Macbook Air 11" for grad school

[Patrick946]

I didn't say that. I said, "Youre not seriously considering 64GB? Are you?" B/c 64 GB would be an issue if you had 100 GB worth of stuff. 64 GB won't be an issue if you have 35 GB worth of stuff. It all depends on how much stuff you have and it sounded like the 64 GB would not have met your needs.

I'm going back and forth on this. I have a 500 GB external hard drive, so overall space isn't an issue at all. The question is how much stuff I need with me when I step away from my desk. Do I need every song, movie and picture ever when I go to class or the coffee shop? I have about 10GB of space on my iPhone devoted to music, and I switch it up about once a month, so I don't actually need to have my iTunes folder on the MBA. Basically, I'm considering whether it would be worth an extra $200 to have easier access to my media when out of the house.

 

[iViking]

I carried around a 13" MBP for all of grad school and wished I'd had my 11" MBA then as it is a perfect computer for note taking, web surfing, emailing, music listening, and paper writing.

Whomever said the 13" MBA runs cooler must not know that this unit produces almost no heat whatsoever.

I have done video editing too.

I do regret that I did not upgrade to 128 GB SSD and/or 4 GB ram tho as it stutters a lot with even light HD video editing.

Bottom line though is that this computer is a dream tool for writing and I would not be surprised if tons of novels and scripts and school papers were being written on the 11" base model MBA as we speak.

Perfect for grad school--IMO. Office Suite '11 works great on it.

 

[Patrick946]

I carried around a 13" MBP for all of grad school and wished I'd had my 11" MBA then as it is a perfect computer for note taking, web surfing, emailing, music listening, and paper writing.

Whomever said the 13" MBA runs cooler must not know that this unit produces almost no heat whatsoever.

I have done video editing too.

I do regret that I did not upgrade to 128 GB SSD and/or 4 GB ram tho as it stutters a lot with even light HD video editing.

Bottom line though is that this computer is a dream tool for writing and I would not be surprised if tons of novels and scripts and school papers were being written on the 11" base model MBA as we speak.

Perfect for grad school--IMO. Office Suite '11 works great on it.

Thanks for the impressions!

The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that a refurbished base 11" will be fine. the cost to upgrade from my current setup will be relatively low, and if in a year I end up being unhappy with it, I can sell it and upgrade again. Honestly, I use my iPhone a lot more than my laptop these days, so I'm not especially worried about the limitations.

 

[Falkowski83]

Well, I'm on a 'similar' situation.

I'm not going to grad school (already finished that last year), but now I'm taking classes to study for a "Public Federal Exam" (here in Brazil positions as Federal Attorney, State Attorney, etc are not held by election/appointment, you have to pass on a Federal 'open' exam, that has basically 3-5 phases and takes about a year or so - if you pass it is a lifetime job, with a very good salary, considering Brazilian standards - around USD100k). My goal is to be a Federal Attorney.

And well, I have classes every morning, 8am to 11:45am. And the 11 MBA is the only thing I use. When I finish the class the battery still has 40% of capacity, the formfactor/lightweight of the MBA is astounding, and Office '11 works absolutely great.

The only thing i did was put the dock on the left side, so I had all vertical space used by MSWord.

I strongly recommend this machine.

BTW, I have the base version (2GB, SSD 64) and I have no problems with it... For music I have my Iphone and there are a lot of streaming sites with craploads of songs to listen whenever you want to...

 

[63dot]

Your argument is impeccable. I will switch to an affordable windows based laptop posthaste.



Ok, seriously though, I'm 28, I work full time and I'm going back to grad school. I could afford to get a 13" MBA Ultimate if I wanted to stretch my wallet, but I'm being thrifty and trying to buy only what I need. I have loans and other expenses, and I think that the base 11" MBA sounds like a decent trade off. I just want some advice regarding how it's actually perform, I don't need someone telling me to switch operating systems.

I think you will be OK with the MBA, however, if it's anything like the grad schools I went to, you may find you may have to modify your work schedule to fewer hours.

The whole thing about being a poor student will most likely be felt a few months into graduate school. Some grad subjects are not as rigorous as others so a student can still work, others require your firstborn and then some.

Also some schools who teach Subject A may be pretty easy while others who teach the same subject may be plain brutal. You will know when you get there how it will affect your finances and ability to work yet be a top student. In grad school, everybody coming in has had the experience of being the best student in class while an undergrad and when you fill a room with such people (even if it's just ten or so), the students raise the bar far beyond what the course or professor expects and this is that x-factor in grad school which is both tiring yet exciting at the same time.

You are still young, and hopefully not with a ton of children, homes, and multiple car payments. If the money is there, get the MBA ultimate while the work and money is there. That computer should be more than enough for what you are looking for. If for some reason you are deep in your studies and grad school is taking 40 hours a week (law school did, for instance and I am sure there are other subjects), and you find you need another laptop, the cheap PC laptop sounds like a great option. It's all about financial comfort zone, and while no grad student walks up hills through the snow both ways, there are plenty of grad students who have to sacrifice their lifestyle considerably and live with less money for 1 1/2 to 5 years depending on degree and subject.

That being said, you may be like many and find the next years the most rewarding of your whole life.

 

[roozybeh]

Patrick,

I am medical student who had the previous MBP (13 inch). When the new MBA came out, i decided to switch to the 13 inch air. However, after being at the store and playing with the 11 inch, i couldn't justify switching to the air without getting the 11inch.

Yes, the CPU is "slower", yes the hard-drive is "smaller" BUT there are pros that make up for the rest.

Once in graduate school (depending on your major!) you will find out that the smaller and lighter your back-pack, the more notes and books you can carry. Sitting in a coffee shop with a 11-inch air, is so much more convenient than the hefty 13-inch.

The programs that i run on regular basis are, powerpoint, word, excel, itunes, skype, safari and concept-draw mindmap.
at any given time, i have powerpoint, itunes, skype, safari and powerpoint running together and i feel that the air is just as quick as my MBP.
I do use Handbreak to convert my videos to MPEG4 which takes about an additional 10min (for a 700mb file) BUT i do that at night when i go to bed.

Now i know that the MBP are a whole lot faster than the old 15" MBP, but i do not see any point in having a fast mac for what i do on regular basis. I assume if you will be doing ALOT of computing and programing, then the 13" air or even the pro will be a better match, but for simple every night and day graduate school work air is def ready to take on the challenge.

YOU WILL get used to the smaller screen and trust me, once you pick up your friend's 13" pro, you'd think that you have picked up a 17" inch pro!!!

As for the space for movies and such, i have a 500mb external drive which i do not even carry with me. its at home. if i'm going to watch a movie i just plug it in, copy the file and delete it later.
I have about 40gig of music and the rest are books.

I did however, pay the extra and bought the 11inch ultimate! keep in mind that you being a student now saves you money on your mac purchases.

 

[Mac767]

Anyone owning a MBA 11´ can tell me the quality of 720 and 1080p video? Does it run smooth?

 

[63dot]

Patrick,

I am medical student who had the previous MBP (13 inch). When the new MBA came out, i decided to switch to the 13 inch air. However, after being at the store and playing with the 11 inch, i couldn't justify switching to the air without getting the 11inch.

Yes, the CPU is "slower", yes the hard-drive is "smaller" BUT there are pros that make up for the rest.

Once in graduate school (depending on your major!) you will find out that the smaller and lighter your back-pack, the more notes and books you can carry. Sitting in a coffee shop with a 11-inch air, is so much more convenient than the hefty 13-inch.

The programs that i run on regular basis are, powerpoint, word, excel, itunes, skype, safari and concept-draw mindmap.
at any given time, i have powerpoint, itunes, skype, safari and powerpoint running together and i feel that the air is just as quick as my MBP.
I do use Handbreak to convert my videos to MPEG4 which takes about an additional 10min (for a 700mb file) BUT i do that at night when i go to bed.

Now i know that the MBP are a whole lot faster than the old 15" MBP, but i do not see any point in having a fast mac for what i do on regular basis. I assume if you will be doing ALOT of computing and programing, then the 13" air or even the pro will be a better match, but for simple every night and day graduate school work air is def ready to take on the challenge.

YOU WILL get used to the smaller screen and trust me, once you pick up your friend's 13" pro, you'd think that you have picked up a 17" inch pro!!!

As for the space for movies and such, i have a 500mb external drive which i do not even carry with me. its at home. if i'm going to watch a movie i just plug it in, copy the file and delete it later.
I have about 40gig of music and the rest are books.

I did however, pay the extra and bought the 11inch ultimate! keep in mind that you being a student now saves you money on your mac purchases.

I don't know if the OP's MLS program will have as many textbooks as med school.

I assume, if its rote learning, you take in tons of info, from my understanding, not unlike law school, for instance, so therefore the texts.

Other grad programs are research based so it's not what you get from books, but other information (much of which you don't have to carry).

I have done both the textbook passive learning (with tons of texts) and the more active research oriented learning (without lots of texts), and it all depends on how much he has to carry around.

If it's not as textbook heavy as your studies, then he can get 13" MBA or MBP (but I am making the assumption that medical school has a lot of rote learning and tons of memorization and uses a lot of textbooks you have to carry around).

 

[MXSkier62]

I too am a medical student, and I agree with everything roozybeh said. 100%. And he/she is right, once you have the 11 inch, the 13 inch anything will feel huge. The 11 has more than enough space, and if your eyesight is good/don't struggle to read, you'll be more than fine. And this thing screams.

Oh, and don't believe what they say about the battery life difference. I routinely, with wifi on, caffeine keeping the screen on at 1/2 brightness unplugged with just powerpoint or safari open, will get 7 hours easy.

And the thing is so light and small that it feels like nothing in your backpack. But, as roosybeh said, go for the upgraded 11. It's not so much the extra processing power, but the RAM that's worth it. Because, even though lion will run fine on it, more ram is always good. And be sure to download click-to-flash or something to keep flash material at a minimum.

Otherwise, happy hunting!

 

[roozybeh]

True...

but given the new MBP specs, "I" couldn't justify paying the extra money for the 13" MBA with MUCH lower specs. The new MBP specs at the listed price def beats the weight of the 13" air.

To me, 11" MBA (even at the upgraded cost) is more justified given you do not have to use any high performance applications for the school work on regular basis.

I use the Radiology program we have which is graphic intensive and it works faster than ALL windows based laptops my friends have. Also the resolution on the 11" MBA is just amazing!!!

Oh, as for the books, i just use the pdf and CHM books. they are very easy to read on the 11" screen and i wear reading glasses!! the BRS books and the first aid are the back crackers! lol


Patrick!
I can guarantee you the lower end 11" air is a capable machine! BUT pay the extra for the upgrade! extra space, extra ram and faster CPU. and use student discounts!!! yes the price will fall into the same limit, but you can be sure that the next OS upgrades and programs will perform as you expected say a year or so from now! 200 is 15$/month! in 1 year! i'm sure you can save that much everymonth for 1 year ;-)

 

[Patrick946]

The 11 has more than enough space, and if your eyesight is good/don't struggle to read, you'll be more than fine. And this thing screams.

My eyesight is fine, and I have been spending a lot of time surfing on my iPhone 4 rather than boot up my old macbook, so the loss of an inch of screen shouldn't be an issue.

And the thing is so light and small that it feels like nothing in your backpack.

That's the main advantage. I'm going to be working and taking classes at two campuses, while hauling around books and a laptop, so any way to cut out weight will help.

Patrick!
I can guarantee you the lower end 11" air is a capable machine! BUT pay the extra for the upgrade! extra space, extra ram and faster CPU. and use student discounts!!! yes the price will fall into the same limit, but you can be sure that the next OS upgrades and programs will perform as you expected say a year or so from now! 200 is 15$/month! in 1 year! i'm sure you can save that much every month for 1 year ;-)

The refurbished discount is actually better than the student discount (and you can;t combine them, I checked). I'm still considering upgrading to 4GB of ram, but I'm leaning towards the base model.

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[selvenz]

I just picked up an MA 11 base model here in KL , Malaysia. I actually went into the store to get a 13' air but when i tried out the 11 i was impressed by the sheer size, so i got it, been using it for a couple of days now and loving it, its zippy and most important for me office 11 works flawlessly, anyways bottom line no regretts form this purchase to .

 

[idunn]

If I had to carry it

Were I lugging a notebook around campus weight and size would be definite priorities.

Given the anticipated tasks the base 11" MBA should prove perfectly adequate, and ideal in size. As you mentioned, however, there is nothing like feeling these in person, and on visiting an Apple store determining if the size of the 11" model will just seem right and big enough. Particularly if serving as one's sole computer. But if it seems fine, then compensation in being able to hook it to a larger monitor at home, and enjoying the small size when in transit.

My vantage is from a Black MacBook, so others will best inform you of how a MBA performs in real life. Although in considering what might come after this laptop I've looked at the Airs versus the new MacBook Pros. For what you propose the Air should prove a better option, with enough power in a lighter form. Since all flash storage, responsive, and an instant-on feature that even a new MBP with an all the more expensive SSD added does not have. As much as I love this present MacBook, and as portable, something lighter and smaller would be all the better if traveling.

This MacBook has a ram capacity of 4GB, which in error I let remain at the factory standard of 1GB far too long. In recently having upped that to 2.5GB (when it should really be 4GB), I've noticed a decided difference in performance.

There is a moral in this coming, but first I'll also mention the then sizable, in my estimation, HDD of 160GB which proved perfectly fine until I began adding iTunes movies to it. Something quickly had to give, and in necessity I discovered that 2TB of external storage does not cost that much, and that movies stored elsewhere will stream perfectly well through this MacBook via wi-fi. HD movies as well, although my feeling they would prefer a hard-wired connection.

With this in mind, my suggestion that while the base 11" MPA should prove fine that, as others have suggested as well, you would not be amiss in upgrading to the maximum of 4GB ram and 128GB of storage if financially feasible. The additional ram would put you from being okay to having little worry about, and likely noticeable in some applications. From tales I've heard those with but 64GB of storage find themselves through necessity of being careful and inventive in how they arrange their files. That was probably Mr. Jobs idea in the first place, that one would of course not keep all their files in one place, and with but 64GB one will live by that. Even with 128GB that still likely the case, but at least a little breathing room. It might be a small thing, but the weak spot in the MBA for now remains the C2D CPU; upgrading from 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz would be all the better.

Personally, I have and would like to do some video editing. In laptops it seems the new higher-end 15" MBP, if not the 17", would be the best in that. But aside from the additional cost, particularly if adding an SSD to bring it up to par, who wants to lug that thing around much? If not feature length films, it seems either of the MBAs would do the random film project, if more slowly. I've always felt that Apple should recognize the 13" as a good overall size that deserves as much power as it cousins. If a decided increase in CPU speeds now, and the nice addition of Thunderbolt, in some respects the 13" MBPs fall short of the MBAs: in screen resolution, in weight, in all flash storage, and in graphics. If comparable, the NVIDIA 320M is still preferable to the integrated Intel HD 3000, particularly in gaming.

Thus the case could be made that in some respects the MBA the preferred choice in 13" and smaller laptops. Not as powerful in some respects, better in others, and a whole lot lighter. If a constant companion when out and about, that in itself could be the deciding factor. Then, too, are they not increasingly publishing electronic textbooks?


BTW, no mention of the iPad due its lack of an actual keyboard, nor the file structure of OSX. Some points not touched upon are mentioned in this 'Macworld' review of the 13" and 11" MacBook Airs:
http://www.macworld.com/article/155186/2010/10/macbook_air.html

 

[rekhyt]

I carried around a 13" MBP for all of grad school and wished I'd had my 11" MBA then as it is a perfect computer for note taking, web surfing, emailing, music listening, and paper writing.

Whomever said the 13" MBA runs cooler must not know that this unit produces almost no heat whatsoever.

I have done video editing too.

I do regret that I did not upgrade to 128 GB SSD and/or 4 GB ram tho as it stutters a lot with even light HD video editing.

Bottom line though is that this computer is a dream tool for writing and I would not be surprised if tons of novels and scripts and school papers were being written on the 11" base model MBA as we speak.

Perfect for grad school--IMO. Office Suite '11 works great on it.

Is the ultra high resolution a bit unsettling/too small to read on such a small screen?

The whole thing about being a poor student will most likely be felt a few months into graduate school. Some grad subjects are not as rigorous as others so a student can still work, others require your firstborn and then some.

Also some schools who teach Subject A may be pretty easy while others who teach the same subject may be plain brutal. You will know when you get there how it will affect your finances and ability to work yet be a top student. In grad school, everybody coming in has had the experience of being the best student in class while an undergrad and when you fill a room with such people (even if it's just ten or so), the students raise the bar far beyond what the course or professor expects and this is that x-factor in grad school which is both tiring yet exciting at the same time.

You are still young, and hopefully not with a ton of children, homes, and multiple car payments. If the money is there, get the MBA ultimate while the work and money is there. That computer should be more than enough for what you are looking for. If for some reason you are deep in your studies and grad school is taking 40 hours a week (law school did, for instance and I am sure there are other subjects), and you find you need another laptop, the cheap PC laptop sounds like a great option. It's all about financial comfort zone, and while no grad student walks up hills through the snow both ways, there are plenty of grad students who have to sacrifice their lifestyle considerably and live with less money for 1 1/2 to 5 years depending on degree and subject.

That being said, you may be like many and find the next years the most rewarding of your whole life.

If you don't mind, could you please elaborate on the 'difficult subjects affecting your finance' in grad school? I'm not sure how the two relate to each other. Thanks!

...

Lovely analysis. Thanks for the post. (Clipped the post because I don't want the other MR users to scroll too much just for my comment.)

 

[mutsaers-vr.nl]

NO, see thread : MBA 11.6"/13.3" and full HD files does not work

Anyone owning a MBA 11´ can tell me the quality of 720 and 1080p video? Does it run smooth?

 

[Patrick946]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

NO, see thread : MBA 11.6"/13.3" and full HD files does not work

Anyone owning a MBA 11´ can tell me the quality of 720 and 1080p video? Does it run smooth?

I'm not concerned with HD video, I mostly need it for schoolwork. I will probably stream videos through Netflix, will they run well?

The refurbished discount is actually better than the student discount (and you can;t combine them, I checked). I'm still considering upgrading to 4GB of ram, but I'm leaning towards the base model.

Someone just posted another thread about the back to school deal, which I had forgotten about. It usually starts around late May/early June, which would be about a month after classes start. However, I would be able to get $100 off plus a free iPod Touch, which I could sell for another $200 or so. That's a lot better than even the refurbished deal. I'm definitely going to wait, and since it's a lot cheaper I'm probably going to go ahead and get the upgraded memory.

Again, thanks to everyone who continues to post in this thread! I love hearing about other people's experiences with the MBA.

 

[63dot]

If you don't mind, could you please elaborate on the 'difficult subjects affecting your finance' in grad school? I'm not sure how the two relate to each other. Thanks!

He, he. OK.

I know I sound really negative towards the OP and others entering graduate school, but I am just trying to give a friendly warning. Grad school is time consuming, and to the point that it can make one cut back on work, and thus income.

When I work, I pretty much just wake up, get ready, do work, come home, watch TV (not good, I know), wind down, and go to bed. I like to sleep 9 hours a night because I admit I am pretty lazy,or maybe that's just how I am built.

So when I tossed in graduate school, which has now become a hobby these last two decades on some years, it takes a lot out of me even though I enjoy it. I am not a fast learner. I have no problem sacrificing the TV because that just goes out the window for me in years I am in grad school. But I won't sacrifice my sleep. And then, with an average dedication from a slow learner like me of 25 to 35 hours a week for grad school, just cutting out TV is not enough. I may skip a meal so I gain some time there. But what always ends up happening is that I end up cutting back on work hours and I make less money and that's what affects my finances. This is also what I have seen with others, regardless of subject studied in grad school.

When I did graduate business school, it was rigorous (only in that I wasn't that much into math then), but I could still handle working part time and I got pretty decent grades. I did OK with an undergraduate business degree in hand so I thought graduate business school was just a continuation, right? Wrong. You have to be a quant jock on some level in order to survive there. I wasn't a 4.0 like some students who did nothing but b-school, but I had a balance and got to work some so I wouldn't be completely broke but gave enough time to school to get decent grades. I went for this without loans, btw, so I put myself in the situation of having to work some because I am not rich.

Now law school, while not hitting most people's weak areas of math or ridiculously long papers (as found in business school's Harvard Case Study method), took up far more time. It was not hard, academically, but there was tons of reading and an amazing amount of memorization. While graduate business school is not something you can teach a teenager because it cues a lot on higher level classes such as macroeconomics, managerial accounting, graduate level research, and in many cases real world managerial experience, law school subject matter can be taught to anybody who is willing to read a lot. But you have to read and memorize what seems to be as long and as uninteresting as your phone book.

Few people I knew were able to work full time, and some could not even work part time in grad school, especially law school. The ones who did best in law school only did law school, not because they were smart per se, but law school was more of an animal that required that you put in the time in order to get good grades. So I would say, while not difficult as advanced accounting, economics, or quantitative analysis and other torturous business school material, law was difficult in that it took up a lot of time.

And finally, I did a grad program in open university, a part of University of California, designed to work around working engineers/technicians in the field who wanted to slowly get a master's then PhD while working in the field of computer networking. The program was supposed to be manageable but I found it far more rigorous time wise than law school, or intellectually more challenging than business school, and I said adios to that one.

That being said, there may be people who are expert time managers, and who can get by on very little sleep, and will blow though graduate school and work at the same time. But after seeing many fellow students do only grad school and use loans, it's not easy to work and do graduate school at the same time.

I say take out adequate loans, because you will have a better job with higher pay in the long run with a master's vs. a bachelor's and the difference in pay, after taxes, will make paying back that extra two years of school, manageable in at least ten years of modest student loan payments. Add another 20 years in the working field with that graduate education under your belt, and not only will you pay back your loans, you will likely make a few hundred thousand more in your lifetime. So why the great need to work while in grad school for a couple of years when there are loans available?

 

[iRun26.2]

NO, see thread : MBA 11.6"/13.3" and full HD files does not work

From what I have read in other posts, if you install the 'Plex Media Server', full HD files should work just fine even on the MBA 11.6".

 

[djfirth]

The MBA 11 is a fine machine for grad school -- I know because I am in an MDiv program (think lots of writing/research with a bit of AV work thrown in). I have just moved to one as my primary machine, selling a sweet MBP 13 in the process. I recommend an external drive for iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

I've had a half dozen Powerbook/iBook/Macbook machines of various types over the past 11 years and I am quite impressed with the MBA 11. Mine is the top end 1.6/4/128 model. It has no problems with anything I've thrown at it thus far, and is the best road warrior machine since my dearly departed Powerbook 12.

Some folks just aren't comfortable with small. I am. Anyone else who is may find, like I did, that the MBA 11 is fabulous.

 

[janitorC7]

out of curiosity, where are you doing graduate school?

 

[BIRDinho]

Well, I'm on a 'similar' situation.

I'm not going to grad school (already finished that last year), but now I'm taking classes to study for a "Public Federal Exam" (here in Brazil positions as Federal Attorney, State Attorney, etc are not held by election/appointment, you have to pass on a Federal 'open' exam, that has basically 3-5 phases and takes about a year or so - if you pass it is a lifetime job, with a very good salary, considering Brazilian standards - around USD100k). My goal is to be a Federal Attorney.

And well, I have classes every morning, 8am to 11:45am. And the 11 MBA is the only thing I use. When I finish the class the battery still has 40% of capacity, the formfactor/lightweight of the MBA is astounding, and Office '11 works absolutely great.

The only thing i did was put the dock on the left side, so I had all vertical space used by MSWord.

I strongly recommend this machine.

BTW, I have the base version (2GB, SSD 64) and I have no problems with it... For music I have my Iphone and there are a lot of streaming sites with craploads of songs to listen whenever you want to...

Are you Brazilian? Or just living in Brazil? I hate to go off topic, but I ask because I have invested a lot of time traveling there and becoming fluent in Portuguese. Which city are you located in? Maybe we can discuss further via PM. Obrigado!

 

[Patrick946]

out of curiosity, where are you doing graduate school?

Dominican University in River Forest IL. I start in a week!

I was leaning towards getting the 11" with the education discount and selling the ipod, which would bring the price down to about $700 with a printer, but now reports are coming in that the 11" won't be part of the sale. So I'm trying to decide between the following two:

refurbished 11" MBA - $850

back to school 13" MBA - $1,000 ($1,200, with a $200 ipod that I'll sell)

It seems like the extra $150 would be worth it for the bigger screen, double the storage, longer battery, faster processor. Plus, I was looking over the student loan rules, and it says that I can take money out to buy a computer for class. I haven't made up my mind though. I know, months later I'm still going back and forth on this.

 

[FuNGi]

Dominican University in River Forest IL. I start in a week!

I was leaning towards getting the 11" with the education discount and selling the ipod, which would bring the price down to about $700 with a printer, but now reports are coming in that the 11" won't be part of the sale. So I'm trying to decide between the following two:

refurbished 11" MBA - $850

back to school 13" MBA - $1,000 ($1,200, with a $200 ipod that I'll sell)

It seems like the extra $150 would be worth it for the bigger screen, double the storage, longer battery, faster processor. Plus, I was looking over the student loan rules, and it says that I can take money out to buy a computer for class. I haven't made up my mind though. I know, months later I'm still going back and forth on this.

Dude. Make the decision already! Haha. Seriously though, you've now had time to work on both the 11 and 13" so should have an idea if you are willing to pay more for less with the 11". I again suggest the 13" if it is your sole machine. You get more screen, battery, and power. Also, 4 GB is nice for when you are pumping out the productivity or reviewing your holiday pics.

Now, on another note, 1 external harddrive to store all your media is just a bad idea. Drives fail. Get two 500GB externals, each with a TimeMachine partition and media-only partition. Keep one at work and one at home. Trust me dude.