Economics, and since I don't need a heavy GPU for that, I plan to buy something more portable since I do have to walk a lot around campus. So, these are the choices I considered;
MacBook Pro 15 inch ... Too expensive, although it offers upgradebility, with the upgrades I want (SSD & more Ram) its going to be just as pricey as the rMBP.
MacBook Pro Retina ... Not gonna buy this since its a first gen product and there are still some issues with it that I can't justify right now spending 2,500 euro's on it.
MacBook Pro 13 inch ... Although it offers great upgradebility (Ram, HDD/SSD) I think its EOL very soon and I think the resolution (1280x800) doesn't offer enough screen estate to comfortabely work on.
So, what's left then. The MacBook Air line, both models (11&13) are very portable and powerfull enough for my stuff (mostly excel, word/pages, web stuff). 11 inch is too small, since I already own a iPad 3 (64GB, LTE model).
...
So the laptop I plan on buying is the MacBook Air 13 inch, however about that I have several questions that I cant find the answers on.
The configuration I want is gonna be the; i5 1.8 Ghz CPU, 128 GB SSD, 8GB Ram.
Ram upgrade since it can't be upgraded later on. I think 128 GB is enough for the stuff I need and the SSD is a plainoff ripoff if you buy from Apple (300 euros overhere...)
The software I plan on running is;
- Safari/Chrome
- Office 2011 for Mac
- iLife & iWork
- VLC Player
- some kind of FTP program for FTP access to my website.
- *software that school wants me to run, possibly windows only*
All these programs arent that big in file size I believe so I think 128 GB should be enough. I don't plan on storing a lot of movies on it since I still have the HP laptop at home for that. I also have a subscription to iTunes Match so all my music that I already own will be available threw iCloud. I also plan on having Photostream set up so I don't have to store a lot of photo's on it.
One thing I have no clue about yet, is windows stuff school maybe wants me to run. (most of it will be Excel and since that has a Mac version it wont be a problem). However now I have no clue what to do with the windows only stuff. I have been reseaching it and there are 2 options left. Bootcamp or Parallels 7.
So my questions basically are:
1. Is the MBA that I plan on buying good enough (2012 model, i5 1.8 Ghz, 128 GB SSD, 8 GB Ram)?
2. What do you guys recommand for the Windows only software? Bootcamp or Parellels? I know Bootcamp has more resources available since it doesn't require OS X to be activated, but Parallels makes it easier to stay within the OS X environment.
3. Does Os X use a different file structure thing then windows (NTFS)?
Since if I need to travel and want to view some video's on airplane/train/bus, I plan on having a 256 GB external SSD (Samsung 830) in a USB3 enclosure.
4. If I need to co-work on a project together with class mates, who are using Windows Excel 2010, will they be open and edit Mac Excel 2011 files and vice versa without having compability issues?
5. Between the Windows & Mac side I think I am gonna use Dropbox. I know that and I love it so far, however, are there better solutions on this or should I stay using dropbox to sync files between the two OS'ses?
Hopefully you guys can help me with this stuff. I really am enthausitac about getting a Mac since I'm done with Windows (that Windows 8 Metro interface... so difficult to use).
If I need other advice, please reply below.
Thanks in advance,
Remy aka Flying Dutchmen
(p.s. if all the stuff turns out to be true about OS X I plan on buying a rMBP (2nd gen) when it comes out and/or a iMac and totally ditch Windows)