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Should I buy a MacBook for University?

sn00pie

sn00pie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2008
593
0
United States
I will be attending University this fall and will be doing making my way into a career in Law, maybe one day a Lawyer. ;)

I figured I need a computer for school and why not make the big switch this time around. So here I am! I am wondering whether or not I really need to buy a laptop and if I do will a MacBook be the right decision?

I've been a PC guy my entire life and my only Apple product has been an iPod Nano. I've used OS X quite a few times and have always been dreaming to convert one day, and I think this is my opportunity.

One of the factors I am considering is if I go from Windows to OS X. Is that I won't really be so familiar with the OS, and I hope that does not cause problems when I need to do use my Mac at university. I know the ins and out of Windows, that's why I have thinking about this.

I've been a lurker who has always checked out the Mac photo threads, and finally I find myself posting because I need your help! :)
 
speaking as a senior in college, having a laptop is a must. Just having a handy computer to take around with you to your classes and so you can study on the go. It's like bringing your home with you wherever you go. I got a dell when i graduated high school and thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But once the "new laptop" feel wore off (which was rather quick i might add) I found myself with a pretty basic computer that got out of date very quickly. After seeing what Apple and Mac OS X can do, i know there is nothing you can't so on these machines. I will be purchasing my macbook in August right before the new semester so i can get rid of this dell POS and finally get a laptop that really makes life alot simpler.
 
I've been through one year of college without a laptop and I WILL definitely have one for this year. I'm just waiting for Apple to update the Macbook.
 
Smighty24 said:
speaking as a senior in college, having a laptop is a must. Just having a handy computer to take around with you to your classes and so you can study on the go. It's like bringing your home with you wherever you go.
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Yup. Along with my iPod and guitar, my laptop was my most essential bit of kit in college. It's basically your base station, in terms of documents, music, communication (email, skype), and internet/knowledge source. Whatever you do in college, definitely get a laptop, and not a desktop. It's hard to overstate their usefulness.
 
I definitely agree with the others. I can't say for a Law major, but back when I was an engineering student, I seldom did any assignments alone. Rather, I was always part of some group of students in the Student Union working on group projects and what-not, so a laptop is essential.

I made the switch from Windows XP/Vista to OSX Leopard this May. I've never used OSX ever before then, always been a Windows Guy. I feel that I was comfortable with OSX after like a week, so the switch shouldn't be too bad for you.

If all else fails and you need to do an assignment on your laptop and don't have time to learn OSX, you can always use bootcamp/parallels/VMware Fusion like the posters mentioned above, and boot into Windows.
 
sn00pie said:
So the laptop essentially replaces the pen and paper? I'm new to this college thing. :(
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I wouldn't go so far as to say it completely supplants the value of a good old fashioned pen and notebook, but it is extremely useful to have around for email, reference, typing papers, etc. Granted, I saw plenty of people at my university who seemed to get along just fine taking notes and doing homework almost exclusively on their laptops.

Try both. See what kind of study groove works for you.
 
Yeah laptop's for college are a very big essential for keeping track of everything and it's always with you. I'm pretty sure all colleges have wireless internet so you are always on the internet and you have everything at your finger tips. And don't forget being a college student you get the amazing apple student discount!!!! I love it how apple takes pitty on the poor college students! You will soon find out that you really are poor when you are in college but you don't need to cheap out on the laptop. But don't forget the student discount!!!! And the back to school promo that they are having with a free ipod touch or a free ipod nano!!! You can get some real savings when you do both of them!!!!
 
I would suggest get the MacBook as at university you will want portability....

First thing to do is, upgrade the ram. I suggest at least 2GB, or 4GB if you want to future proof you machine. One thing to do is not to buy the ram from apple as they make you pay too much for ram.

Next thing to do is decide if the stock hard drive will give you enough space for all your work and media. I would suggest an external hard drive, as this will allow you to store media and backup your work to the external drive.

The 13.3" screen is very nice, but I would suggest buying a nice external monitor. 22" would nice a nice size, if you are like me you will want the extra screen space when dealing with multiple word documents.

Hope I helped :).
 
i definitely suggest VMware Fusion over parallels if you are going to run windows that way IMO. Trust me, I have both of them on my dads air. Fusion destroys parallels in everything. But yeah def. go with a MacBook. I got mine in April, wow, best thing i've ever bought.
 
Chase R said:
I've been through one year of college without a laptop and I WILL definitely have one for this year. I'm just waiting for Apple to update the Macbook.
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Yeah, that's one of the things I'm considering. I have a gut feeling that when I buy my MacBook, Apple will update there lineup shortly after... in that case I think I will try to wait out until the end or near the end of August before making my purchase.

I've been using a PC with 256mb all my life, so 1gb will be enough for an entire lifetime. :D I've used the 13" MacBook before and kinda felt the screen was small, but Apple is already stretching the budget. Do I need to buy $218 with student discount of AppleCare?

I could get a 15" PC laptop with better specs for $500 less, but then I'd be dealing with Vista; which I don't want to be doing. :eek:
 
Try the refurb store instead of the education store. The discount is a bit more than the edu store, and the units are milled over with a fine tooth comb so theyre in perfect working order.

As far as applecare, do you usually purchase an extended warranty on your electronics? You MB will come with 1 year of applecare; you could always wait until the end of your first year to renew it (but you must do so before the initial year expires).
 
Jackie, I would have to disagree with you about getting a refurb vs a new macbook with the student discount. The cheapest refub macbook on the apple store is $949.99 for an older computer that had a problem so bad enough that the owner brought it back to the get a new one. With the student discount you can get a brand new macbook for $999.99. Thats only $50 more. If your going to spend the money to get a nice apple laptop you might as well spend the $50 dollars more to make sure you have a new one with no scratches or anything that was wrong with it.
 
Smighty24 said:
Jackie, I would have to disagree with you about getting a refurb vs a new macbook with the student discount. The cheapest refub macbook on the apple store is $949.99 for an older computer that had a problem so bad enough that the owner brought it back to the get a new one. With the student discount you can get a brand new macbook for $999.99. Thats only $50 more. If your going to spend the money to get a nice apple laptop you might as well spend the $50 dollars more to make sure you have a new one with no scratches or anything that was wrong with it.
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i agree with smighty that is how i go mine and i love it
 
The refurb store with apple is a great way to save money. But i just have some issues with getting a used laptop that had a problem with it. If you are a student that can get the discount because it's an amazing deal!
 
i'd definitely recommend getting a laptop for college. basically everyone made all the points i would. i have an mbp and it works great for me...and i definitely like vmware fusion over parallels. sometimes, i do boot into windows for heavy 3d modeling but other than that... having osx and xp on the same machine is awesome... can't go wrong with that...
 
sn00pie said:
Yeah, that's one of the things I'm considering. I have a gut feeling that when I buy my MacBook, Apple will update there lineup shortly after... in that case I think I will try to wait out until the end or near the end of August before making my purchase.

I've been using a PC with 256mb all my life, so 1gb will be enough for an entire lifetime. :D I've used the 13" MacBook before and kinda felt the screen was small, but Apple is already stretching the budget. Do I need to buy $218 with student discount of AppleCare?

I could get a 15" PC laptop with better specs for $500 less, but then I'd be dealing with Vista; which I don't want to be doing. :eek:
Click to expand...

But the 15 inch PC lap top battery will die out in 2-3 hours. The Macbook will run 5 hours or more. Perfect for school. And if the screen is two small then buy a 22 inch LCD or connect it to you're LCD HDTV.

Also 15'' PC Laptop is too bulky/heavy to carry around all day. I know my dad has the same PC laptop you are referring too. And it's freakin heavy. Reminds me of carrying an M16 all day, When I was in the Marines. Do you really want that experience?

Besides you get what you pay for.
 
Alx9876 said:
But the 15 inch PC lap top battery will die out in 2-3 hours. The Macbook will run 5 hours or more. Perfect for school. And if the screen is two small then buy a 22 inch LCD or connect it to you're LCD HDTV.

Also 15'' PC Laptop is too bulky/heavy to carry around all day. I know my dad has the same PC laptop you are referring too. And it's freakin heavy. Reminds me of carrying a M16 all day when I was in the Marines. Do you really want that experience?

Besides you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...
You bring up a valid point, I do have a LCD HDTV that I could use for this purpose.

I think I will spend the extra money and buy the MacBook. When would the best time to buy it be? As far as I know there is a update coming soon...
 
I've been thinking really hard about this lately, and I think I'm just going to go with the current MacBook (2.4 GHz). I don't want to deal with Rev.A problems and I really like how the MacBook is built right now (I prefer plastic over aluminum for sturdiness). I think I'll wait until July 15th and if I don't hear anything from Apple concerning the update, I'm going to make a trip to the Apple Store in Toronto! I can't wait.
 
If you are going to get a computer, either a Mac or PC, get a laptop, what if you were stuck with a roomate who makes it impossible to study? With a laptop, you won't be limited to one spot. And in means of Mac or PC, if you school doesn't list Windows as a requirement for your major or as a requirement at all, then get a Mac. Worst scenario, you use windows with BootCamp. In means of Macs, I would get a mid-ranged MacBook, it should suit you fine.
 
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