Looking into a MacBook/MBP for college, questions

[BAspecialCake]

The real question is what applications CANNOT run on a Macbook that will run on a PRO?

Are any of those app's something you use heavily? If not, is it worth the price?

 

[feelthefire]

I did the whole "can I live with this for four years" thing when I left for school last year... but realistically, I can't expect a laptop to survive the kind of use college requires (college laptops get carried everywhere, used on desks and laps, have their batteries drained all the time- it's a tough life for a laptop) so I've just decided that 2 years is the maximum life I should expect to get from any laptop I buy before it a) stops working or b) becomes too outdated to run the high intensity graphics programs and large databases I work with.

this made the decision much easier for me and this laptop will be ready for replacement about this time next year- in which case I'll get to decide what will serve me well for the next two or so years.

 

[gregio]

Normally, I'd say buy your computer online, which is what I would've done. I don't know where you live, but I live not too far from Delaware, where they have no sales tax, so on top of the education discount, I went there and saved about $150 on tax. Not bad if you're spending a lot on the MBP. I think there are a few areas like this or at least areas with no-tax holidays, so maybe look into that. Otherwise, I'd say go for it online. Good luck!

 

[Foggy]

If I was carrying the thing around with me all the time I would go for the Macbook. I currently have a 17" Vaio and could imagine it would be a pain if I was using it back at Uni and carrying it everywhere. I would more likely have wanted a smaller laptop with a seperate big screen for at home.

I went for the 17" because I only use it at home or at work, in which case it gets put in the back of the car, driven to work and carried through the door so not much hassle. Same logic will be applied to my Macbook Pro purchase after WWDC.

 

[feelthefire]

Foggy is right- the smaller and lighter the laptop, the better off you'll be. I have a 14.1" right now and I'm thinking about downsizing. carrying around a 15.4" was tough, and a 17" difficult since that size doesn't fit in a lot of standard packs.

 

[@mac]

I don't think they are going to make a macbook pro any smaller for the person who talked about it earlier that was the whole point of the macbook to replace both the ibook line and the 12" powerbook and also I don't think they will be updating the macbook pro till next year because I believe it is still in the middle of its cycle and won't have any updates till at the earliest the beginning of next year have at least one year ofor the macbook pro to be out.