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Should I...

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blazeken996

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 29, 2009
59
0
Hi all,

I really need some second opinions and I can't really make a decision. So basically what I was wondering was should I get a new macbook?

But the things that are putting me off is that, I'm still in High School, going into this year in September.

But... I have a Macbook (Non-pro but unibody) 13 Inch from September 2008. It works fine for documents but the battery life is really terrible (2-3 hours if I'm lucky.). I have a desktop at home that I built for gaming and video editing and really only use my laptop for documents and word processing.

But I graduate this time next year, and will have a 8 month gap and will be serving in the army for 2 years as a Singaporean.

So the big question is, should I purchase a new Macbook?
 
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blazeken996 said:
Hi all,

I really need some second opinions and I can't really make a decision. So basically what I was wondering was should I get a new macbook?

But the things that are putting me off is that, I'm still in High School, going into this year in September.

But... I have a Macbook (Non-pro but unibody) 13 Inch from September 2008. It works flawlessly right now and for my uses its really great! I have a desktop at home that I built for gaming and video editing and really only use my laptop for documents and word processing.

But I graduate this time next year, and will have a 8 month gap and will be serving in the army for 2 years as a Singaporean.

So the big question is, should I purchase a new Macbook?
Click to expand...

I'd say no. You said, "It works flawlessly right now and for my uses its really great!" What's the point then? Buy the next revision in a year before you leave.
 
You've already answered the question yourself. Your in highschool, you don't need any more than you have now.
 
Yeah. If you can get by with what you have, the only reason to buy something would be if you have reason to believe that nothing after it will be good enough -- say, if you need firewire for something, buy a firewire MBP when it looks like they're going to go away, for instance.
 
Nope IMO. After serving your NS 2 years later there will be better options ;)

Either way since you already have a desktop, and in this 8 months I guess you do not need much portable computing, the macbook would be redundant.

During army I doubt you can bring laptops inside. So no matter how you look at it a new macbook would not get much use. If you are stay out probably you'd go home and use your desktop. If you are stay in then even worse, only Saturday and Sunday.
 
If it had better than that when you got it, you might consider a battery. We just put a new battery in a 2008 that was down to about 5 minutes, and it improved a lot. Otherwise, yeah, that could be a reason to upgrade.
 
therealseebs said:
If it had better than that when you got it, you might consider a battery. We just put a new battery in a 2008 that was down to about 5 minutes, and it improved a lot. Otherwise, yeah, that could be a reason to upgrade.
Click to expand...

Battery is at 94% capacity =|
 
How important is battery life to you?

I can understand in college, some courses can last up to hours and outlets aren't available everywhere, especially in big auditorium-style classes with thousands of students.

But you're in high school. Now, unless they changed the policy within the past 2 years since I've graduated, you can't use laptops in class (or in school, period).

Which means the only other place you'll be using your laptop is at home (which you have your gaming rig for) or some place outside that you most likely won't be needing 2-full hour of laptop usage. Library, maybe, but outlets are plentiful there. Same goes for places like Barnes and Noble where you might study.

All in all, I would say just wait. It works great, and by the time you need to upgrade, a better Macbook will be out.
 
Suno said:
How important is battery life to you?

I can understand in college, some courses can last up to hours and outlets aren't available everywhere, especially in big auditorium-style classes with thousands of students.

But you're in high school. Now, unless they changed the policy within the past 2 years since I've graduated, you can't use laptops in class (or in school, period).

Which means the only other place you'll be using your laptop is at home (which you have your gaming rig for) or some place outside that you most likely won't be needing 2-full hour of laptop usage. Library, maybe, but outlets are plentiful there. Same goes for places like Barnes and Noble where you might study.

All in all, I would say just wait. It works great, and by the time you need to upgrade, a better Macbook will be out.
Click to expand...

Nope I go to an international school, not a local one here in China, Beijing. I also study Computer Science with Java being the language being learned here.

We use the laptop for each and every one of our classes.
 
blazeken996 said:
The problem here is the 2 hour battery life on the current MBP that I have.
Click to expand...

Calibrate the battery and check what kind of processes you're running in the background. A battery with 94% capacity should not last only 2 hours. (unless you're doing some seriously intensive tasks, in which case a new laptop is not likely to be much better)

Suno said:
But you're in high school. Now, unless they changed the policy within the past 2 years since I've graduated, you can't use laptops in class (or in school, period).
Click to expand...

Plenty of high schools have considered students using laptops or computers when designing the syllabus- it's considered a fairly important educational tool nowadays. I don't think it was a recent change either.
 
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