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General discussion

Mac Book or Mac Book Pro?

by vchalupa Aug 8, 2007 1:05PM PDT

I need some advice on which laptop I should go with. I've always shopped for PCs but this is my first time buying an Apple and I'm getting ready to go to college. Price isn't a big issue for me, I'm willing to spend up to $2100 without software for the laptop.

I'd like a solid configuration laptop with a large hard-drive. Other than that, I can be pretty flexible.

Since I will be carrying it around a college campus, I'm not sure which laptop to go with. They both are very similar in weight when comparing the 13 inch and the 15 inch. But the Mack Book Pro is superior in performance. The advantage of the 13 inch is it'll be more portable to carry around a school campus.

Which would you suggest for a laptop? And if I were to buy a laptop next year rather than this year, would your opinion change? I'm looking to buy one this year and another one next year for my family--both in the same price range.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you!

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Portability is about the same
by tleMega Aug 9, 2007 4:35AM PDT

I once thought that the MacBook would be better for carrying around.

I own a MacBook Pro, and it is very easy to carry with me. Performance wise, the MBP is better, unless you know how to rig up stuff on a MacBook.

Go with the MacBook Pro. The 15 inch should suffice, and you can get a college discount of like $200 for it. Software may not be much of an issue, but I don't know what you need. You can get some good upgrades for the MBP when ordering, so that's what you may want.

Seriously, try the Apple Education Store. You will get a better deal. I know I did.

Always helping,
-BeatleMegaFan

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What's your major?
by grimgraphix Aug 9, 2007 6:03AM PDT

Will you be doing lots of stuff involving video editing? Will you need to run many windows aps (using boot camp or parallel). Are you a video gamer? These are all questions you need to ask yourself.

However... If price is not an issue, go ahead and get the MB Pro. It is better to have the computing and video power when you need it, than to find you have come up short in being able to do a project. Especially when choosing a laptop, which is not at all easy to upgrade.

In addition, make sure you get the apple care... again, better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Make sure the computer is covered under your families' home owners insurance (in case of theft).

Get a good computer bag. Better yet, get a well padded sleeve that you can tuck inside a beat up, old regular back pack (makes for a less tempting target for potential thieves on campus).

Get a security leash to lock the thing to your desk in your dorm while you are away.

Always use File Vault to lock out other users.

Paint a big red X on the front and back, making it easy to identify if someone steals it. You don't really have to do that, but it would look kinda cool. Grin

Lastly... get a good 2 gig (or larger) thumb drive for class work. If your classes will involve 5 gig, 10 gig, or even larger folders for single projects (as mine did when I studied multi-media and video editing) then get yourself an external hard drive that is USB powered for portable use. Hauling around a 1 pound drive is much more convenient than hauling a 7 pound computer. Better yet, don't even plan on taking your computer to class with you for the first couple of weeks until you see how much you will need it.

By the way, make sure you back up your external drive (or thumb drive) every night. I have seen students lose a semester's worth of work by losing their drive or accidentally breaking it as they pull it out of a computer in a computer lab.

Good Luck!

Ciao! Grim Graphix

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Great info
by vchalupa Aug 9, 2007 7:39AM PDT

Wow, thanks for the great information. Cleared up quite a few questions I had about buying my mac. I'm definitely thinking of buying an external hard drive and the reason I wanted a large built in hard drive is so that i can partition with windows. Ideally I would like to use windows minimally but I don't know how that'll turn out just yet. I do some light gaming but I do do a lot of recreational photo and video editing. It's been a longtime hobby of mine Happy I might be either a bio major or a bio-med engineering major. Or something along those lines.

I still like how the mac book looks with the sleek black design. When I configure the mac book, the configuration is only slightly different from the MBP except for small details and a better graphics card on the MBP. Design wise I really like the black mac book. Would this be a foolish reason to buy a mac book over the MBP even when the configurations are similar except for the only significant difference of the graphics card?

Thanks again for your help!

--
vchalupa

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The video card is the tipping point
by grimgraphix Aug 9, 2007 10:58AM PDT

If you plan on doing games that involve intensive graphics then you may need the beefier card. 2nd Life crashes on my 3 year old computer because it can't meet the video requirements needed to render and interact with a 3-D world.

Same thing with video editing. My beat up old iBook G4 will do video editing but will not author a Hi Definition video because it hasn't got the extra power a video card would lend it.

Now all this may be different with the new Mac Books. I don't know for sure. The best thing for you to do is check out the web sites for the programs you are most likely to use. Then CAREFULLY take note of the minimum and recommended system requirements for those programs. Keep in mind that minimum is what you have to have to run the program but it may take an hour to do something that the recommended specified hardware could do in 10 minutes.

You may find the black macbook fits all your needs. Then again, you may not. If you find something that surprises you then come back and post about it, so that others can learn from your shopping experience.

Have a good one!

grim

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So many reasons to get a Mac Book Pro.
by Lindsayjoy Aug 17, 2007 11:41AM PDT

As a student on my current master's degree. I will try to give you as good of an answer as possible. I have a 17' MacBook Pro Core2Duo, iBook (like the Macbook), a new HP laptop etc. So I really think I can fill you in.

The Macbooks all have glossy screens, They all look prettier in the store, at first glance, but the glare is a disaster. If you notice, the *default* configuration for a MacBook Pro is NON-glossy, because Pro users know that glossy is a disaster with glare. PLEASE do not get a glossy screen if you get a MacBook Pro.

As far as running Parallels (which will enable you to run XP and Vista) you need as much processing power/RAM as possible. Just for this reason alone I would suggest the MacBook Pro.

Furthermore, the MacBook Pros where bery recently updated, with the 15 inch model sporting an amazing LED blacklit display which is much more beautiful then the MacBook's display. The MacBooks are due for another update soon.

The Macbook Pros take advantage of Intel's newest wireless chipset, the Santa Rosa chipset, the Macbooks do not.

Graphics cards make a huge difference. You can also have a bigger internal hard drive on a Macbook Pro. With all the movies and music you will have, bigger will be better.

Macbook Pro has a light-sensing back-lit keyboard, which is simply fantastic. Macbook does not.

On a final note, 13.3 inches is quite small, the difference to 15 inches will make a big difference, you can easily tile 2 word docs next to each other. The extra screen room will also be helpful if you are running Windows with Parallels in a separate window

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Mac Book or Mac Book Pro?
by curtusacom Aug 17, 2007 10:29AM PDT

Here's a vote for the Mac Book. I own a 12" Powerbook and love the size and weight. Easily fits in my bag and I can handle it with one hand. The Mac Book outer shell is also a little more durable than the aluminum MBP. The only real performances differences between the MB and MBP is the video card. If you're a gamer or aspiring video editor go with the MBP. But if you're a student who is going to use it to write papers, surf the web and organize your music library, go for the rugged and portable MB. Besides, the black MB is tight.

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