Hi,
I was just wondering if the 13.3" Macbook air or the 13.3" Macbook Pro would be best for someone starting University. I am currently in my senior year of high school and am planning on getting the computer after Christmas. I will be going into sciences so I am unsure if the processor speed of the pro would be necessary, or on the other hand would the Air be able to handle all a university students needs? I have never done much video editing or photo shop but that is most likely because I have a very crappy Hp laptop... I am also considering doing a few computer science courses, how do macs handle that PC specific field. (I know some engineers laugh at mac owners :P)
Thanks
I considered the 11" but I would have to get it fully upgraded and the screen may be a little small for my only computer. That would also mean that I would need an external hard drive with my movies. I would really prefer the 256gb or 250gb hard drive.
.. Not really, I'm leaning towards the fully loaded air but I'm just wondering if it can be my only computer. I really like the portability of it but the scpecs are a little unsettling. Anyone with personal experience with the fully loaded 13.3?
I'm not a student, and when I was a student, I wasn't in Science. So I really can't say if you'd suffer with the Air for what it lacks, or if the Air would be all you need. I, personally, would say that either one will do fine, and it really comes down to personal preference. But, like I said, I was never a science major. I don't know what you might need. Let's go over what you get with each:
The pro will give you a backlit keyboard, which might be nice when teachers are giving slide shows and the lecture hall is dark. Easier to take notes (I have a pro and backlit keyboard hasn't made much difference to me, but I'm a touch typist. To some the lack of such a keyboard is a deal breaker). Depending on how much you want to spend, you can get a huge hard drive, more RAM and a third more battery time than the Air. Battery time counts as you may not be able to find a plug (in classrooms and lectures, not to mention dorms and coffee houses, people hog the plugs). The Pro can certainly be made more powerful than the Air, and you have the disk drive if you need it to watch anything on DVD or burn CD/DVDs. Also--and this could be very important--you can open up and change the Pro--add more RAM later on. You can't do that on the Air.
BUT, the Pro is twice as thick, and almost two pounds heavier than the 13" Air! When you're hauling around a laptop and books and such, that extra weight and thickness can matter--have you considered an iPad? Lightest of the bunch and there are cool science programs you can use on it--Astronomy, the elements, etc. 😉 iPad for taking notes, reading, mail, research, jotting down notes on experiments, etc. A desktop computer for writing up papers?
Now the Air's comparatively smaller hard drive may not be an issue. It used to be that the more hard drive the better, but we've learned to compress information and we use less space on hard drives. There's also a lot of portable drives (USB). How much space are you taking up now on what you're using? How much of that could go onto some side hard drive and not need to be constantly on your laptop? If you use relatively little hard drive, then the Air's smaller size is a non-issue. If you can afford it, you can still get a descent amount (256GB) and go for 4GB RAM (this is going to be a MUST so figure it into the price. There's no changing things later, like adding extra RAM, so get the most that you think you need and can afford), which should make it speedy and big enough for your years at University. And while 7 hours isn't 10 (like the Pro) it's pretty darn good.
The Air might end up costing more than the pro depending on what specs you want, but it will have a higher re-sale value. You also won't have a CD/DVD drive on the 13" Air, and so will need an external drive to watch movies that way.
So. Questions you need to answer: (1) Given your area of study, do you think you'll need more than 256GB of hard drive? (and if you need 256GB, can you afford that?) (2) Does light-weight matter more to you than a disk drive, back-lit keyboard, and a little extra battery time? (3) Can you afford to get all you need now, or do you want the option to add on more later (like more RAM)?
IMHO, however, the most important thing you can do to help you decide is this: Go to a store and play on both. If you fall in love with one, then you fall in love and just get it. Don't fret over what it has or lacks. If you were going into film-making, that'd be different (you'd need plenty of room and power). But I honestly think that you can study science on either just fine. So either you know you need something for the study of science that I don't, and it requires, say, a backlit keyboard (decision made), or the decision will come down to which you fall in love with.
Both are great machines, and yes, I think you could use the Air as your only computer, but you might find that you need a few "extras" like an external hard drive so things are backed up and maybe an external disk drive if you have tons of movies on DVD that you like to watch.
Thanks :)Ya I went to the store today and I definatley fell in love with the size of the air. I'm going to do a little more research (i.e. ask some people currently in science about there needs) I'm pretty sure I won't need more than the max air after reading review on this forum and around the web 😀 Thanks for the input, very helpful
Take note that every summer Apple would has special promotion for student: Buy Macbook free Ipod touch plus iWork or office with special price, something like that.
Take note also that in university, the campus would also offer special price for the freshman to purchase laptop.
My advise is dont buy anything first and wait until you enrolled to the university and purchase from there and it would save you quite a lot of money.
Thanks.. That definatley make me want to wait lol. I will see how long I can go with such a crappy PC. I see that you have a Air, do you find it can do most things a university student in sciences needs. I'm not sure if sciences requires much video processing or photoshop but I'm guessing not.
I'm a third year student and so far I think with iWork, MS office and Mac "in-house" pdf converter (go to print->pdf->save as pdf), you can do almost all the task given during your undergrad study.
What are you going to study though?
If you are going to major in physics, maths, statistic or probability, I think it is better to have either Mathlab, Mathematica or Maple.
If you are interested in chemistry or life science, you will need GaussView or something similar to study and draw molecules.
So far, I dont think Mac can support any software to draw molecules so you may still need to keep your HP laptop.
As for video processing or photoshop, you'll never need these for studying science but nevertheless you may need these to study Arts and Social Science if studying other faculty module is part of your university requirement. So I think no harm having all these 🙂
Those are some expensive programs which I have never heard of before lol. I am planning on going into General Science since I am completley undecided. Currently I am most interested in Biology and Astronomy, this could change of course. Thanks for you help 😀
For what it's worth, my 13" maxed-out MBA is faster than my mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro. The solid state drive is unbelievably fast. You don't realize it until you use it for a day and realize all the time you saved. I chop off like 70% load time with Photoshop. PS opens in a few seconds on my MBA, vs about 7-8 on my MBP. Flash storage makes up for the hit in CPU speed of my MBP.
I switched from a 15" MBPro to a "fully loaded" 13" MBAir because I want the lighter weight and easier portability. I run a couple of different statistical analysis and modeling programs under Windows XP using Fusion and I've noticed no difference in processing speed. In many ways, the MBAir is faster because of its flash drive.
The only negative of the MBAir for me is the screen is smaller and harder to read. But I'm 60 and you're not so you'll likely have no problem reading the smaller display.
As a student I'd think portability and weight would be very important and the MBPro is great for that.
Thanks for the replies, I think I'm going to wait until I'm in university to get my first mac so i can receive a discount. I will definatley be leaning towards the air when that time comes, unless the Pro update is substantial and changes my mind :P
My Air takes more than 2 minutes to boot up 😟 but it has been keeping me company since Jun 3 2008 when I started my super tough university life and "we" share a lot of sweet and bitter moment. Confused with "Should I upgrade to 3,1 or not?"
Side note to rachfell.
Go for physics! Quantum mechanics is very fascinating. You'll study Schrodinger's Cat, collapse of wavefunction when you do measurement in a system and of course one of your favorite--Astronomy and Cosmology. 😀
As university life is very tough (I really think so), so make sure that you study what you really like so that you'll enjoy along the way and keep frustration to the minimum.
