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janjan77

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 24, 2013
6
0
I own a iMac 27" 2011, and an Macbook Air 13" 2011... I want to purchase a DSLR camera and Photoshop Lightroom 4. I plan to either go on vacation with my 12 year old to Universal Orlando & Island of Adventure & Wet N WIld & the Magic Kingdom in Florida or I was going to give my Macbook Air 13" to my son and purchase a new MacBook Pro 13" so I can put the Photoshop Lightroom 4 on my new Macbook Pro 13".. Should I purchase the new Macbook Pro or should I take my 12 year old on vacation in Orlando? (We went on vacation and did all, and I mean all of the Theme parks in California about 2 years ago, Disney Land, Disney Land Adventure, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain for 2 days, Universal Studios, and Santa Monica Beach) Please help, Oh and even If we don't go to Orlando and I purchase the MacBook Pro, I'm still gonna take him to Wisconsin Dells this Summer...
 
If you need the MacBook Pro 13 et all for work then I'd get those and then go to the Wisconsin Dells.

"The dooks, ride the dooks."
 
I own a iMac 27" 2011, and an Macbook Air 13" 2011... I want to purchase a DSLR camera and Photoshop Lightroom 4. I plan to either go on vacation with my 12 year old to Universal Orlando & Island of Adventure & Wet N WIld & the Magic Kingdom in Florida or I was going to give my Macbook Air 13" to my son and purchase a new MacBook Pro 13" so I can put the Photoshop Lightroom 4 on my new Macbook Pro 13".. Should I purchase the new Macbook Pro or should I take my 12 year old on vacation in Orlando? (We went on vacation and did all, and I mean all of the Theme parks in California about 2 years ago, Disney Land, Disney Land Adventure, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain for 2 days, Universal Studios, and Santa Monica Beach) Please help, Oh and even If we don't go to Orlando and I purchase the MacBook Pro, I'm still gonna take him to Wisconsin Dells this Summer...

Not sure if serious. You should re-evaluate your priorities in life.
 
Why not ask your son which he would rather do? At 12, he's likely capable of weighing the decisions, and it can be a great life lesson for him. Sit down and make a list of pros & cons for the MBA and the computer. He doesn't have to decide right away.
 
I own a iMac 27" 2011, and an Macbook Air 13" 2011... I want to purchase a DSLR camera and Photoshop Lightroom 4. I plan to either go on vacation with my 12 year old to Universal Orlando & Island of Adventure & Wet N WIld & the Magic Kingdom in Florida or I was going to give my Macbook Air 13" to my son and purchase a new MacBook Pro 13" so I can put the Photoshop Lightroom 4 on my new Macbook Pro 13".. Should I purchase the new Macbook Pro or should I take my 12 year old on vacation in Orlando? (We went on vacation and did all, and I mean all of the Theme parks in California about 2 years ago, Disney Land, Disney Land Adventure, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain for 2 days, Universal Studios, and Santa Monica Beach) Please help, Oh and even If we don't go to Orlando and I purchase the MacBook Pro, I'm still gonna take him to Wisconsin Dells this Summer...

Let's see...spend time with my child, the child who will never be 12 years old again. The child who will soon be at an age when he won't want to do stuff with the old man. The child who soon will much prefer to spend time with his friends than spend a week with his dad. The child who will soon leave home for school or his own place to live.The child, along with any other children you have, is the most important person in your life (along with wife and family). The child who sees you, for the moment, as one of the most important people in his life

OR

Buy an electronic device.

A difficult choice, indeed!!

:rolleyes:
 
At first I was appalled by this question but thinking back to my youth I would have preferred the MBA over a boring trip. You need to give your son the choice. That way your conscious is clear. You already have two better than decent machines so it's not like your suffering.
 
Let's see...spend time with my child, the child who will never be 12 years old again. The child who will soon be at an age when he won't want to do stuff with the old man. The child who soon will much prefer to spend time with his friends than spend a week with his dad. The child who will soon leave home for school or his own place to live.The child, along with any other children you have, is the most important person in your life (along with wife and family). The child who sees you, for the moment, as one of the most important people in his life

OR

Buy an electronic device.

A difficult choice, indeed!!

:rolleyes:

In this day in age, some would rather have the electronic device lol
 
If it were me ... I'd skip the laptop and go on the vacation with my son, no contest (mine's only 15mo right now, but if he were 12yo, Florida without a doubt.)
 
I echo what others have said, let the kid pick. He might rather have the laptop than a trip to Orlando, especially if you've taken him to a ton of parks already. Then again, one more trip with Dad might mean way more to him than a laptop.
 
If you needed this laptop for work, and were otherwise without, then I could see it being a tough decision.

I didn't read your whole post... but from what I saw it looks like you have a functional 2011 13" MBP. And you want to upgrade and give your kid your older one. Spend time with your family, especially when they're young kids that WANT to spend time with you. Because, eventually they won't want to. And you spending fun and loving time with family makes a developmental difference.

So, I'd say take him to Disneyworld.

I'm not a parent, but I learned my mistakes growing up about not spending enough time with my brothers and such when they were looking up to me as a role model and big brother. I took them for granted, and looking back I realized it affected them. So if I had a kid, I would not want to make that mistake again.



That all being said, check with your kid. Because I have a friend that took her 10 + 13 year old kids to Disneyworld last year and they didn't want to go. She took them anyway, and they didn't have much fun: hated the heat, didn't like Disney in general, etc. My friend enjoyed herself but the kids didn't like it.

I guess some kids now-a-days think the place is lame? Dang, when I was a kid that was like THE place to go.



So I'd feel it out first... see if he likes Disneyworld or would like to "go some day." If he's even mildly interested then go. Otherwise, depending on how much he DOESN'T want to go then make a harder decision.
 
Not sure if serious. You should re-evaluate your priorities in life.

Why should I have to reevaluate my priorities? I'm taking my son on a trip regardless... He can either have a trip to wisconsin dells and get a macbook air that will be his or we can go to Orlando and he won't have a computer.... I don't see anything wrong with this...!

----------

Thanks to everyone that gave me positive feedback... to the "haters" keep your comments to yourself!
 
Why should I have to reevaluate my priorities? I'm taking my son on a trip regardless... He can either have a trip to wisconsin dells and get a macbook air that will be his or we can go to Orlando and he won't have a computer.... I don't see anything wrong with this...!

I think the angst stems from you inviting total strangers into a decision that only a parent should make.

Personally, I think you should put the money in the kid's college fund and just chill with the guy.
 
as many have said,
Talk with him about it, make sure to make clear that the MBA is not a gaming laptop;)
But he can make the decision himself, maybe get him a camera 2 and you could starting taking pictures together.
 
Well why don't you tell us what you want to hear. That way we can flood the thread with only that advice, and you can feel better about your decision.

Seriously, you came on a public message board asking for advice and then when given others opinions you're not happy about you say they're "haters". I agree with mobilehaathi just tell us what you want to hear at this point so this thread can sink into oblivion.
 
Why should I have to reevaluate my priorities? I'm taking my son on a trip regardless... He can either have a trip to wisconsin dells and get a macbook air that will be his or we can go to Orlando and he won't have a computer.... I don't see anything wrong with this...!

----------

Thanks to everyone that gave me positive feedback... to the "haters" keep your comments to yourself!

Calling people "haters" because they did not tell you what you clearly want to hear isn't the most mature thing you could be doing. I would be surprised at the lack of maturity if it were not for the fact that you are sitting on a couple computers as is and still, you're struggling to decide whether or not you should take your child on a vacation or buy a new computer. You can give him your computer and still go and still have a computer to yourself.

I am in the camp of "haters" who believes you need to reevaluate your priorities.

Let's see...spend time with my child, the child who will never be 12 years old again. The child who will soon be at an age when he won't want to do stuff with the old man. The child who soon will much prefer to spend time with his friends than spend a week with his dad. The child who will soon leave home for school or his own place to live.The child, along with any other children you have, is the most important person in your life (along with wife and family). The child who sees you, for the moment, as one of the most important people in his life

OR

Buy an electronic device.

A difficult choice, indeed!!

:rolleyes:

^ This ... all of it.

Poor kid.
 
As a kid, I definitely would have wanted a new computer over taking a trip to Orlando, especially if I got to go the Wisconsin Dells in the summer anyway.
 
Vacation. Time spent with your kids >>>>>>>>>>>> a computer that you will replace in a few years.

I put off purchasing a rMBP to go on vacation with my wife and kids so that my wife could visit her 93 year old gramma and my kids could visit Legoland. No brainer for me.
 
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