I am still at secondary school in year 10, and my dad says that if i recieve all A's and A*'s on my report that i will get £1000 to spend on what ever laptop i want for year 11 (this laptop will have to last me until end of year 13). I have used windows my whole life, my school uses windows too, and for my A levels i was looking to do mainly maths and science subjects (im not very arty). Many of my friends have macs though and i us thier macs quite a bit, so i know my why around Lepoard. I wanted to know if getting a mac would be the right choice for me as i really like the feel of macs and the its OS. And if so which mac should i get (Notebook)?
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Should i get a Mac?
- Thread starter muldul
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I say go for it. I hadn't had much experience with macs since elementary school and I made the switch last week. Got a macbook pro and I love it! 
You're [potentially] getting £1000 for a year 10 report!? Wow. I got nothing for mine... lucky sod
Anyway, my honest opinion is to get a Mac. Even if you DO need Windows for software in the next few years, you can use Bootcamp if you need to. Plus you can run most apps you would need until year 13 natively on there anyway.
I think that a good Macbook would be best for you. While a Macbook Pro would be great, if you're planning on lugging it to school everyday then it could become tiresome considering the excess in weight (Those pounds make a difference). Plus if it somehow was to get stolen or broken by some stupid Chav then it wouldn't be as MUCH of a loss.
But most importantly, you'll have more money to spend on software.
I bought my first iMac just before I started in Year 11 (it was bought before I was in year 11, although it arrived on my second day back
) and I had absolutely no money once I bought it because I spent all my money on getting the best iMac I could. I then realized that I needed software I didn't have or have money for, so I had to use my old PC. Not a nice feeling when you know there's a spanky new Mac you could be doing it on if you only saved a few quid instead of buying that bigger hard drive So anyway, the moral is, don't go for the BEST computer you can get if you don't need it (Although I kinda do need it because I edit videos but meh). Your main intentions for this Mac seem to be for school work, correct? If so, you don't need to worry about having the fastest CPU, biggest hard drive or most RAM (Although with a normal Macbook, those things (except the CPU) are fairly easy to change anyway).
My advise: Go to the Apple online store, look on the right and go into the education store. When in there, look for the icon down on the bottom right hand side where it says "Special offers" because you can find refurb Macbooks or Macbook Pros (I would save about £200 for software and accessories if I were you). If you buy one of those then you'll save some cash. They're "second hand" but Apple's Technicians fix any problems they could have had from being second hand, so it's just like new but was probably on some shelf in a shop somewhere first.
If you've got some money left over, it may be worth buying iWork or Microsoft Office with it, but I would honestly wait until you have your Mac to try both the options and make your decision from there... although considering you want to go into Maths or Science, Microsoft Office will probably be better due to Excel. Plus you'll know how to use them and can transfer your knowledge from school to your Apps at home.
Oh and if you can wait until August to buy, there's a strong chance you could get a free iPod Nano with it
That's one thing I forgot to do. I was an idiot and forgot that I could get one... missed my chance to get a free iPod Nano with it, too
Although if I remember, I don't think the education store applies to people under 16... (but Apple don't check anyway).
Ah well. The Mac is a reward in itself
yeah go for the macbook. buy the time you need it you will easily be able to get a macbook for that price. and you will love it!
Get one! I'm in year 13, doing 'maths and science' subjects.
I've had no problem - except the nagging of my friends to want to use my Mac
I haven't had any problems with connecting to my school's (Windows) network and the internet etc. I did have to install one physics program in Windows, but it's easy when you're running VMware / Parallels
I've had no problem - except the nagging of my friends to want to use my Mac
I haven't had any problems with connecting to my school's (Windows) network and the internet etc. I did have to install one physics program in Windows, but it's easy when you're running VMware / Parallels