MacBook, Sell it to Me?

ShagNastii

Alright guys don't know whether this is the right place since this the MAC forum and many may be biased.


I'm a student heading back to college and am think of picking up a laptop for the further study of my course aiding me with project etc!


Price! Worth it?
Mac! i've only used windows!
Battery time? Wi-fi access?

Ya get the story, should i get one and why not a dell,sony etc


Thanks a million

babypink

what are you doing in college? have you any basic requirements?

ShagNastii

Nothing too technical generally big parts of the course involves GIS and mapmaking

Oriel

Go for a DELL or a SONY.
Your college is 90% certain to provide you with programs that you cannot use on OS X.

Simon201

Oriel wrote:

Go for a DELL or a SONY.

Yeah sorry shag mate we really like to keep our macs to ourselves. Dont want things getting out of hand!!

eoineen

go for a Windows based laptop in this case. Your uni is unlikely to have Mac based GIS software. Chances are though that you may end up using the uni's own hardware in which case you'll be using your laptop to bebo and facebook yourself to within and inch of your life....in which case buy a MacBook if you can afford it.

ShagNastii wrote:

Nothing too technical generally big parts of the course involves GIS and mapmaking

UPDATE: Oh yea, ahem Parallels and um, Bootcamp.....I'll get my coat.

Cabaal

To be honest battery on a MacBook is better then any Windows laptop I've come acrosss, wifi/network management is also streets ahead of Windows XP and it doesn't keep coming up with stupid bloody prompts.

Personally I think a MacBook is worth the money but at the end of the day it depends what you need it for, if the software you need to run on it is Windows onlyu then that could cause issues.

Of course depending on the type of software you might be able to use it without any issues with Parallels Desktop running Windows or you could always dual boot with Bootcamp if you'd prefer.

440Hz

To the OP: I would find out from your college what facilities your IT labs will have. They may have a Mac lab in which cause there may be some multi-license software available, not likely though. Even if there is a Mac lab it probably won't make a difference to accessing software. I have attended Universities which have Mac labs and it does not equate to getting licensed copies of software like you may do for a PC. Its just the way it works with Mac software really... and I know that is a very general statement but I think you will know what I mean.

Macs are a personal choice. I would not buy anything but a Mac, however for some people, there is no doubt that a PC could be more practical.


/edit due to OT

440Hz

Cabaal wrote:

To be honest battery on a MacBook is better then any Windows laptop I've come acrosss, wifi/network management is also streets ahead of Windows XP and it doesn't keep coming up with stupid bloody prompts.

...

Of course depending on the type of software you might be able to use it without any issues with Parallels Desktop running Windows or you could always dual boot with Bootcamp if you'd prefer.

I would agree with this.

Certainly software like Parallels and now Fusion makes a dual-OS life very accessible, if this is within your price range. The cost of all the packages add up of course. You could go the less convenient free route of Bootcamp, which will be automatically included with Leopard as well btw.

K.O.Kiki

Guys & gals, keep on-topic! :eek:

440Hz

K.O.Kiki wrote:

Guys & gals, keep on-topic! :eek:

Yup, sorry! Deleted all the off topic stuff.

Sorry I won't make any more jokes. No offence intended.

whiterebel

I would have thought the MacBook would be the ideal solution. Bootcamp for the windows side of it, and the OS x for the stress free part with email, web etc. Gorgeous looking machine too. The only concern i would have is would the graphics chip have the necessary horsepower if you needed it for your applications.

Cabaal

whiterebel wrote:

The only concern i would have is would the graphics chip have the necessary horsepower if you needed it for your applications.

Agreed, it could be an issue,
Really depends what the op is using,

From my own experience, I've been able to run games like Defcon in WindowsXP under Parallels without major issues (since Parallels started supporting DirectX)

Best for the op to list the applications he/she is likely to use

Dev 17

I recently got a BlackBook and I intend on using it for college. The reason I went with Mac were because I needed something small, light and reasonably powerful with a 100GB+ hard drive. Also as mentioned before the battery life on apples computers were a big plus.

I would definitely recommend it and I'm glad it did. However I still need to iron out a few issues with OSX because I'm a long time windows user and used to many shortcuts and tips and tweaks.

Oriel

440hz, just because you're wrong, doesn't mean you delete the posts.

440Hz

Off topic posts were deleted, that is all. Please take any issues to PM. Thanks.

setanta5

Its like playground stuff. Oriel is jsut winding you up all the time because he really wants to get your attention!!

babypink

Oriel wrote:

440hz, just because you're wrong, doesn't mean you delete the posts.

she's the mod....... end of discussion

Cabaal

babypink wrote:

she's the mod....... end of discussion

Yeah that pretty much sums it up, mods word is final and not open to debate

440Hz

setanta5 wrote:

Oriel is jsut winding you up all the time

Wind me up to see sparks fly?

Hehe, sorry guys, I don't find it much fun and I'll try to stop reacting to it.

I think for the most part we all have fun and have a laugh right! Wouldn't want that to change, and like I said the other day, really appreciate all the time people give to help out here Just wanna keep it all nicely and friendly tbh.

Now back to bringing the OP over to the bright side eh

Oriel

setanta5 wrote:

Oriel is jsut winding you up all the time because he really wants to get your attention!!

I wish she'd disappear from the internet actually.

babypink

Oriel wrote:

I wish she'd disappear from the internet actually.

oh how i hope this is a joke...:eek:

Oriel

babypink wrote:

oh how i hope this is a joke...:eek:

Just for a while like...
Anyway, I'm not helping and have nothing more to contribute to this thread, so I'm gone.