I just bought a new macbook pro. I was thinking of getting a MBA 4gb 128gb 11 inch for high school. Would the macbook air be powerful enough or would I need a 13 inch. Or would I be fine with the pro and save my money.
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MBA for high school
- Thread starter samk8000
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I was planning on buying a MBA as well as keeping my MBP and will the size be important for high school?
I'm in highschool and I have the MBP you have. I think its the best value for the buck so thats why I like it. Plus its pretty portable as it is. There are a lot of things I like about the Pro over the Air but you may/may not agree.
Yeah the MBA will do the job fine but you should ask yourself if you really want to switch computers or spend more money. Honestly, for highschool, you don't even need much to get by. (at least for me). As long as you have access to internet, document processor and a printer ... you are good to go.
Yeah the MBA will do the job fine but you should ask yourself if you really want to switch computers or spend more money. Honestly, for highschool, you don't even need much to get by. (at least for me). As long as you have access to internet, document processor and a printer ... you are good to go.
I do like the power of the pro but the portability of the air. I think that the 5 hour battery of the air isn't enough though so I think I'll stick with the pro
if you can afford it go for the 13" Air - it's somewhat faster than the MBPro, waay lighter and it yields 7 hours battery life at the default settings.
Save your parents some money and just get an SSD for your MBP. That'll last you until college.
The MBA is luring you in, but it would be wise to resist.
The MBA is luring you in, but it would be wise to resist.
Im in high school as well and bought a baseline 13inch air and its perfect for what I use it for in my engineering class. I previously owned a 13inch pro (2009) and the air runs circles around it in terms of performance. So my advise is go for the 13inch air.
Yes most of the performance boost seen in the air is from the SSD. If you were to put an SSD in your pro then it would blow away the air. In my case though the air actually is faster in the place in need it (320M vs 9400M) for CAD design.
Economically, getting an SSD will help your MacBook Pro is most reasonable.
How do you blow away air?
Yes most of the performance boost seen in the air is from the SSD. If you were to put an SSD in your pro then it would blow away the air. In my case though the air actually is faster in the place in need it (320M vs 9400M) for CAD design.
How do you blow away air?
There is no point in getting an MBA for high school. I don't know how they run school nowawadays but my brother doesn't bring his laptop to school daily. The laptop just stays at home to do homework...super overkill to me.
Wow in the span of 45 minutes. Just think what makes sense to you..not what other people tell you to do.
Wow in the span of 45 minutes. Just think what makes sense to you..not what other people tell you to do.
Well see when your in an engineering class trying to do CAD work on a crapy 4yr old AMD athlon HP notebook thats 10lbs the MBA comes in handy!
Exactly.
Uh that's pretty close minded. I'm not gonna lie though I probably wont need a MBP everday at school but its certainly nice to have. My school spends allot of money on computers (We have 30 Mac Pro's for video editing with final cut pro as well as iMac's galore in all the photo rooms then regular dells in every class room/computer lab) something about using my own machine nice..so much easier to have all your work in one place IMO.
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CAD.
on an MBA.
The op has a a MBP. Why would you choose to do CAD on an MBA over an MBP? Would you be doing CAD on the go everywhere? At starbucks?
This whole response basically shows that it is overkill. lol.
1. You don't need it every day
2. Your school has Macpros, Imacs
3. Own machine would be "nice"
4. Just get an external harddrive instead of spending needlessly. Donate to charity or something, geez!
Thus not closed minded but RATIONAL. Sorry that got me riled up.
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I have to disagree with this. My parents took this route for me when I was in high school and I couldn't learn 3D modeling or graphics programming because of their decision. Back then computers were still $2500+ so I'd have to work for a year with my part time job without spending a dime to get another machine. Unfortunately I had things like car payments and insurance that sucked up the money from my part time job.
In my case I use it for CAD. I'm not sure if the op will use it for that just trying to make a point, and we might not use it all the time in school but WE DO CARRY IT ALL THE TIME!!! Also by CAD I mean very light solidworks 7 work. (my schools cheap! All the computers we have are 4yrs old hp workstations with single core athlons!)
Man I must be getting old.
Anyways, an MBA would be a downgrade if the OP uses it for CAD. I see several problems with bringing a laptop to high school daily, the most important being necessity and potential for theft.
And your school is not cheap. Probably cannot afford to buy computers in the first place...be thankful for what you have. Goodness!