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Should I buy a Macbook, or Macbook Pro for university?

D

Degradable

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
30
0
As the title says :)

Some of you may remember me from before Christmas where I was wondering whether to buy a Macbook before Christmas - looking at the updates now I'm glad I waited, so thank you :)

The question is simple...

Should I buy a Macbook, or a Macbook Pro for university?

It will be used for:

  • Surfing
  • General Use
  • Gaming
  • Web Design
  • Video Editing Possible

Now, as I have a large amount of savings available to me, price is not an option as I will be upgrading the MB or MBP to the highest specifications I can get.

The question is purely about weight and portability.

I would love it if some mac users who are in uni would post, and tell me whether they regret/are REALLY happy they for a MB/MBP or whether they wish they had saved the extra cash for a MBP?

I've been trying to decide for other a month now and I still can't.

On one hand there's the fact the MB is smaller, lighter and more portable... this is very appealing.

But on the other hand, I do love my games, and I'm quite fond of C&C 3 atm and as this mac should last me my university years, I really want it to be able to keep up with new games, is this realistic?

Is the MBP really that heavy? Or am I just worrying for no reason?

Please help :D
 
basically a MacBook Pro is the same as a MacBook except for the screen size/casing, has a dedicated graphics, backlit keyboard and has more 0.1 GHz.

for what you will be using it for a MacBook sounds fine EXCEPT for gaming. if you really want to play the new games i would recommend you get the MacBook Pro. it has an NVidia series 8 mobile GPU and 256 MB video ram is now in the sock config.

i use my MacBook Pro at uni and its fine. but i would love to have a lighter notebook (who wouldnt) but the MacBook Air doesnt appeal to me at all. i would love to have a 12" widescreen MacBook Pro.
 
I have a MacBook that I am perfectly happy with but it sounds like you want the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro offers more in terms of gaming and video/photo editing
 
Well for gaming, it might be worth waiting until July for the Montevina MBP. I predict that it will include 9600m GT graphics.


Edit: I guess, the next update will also address the design (slimmer, possibly lighter)
 
I've been wondering the same thing.

And my conclusion is to get the macbook. It's smaller and lighter, and quite powerful for the things you need. If you want to play games and do serious editing, buy a second PC for at home, which you could easily buy with the price difference between the MB and MBP (decent model)

thats my view. Thats what I'm doing.

*I didn't factor screen/peripherals into the 'buy a pc', I mean purely just a tower.
 
Cheers for the replies :)

I can't wait more, so I'm going to get a macbook now :D

I've heard people say you should macs way of reformat the macbook once you get it? so you don't have rubbish on it?

Could anyone give a brief description or give a link on easily reinstalling all the software you need after wiping it when it comes, if that's a good idea?
 
richthomas said:
for what you will be using it for a MacBook sounds fine EXCEPT for gaming. if you really want to play the new games i would recommend you get the MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If you want both portability and gaming from your Mac, it's the MBP for you. Get an external monitor for home use.

richthomas said:
i use my MacBook Pro at uni and its fine. but i would love to have a lighter notebook...
Click to expand...

Also agreed. For what I do at school, a MacBook would be enough. But the MBP was bought for more than school use, and needs to be what it is. I wish it were a little more portable, but other than that...
 
When I started grad school I went with the baseline MB and the 24" iMac thinking they would complement each other nicely. 8 months later I'm selling the iMac and the MB and consolidating to a MBP since it turned out that 80% of my time was spent on the MB in the library rather than at home, and I was starting to feel some eye strain from the smaller screen.

I recommend the MBP. It is not much bigger/heavier than the MB and for graphics work and occasional gaming the dedicated gpu will be nice.

And for purely aesthetic reasons the MBP may be a better choice from a professional standpoint (I occasionally felt silly at job interviews, major presentations, and negotiation exercise with a plastic white notebook). The MBP def. exudes an air of professionalism that you might be interested if you hope to use your MBP/MB beyond uni. in the real world.
 
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