Do MacBook Pro laptop help for college?

Do what ever you need to do and where ever your budget takes you.

Buy what you can afford, Mac's are premium computers and they tend to get stolen a lot.

Perhaps a nice inexpensive Windows 7 laptop will do the trick.

Apple don't make a inexpensive computer, except perhaps the Mac Mini, everything is well over $1000 and it goes up fast.

It's why Apple only has 10% of the computing market, they are expensive and not many people can afford them.

It's the way Apple does things, like fancy cars, you have to pay a lot more to drive one. 🙂

This is absolute nonsense.

PCs are plastic junk. You get what you pay for. The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air both start at about $1000. If that is too much, you can always get an iPad. I am in graduate school right now and I do almost everything on my iPad.

Value wise, anything 13" and under or less than $2500 in the Apple laptops is a overpriced piece of junk with a fancy case that dents easily, the metal gives one static shocks, the OS only lasts a year now and if you don't upgrade and break your third party software in the process your denied security updates and your machine becomes part of a 600,000 strong Mac botnet.

On the other hand a Windows 7 laptop of decent quality, a non denting plastic case and a operating system that has free anti-virus, easily restored in case it gets compromised and gets security updates for 10+ years can be had for well under $800 and there is a lot more software to choose from than on OS X, the reason for that is Apple keeps changing their dam OS every year and developers can't realize a profit.

So any "value" with a Mac goes flying out the frigging window if one has a substancial investment in software.

The iPad is even more expensive than a Mac on a annual cost basis, it doesn't last long neither. The storage space is a joke and using one fingers messes up the screen. Apple has double the processor cores with each version. First one core, then two cores and now four cores. Good luck squeezing eight cores with all it's heat and battery drinking into the iPad case.

My MacBook Pro is easily 10 times more powerful than the latest iPad, I can run all of Windows software and Mac software, plus Linux and just about all it's software.

Apple doesn't play in the sub $1000 computing market, they are not ashamed of that fact.

If one can't afford a $2500 MacBook Pro 15" or better they just better stay home with a nice Windows 7 machine, not one of those $300 Walmart PC's with crappy screens, there are decent PC's with good screens etc. just have to look for them.

I run Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro and it looks nice, because the screen is high res. I like the Aero look and I like the fact that Windows gets updates for 10 years+ something Apple refuses to do.

I like that I can get the offical Scrabble game for Windows, but on the Mac it was discontinued and there is only a cheap Chinese knockoff like version on the MacAppStore and that's it.

So you might do everything you need on a underpowered and overpriced iPad, but the smarter option is Windws 7 if one can't afford to pay double or triple the price for a Mac with less software options.

ds store wrote:

On the other hand a Windows 7 laptop of decent quality, a non denting plastic case and a operating system that has free anti-virus, easily restored in case it gets compromised

That's the best laugh this year.

I like that I can get the offical Scrabble game for Windows, but on the Mac it was discontinued and there is only a cheap Chinese knockoff like version on the MacAppStore and that's it.

OK, I retract my earlier statement 🙂

I am fortunate to have a MacBook and a windows pc. Love my mac even though it's three years old but still has the latest operating system on it ..rarely use win 7 pc even though it does have its uses, it can do things the mac can't but the mac can do things the pc cannot. If your are not using high speed graphics then go for pc, but if you use a mac you will either love it and never use a windows machine, or you will hate it .....then you will have to repair the dent in the wall

Csound1 wrote:

That's the best laugh this year.

It is, with Windows 7 one can make System Restore disks/image, boot disk and thus restore their own machine rather easily. Just like TimeMachine, one has to make it first before problems occur.

OK, I retract my earlier statement 🙂

Problem with Scrabble is they will sue the panties off anyone who makes a clone.

They made a PPC 10.5 version and it ran under 10.6 using Rosetta, but then they didn't make a Intel version and they haven't been back, it's been several years since Intel Mac's have been out.

But they produced a Windows 7 version, but no Intel version for 10.6 or 10.7. Intel Mac's make up most of Mac's out there and Scrabble hasn't returned.

How many points is:

offical

worth?

Squirrel-nutz wrote:

If your are not using high speed graphics then go for pc

Actually the fastest video cards come out for PC's towers and Mac's are left in the dust.

http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=ogl&order=desc

Only the 15" and up Macbook Pro's have a dedicated graphics for 3D and other intense graphics, the 13" MBP and under use the same only Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics as a $400 Best Buy PC and people are paying upwards of $1600 for a 13" MacBook Pro

There is a reason why Apple keeps raking in all those profits every quarter. 😁

...but if you use a mac you will either love it and never use a windows machine,

Until Windows 7, earlier Windows versions was a piece of garbage.

As a lifelong Mac user, I've come to like Win 7. I'm more famiiar with OS X though.

or you will hate it .....then you will have to repair the dent in the wall

No, you sell the MacBook Pro to someone else, don't toss it against the wall.

Yes Lion is the most fustrating and depressing operating system Apple ever produced since OS 9, however there are plenty of people still fooled and likely to snap one up used.

Csound1 wrote:

How many points is:

official

worth?

Don't recall offhand, not much as it doesn't have a Q or a Z, haven't kept my Scrabble skills up, but at one time I had all two letter and a decent portion of three letter words memorized.

I should go try to hunt down a PPC version since I run 10.6, may be able to get it to work, they did stop updating it I believe.

Perhaps I'll just install the Win 7 version instead that likely does get updates.

ds store wrote:

Csound1 wrote:

How many points is:

offical

worth?

Don't recall offhand, not much as it doesn't have a Q or a Z, haven't kept my Scrabble skills up, but at one time I had all two letter and a decent portion of three letter words memorized.

I should go try to hunt down a PPC version since I run 10.6, may be able to get it to work, they did stop updating it I believe.

Perhaps I'll just install the Win 7 version instead that likely does get updates.

Doesn't it have to be a real word to score points? or is there a variant of Scrabble I've missed?

Csound1 wrote:

Doesn't it have to be a real word to score points? or is there a variant of Scrabble I've missed?

There is a variant of Scrabble that doesn't use real words, it's called bluffing and hoping your opponent doesn't challenge. 😁

🙂

If you are attending a large enough university (or one with many computer labs), you probably don't need a laptop. Maybe an iMac will suit you better. I have a Macbook Pro, and it's great but I have taken it somewhere with me twice all school year. I currently use it in clamshell mode with a monitor, keyboard/mouse.

I agree with ds store to an extent, laptop build quality has gone up but some are just as expensive as a Macbook.

You may also need to run Windows programs, depending on what you study.

ds store wrote:

...I like that I can get the offical Scrabble game for Windows, but on the Mac it was discontinued and there is only a cheap Chinese knockoff like version on the MacAppStore and that's it...

"cheap Chinese knockoff like version"?