I'm currently writing this on my 2007 iMac with its whopping 1GB RAM (surprised its still holding on) and I'm deciding if I should get a MBP for college. I'm a heavy video gamer for whats available on a mac (steam, WOW, minecraft etc.) and accept mac's limitations but cannot stand any windows operating system mainly for aesthetic and user friendly reasons. I don't really use my mac for video/music editing and I play xbox for games I cannot run. I play most of the games mentioned unexpectedly well for my iMac's limitations but want a better, upgraded system for college. Would it be worth while to buy the upcoming macbook pro (possibly use bootcamp to extend my range of video games) or just get a PC since the price difference would allow for a greater machine? I would love to have games that only windows users can have but I'm not really sure buying a PC is worth it.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Should I, a incoming college student, get a MacBook Pro for college?
- Thread starter joey911900
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you're trying to decide between a MBP and a PC, I'd chose the MBP every time. 
If you're content with your 2007 iMac, a new MBP should be more than sufficient. It will possibly cost more than a PC that would meet your needs, but not significantly so I suspect.
If you're content with your 2007 iMac, a new MBP should be more than sufficient. It will possibly cost more than a PC that would meet your needs, but not significantly so I suspect.
There are tremendous up and down-sides - The downs are a bit different than the the up's however;
Ups:
-Reliable
-Certainly going to be more than enough machine for you
-Should last you the whole college career (now I know, a Windows machine can do the same, but it all depends how you take care of things)
-Can play all of the games you want (as long as you can deal with the fan!)
Downs:
-Pricey
-Be careful with it around parties, etc.!
-Sometimes it may not be user friendly or compatible with some assignments or formats
That's about it off the top of my head for what could be useful for you and your decision; I know there are plenty of other technical comparisons, but this situation does not need to open up that can of worms - Like Eric had just said, I would choose MBP over any Windows machine just about. I'm biased, so what.
Ups:
-Reliable
-Certainly going to be more than enough machine for you
-Should last you the whole college career (now I know, a Windows machine can do the same, but it all depends how you take care of things)
-Can play all of the games you want (as long as you can deal with the fan!)
Downs:
-Pricey
-Be careful with it around parties, etc.!
-Sometimes it may not be user friendly or compatible with some assignments or formats
That's about it off the top of my head for what could be useful for you and your decision; I know there are plenty of other technical comparisons, but this situation does not need to open up that can of worms - Like Eric had just said, I would choose MBP over any Windows machine just about. I'm biased, so what.
Yes just get the upcoming 15" MBP with the dedicated graphics card,install windows via boot camp and you can play (Nearly) any game that you want
You should be fine with a mac. I guess it depends on what you do. But for the average college student you can do most things on a mac. If you really need windows you can create a small partition for parallels.
I don't understand how college plays a role in your decision. You seem to be more concerned with how well it plays games rather than how it fits into your studies.
I am a medical student and I use a MBP. I have the 13" dual core i7 with an intel 520 240GB SSD. It handles everything I need and then some. I think that the MBP is the perfect machine for a college student as it allow you to do so much. If you decide to be a MBP for college then you'll be very happy with it.
+1 you'll be really happy with either a 13" MBP or a 15" the 17" is a bit much for anyones college needs really. The 13" would be perfect for you, slim and compact and easy to carry around campus.
I am currently a college student and I have both a 13" MBP and a 15" Sony Vaio. I have to say I use the MBP for the majority of my classwork and it gets the job done. Although I do use my Vaio around for when I need Windows compatibility or any task that requires more processing power (Photoshop, After Effects, etc.). For your classwork, the MBP should be good the majority of the time (just have a backup option to use Windows in the form of either bootcamp or another computer just in case you ever run into compatibility issues).
yes but you could have easily bought an alienware
I mean come on OS X is the only reason I bought my Mac(That and im a little of an apple fanboy)If I'd want to carry a 4 kg laptop with a 1 kg power-brick with me, yes, I'd buy an Alienware...yes but you could have easily bought an alienware
But I value the battery life and weight more than the power, even if I'd play games on it...
Well then you need to look at an ultra book for the weight and battery.they are not that bad!
BTW this is just a friendly little debate I hope you do not get anngry
Well then you need to look at an ultra book for the weight and battery.they are not that bad!
BTW this is just a friendly little debate I hope you do not get anngry
But would you really want to be seen in public with your Alienware and all the lights, bells and whistles?
Seriously though, there are much better laptops than Alienware for every day use, like Dell XPS and most of the Lenovo range. The Asus Zenbook looks good as well, but a Macbook (air or pro) makes a fine computer for whatever OS. I dual boot on my machines and get the best of both worlds.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
yes but you could have easily bought an alienware
It used to be that you had to suffer with Apple's build quality for its superior OS. I haven't liked the direction of Apple's OS, but I now think their build quality is amazing. The 13" MacBook Pros at least are extremely solid machines, great keyboards, great trackpad. I haven't used Windows 7 long enough to compare, but I do know that when it comes to Macs these days, I now value the hardware over the software. I hope that changes for me again.
I like OS X mountain lion on my early 2011 MacBook pro,Yes there is a bit to much iOSafafation but I can live with it
There is a great virtual machine software for Mac, called Parallels.
It has great performance. Here are my benchmarks: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=208365
So, you would be able to run Mac OS X and Windows at the same time with a little performance tradeoff (even for games)
The only problem is that the VM eats half of your RAM - as a result, upgrade to 8GB would be mandatory.
It has great performance. Here are my benchmarks: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=208365
So, you would be able to run Mac OS X and Windows at the same time with a little performance tradeoff (even for games)
The only problem is that the VM eats half of your RAM - as a result, upgrade to 8GB would be mandatory.