Computer Choice for Entering College Student

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
So, with the shiny (or should I say glossy?) new MacBook out, I suppose that my choice for a computer for college should be pretty simple, a MacBook as opposed to a MBP or an iMac, right? This is my first Apple computer, so I figured asking those who obviously know much more about it would be a good idea. Thoughts, anyone? Any input is fantastic.



-PepeDLux
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 87
    I'm gonna have to say the MacBook. I have a 14" iBook G4 right now and let me tell you, the size isn't ideal. I would much rather have a smaller laptop. I wish they would have a 12" MacBook pro because number one, i want a small computer, and number 2: I absolutely hate the polycarbonate w/e it is on the iBook and MacBooks (scratches too easily). So in my opinion, MacBook Pro would be too big for my tastes, and the MacBook is the only other option suitable for college (very useful to have a laptop in college)
  • Reply 2 of 87
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    Save your money and go with the MacBook. It looks great (a lot better than the MacPlus I had when I was in college!). You can take it to class, to the library and so on.



    You will need to add a few apps, namely a word processor. Personally, I have used most out there and find Apple's Pages (a part of iWork) to have the easiest user experience. You also get Keynote to let you make presentations (I make presentations and then save to my iPod 5G to review materials).



    Another thing you will need is something to help you take notes, or at least organize your notes after you have taken them to make it easier to study for your tests. I recommend ConceptDraw MindMap. You can get a student discount.



    www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/
  • Reply 3 of 87
    ricksbrainricksbrain Posts: 517member
    I've been using a 15" titanium powerbook through grad school. It's been a fantastic workhorse. I also own a mini and an old model imac.



    This macbook is making me drool. You're going to love it. For me, not being able to run windows easily (according to my mentor's decree) forced me to buy a windows laptop against my wishes. If I had had a Macbook, I could have run my Mac as a Mac for the 98% of the time I had wanted to. And in the cases where my unbending advisor mandated otherwise, I coud have run my Mac anyway!



    How do I know this computer will be good for you? I'm psychic.
  • Reply 4 of 87
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    If you aren't a gamer or a prospective architecture or graphics arts student the Macbook is a no brainer IMHO.



    If you are someone with some perceived need for better 3D performance then you have a decision to make. What is your intended major?



    I'm a gamer but for the new college student I'd say that you can game in your 30's. Better to spend your college years partying hard, getting drunk and meeting girls (or guys whichever).



    Vinea
  • Reply 5 of 87
    Actually, isn't OS X with it's "Core" technologies assigning more and more work to the GPU (which the MacBook lacks)? It just seems really cheap of Apple to go with integrated graphics after they've made such a big deal about using the GPU more and more. What was nice about the iBooks is that they've always had a respectable GPU.



    I think I'm gonna sit out this round of Apple PC's, and wait for Merom. My PowerBook 1.5 GHz w/ Radeon 9700 128 MB is still performing flawlessly. I don't game often, but it's nice to have decent performance when I do play. Thinking I could replace my PowerBook with an inexpensive MacBook was wishful thinking. It's obvious Apple's choices will lead me to a 15" or 17" MacBook Pro dual core Merom.
  • Reply 6 of 87
    I am a full time college student and have a full time job. I currently have a Macbook Pro 15 and a 12" iBook. I just bought a Black Mac Book and sold the iBook to a friend for a good price. I take my Pro with when I go out of town and need the power, but I took the iBook to class and in the car and such.



    To be honest though, it isn't much of a difference. I have two for backup, but actually use both.
  • Reply 7 of 87
    Another thought, I think apple needed to really distinguish between the pro and non-pro.



    With processor specs being the same, the screen size would have been the only real difference. You average consumer uses their computer (mac) for the internet, email, and iLife applications. Most people (in the target market) don't use it for games, editing movies, rending graphics, etc. While gaming might not fall into the "professional" category, it doesn't fall into what apple defines are the "consumer" category. The larger screen (from what I hear) is also a constituent to big gamers, thus the MBP line.
  • Reply 8 of 87
    Wow, thanks for all of your input everyone. So let me fill you in on a few more details.



    1) I'm a moderate gamer. On and off, not really too serious, and I have the feeling I'll be up to more social things in college, honestly. Is the MacBook really taking a hit in that department?



    2) My major is going to be somewhere in the area of Biology, Chemistry, or Physics or possibly engineering, though that one is a bit of a stretch. Am I going to need extra computing power in any of these fields?



    3) What's the deal with the integrated graphics card? Excuse my lack of computer knowledge, but I don't know what the issue is, or honestly what the difference is between an intergrated and non-integrated card. Anyone care to explain?



    4) While I'm not really too well versed in multi-media editing, I'd love to get into through the iLife applications, all of them. Is the processor on the MacBook going to be able to handle the workload of iMovie or iDVD at high speeds, or is it going to go into 10-year-PC mode and slow the frick down to Mahjong speed?



    Thanks to everyone who has given input, you guys are life savers!!



    -PepeDLux
  • Reply 9 of 87
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scooterboy

    Actually, isn't OS X with it's "Core" technologies assigning more and more work to the GPU (which the MacBook lacks)? It just seems really cheap of Apple to go with integrated graphics after they've made such a big deal about using the GPU more and more. What was nice about the iBooks is that they've always had a respectable GPU.



    The GMA950 does support Core Image.
  • Reply 10 of 87
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    The processor is better than what I have been making DVDs with for some time; don't worry there. It's also a lot bettern than my 15" PB, so much so that I might actually change over (the cost is more in line). Until now, I always needed the most powerful machines, but find I can now get by with the consumer versions, which are lots cheaper.



    The graphics should be OK; the people here like to raise a ruckus over everything (that's our job), but at th eend of the day it should do you well. If you are really worried, drop by an Apple Store and ask for a good demo. They love to show things off!



    Bio-Chem-Phy, you should be OK. The MB is also not so outrageously expensive that you can't sell it during your third year and move up. You should be able to get a couple of hundred bucks for it, if you don't use it for grass skiing every afternoon.



    What kinds of games do you play? You said also your needs might change (they likely will) and someone in your dorm will probably have a fully decked out game platform that you will spend hours on anyway. I spent some long nights criss-crossing the hall back 15 years ago playing a turn-based game on an original Mac, delightfully killing my GPA.
  • Reply 11 of 87
    The Intel Integrated Graphics (GMA 950 in the MacBook) is a Graphics processor that utilizes system main memory (RAM) as opposed to a dedicated GPU that uses it's own dedicated video RAM. So far, the Intel graphics solutions have really sucked for 3D gaming, and the more recent GPU's from nVidia and ATi are required by most 3D games, such as The Sims.



    If you are even an occasional 3D gamer, you won't likely be playing them on the MacBook. You'll either want a MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4, iBook G4, or another PC or console for playing games. Of course, if you're in college I don't know how you'll find the time to play games.
  • Reply 12 of 87
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PepeDLux

    [B]Wow, thanks for all of your input everyone. So let me fill you in on a few more details.



    1) I'm a moderate gamer. On and off, not really too serious, and I have the feeling I'll be up to more social things in college, honestly. Is the MacBook really taking a hit in that department?



    Yes and no. Modern FPS will suck. Modern 3-D MMORPGs (WoW) will suck slightly less bad.



    But not every game is a 3-D hog. A moderate gamer can mean many things.



    Here's info:



    http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/game...php?lsrc=mwrss



    Quote:

    2) My major is going to be somewhere in the area of Biology, Chemistry, or Physics or possibly engineering, though that one is a bit of a stretch. Am I going to need extra computing power in any of these fields?



    Not that I'm aware of in the undergrad level. I bet Keynote will make you stand out a bit over PowerPoint.



    Quote:

    4) While I'm not really too well versed in multi-media editing, I'd love to get into through the iLife applications, all of them. Is the processor on the MacBook going to be able to handle the workload of iMovie or iDVD at high speeds, or is it going to go into 10-year-PC mode and slow the frick down to Mahjong speed?



    http://barefeats.com/mincd.html



    There are the rough performance numbers you can expect. iMovie HD render did about as well as the iMac. So not bad for iLife kinda stuff. Just no good for UT2004 and Doom 3 kinda stuff. Mahjong should blaze...



    Vinea
  • Reply 13 of 87
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scooterboy

    The Intel Integrated Graphics (GMA 950 in the MacBook) is a Graphics processor that utilizes system main memory (RAM) as opposed to a dedicated GPU that uses it's own dedicated video RAM. So far, the Intel graphics solutions have really sucked for 3D gaming, and the more recent GPU's from nVidia and ATi are required by most 3D games, such as The Sims.



    If you are even an occasional 3D gamer, you won't likely be playing them on the MacBook. You'll either want a MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4, iBook G4, or another PC or console for playing games. Of course, if you're in college I don't know how you'll find the time to play games.




    How much would jacking up the ram to 1 or 2 GB aid in this problem? And also, what difference will boot-camp make in this department?



    -PepeDLux
  • Reply 14 of 87
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PepeDLux

    How much would jacking up the ram to 1 or 2 GB aid in this problem? And also, what difference will boot-camp make in this department?



    -PepeDLux




    Bootcamp won't make much difference. Using Linux or Windows won't change the hardware that you're on. It's the fact that the GMA950 is sharing the system RAM that is slower than having it's own dedicated RAM. That, and the chip itself to some extent too I imagine.



    Edit: I did a little searching



    Quote:

    Where things changed drastically is in the area of high-end 3D games, especially as the GMA 950 core is not even a mainstream 3D gaming solution, and is designed to support the Longhorn operating system and its base 3D requirements. Since many of the game benchmark results were so low, and others games like Half-Life 2 and Halo refused to run due to video requirements, there was really no reason to include these scores in the benchmark section.



    Older games like Quake 3 (140+ fps) and UT 2003 (100+ fps) ran very well, and we even played a few rounds of each with no framerate issues. But once we moved to newer games like DOOM 3 (9 fps) and FarCry (11 fps), this brought the GMA 950 to its knees and real-world gameplay was not remotely in the playability range. This is still not a bad solution for general PC gaming, as long as you stay away from the cutting edge, fast action games.



    source: Sharky Extreme
  • Reply 15 of 87
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PepeDLux

    So, with the shiny (or should I say glossy?) new MacBook out, I suppose that my choice for a computer for college should be pretty simple, a MacBook as opposed to a MBP or an iMac, right? This is my first Apple computer, so I figured asking those who obviously know much more about it would be a good idea. Thoughts, anyone? Any input is fantastic.



    -PepeDLux




    Since it seems like you'd be willing to spend up the macbook pro price to even consder one get this:



    White 2.0 Ghz Mabook



    2.0GHz Intel Core Duo

    1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512

    100GB Serial ATA drive

    SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)

    Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English

    AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth



    So yeah get the upgrade to a gig of ram and 100gb hd and love the hell outta that machine.



    In regular college tasks it's like having a mbp with 1gb ram as long as your not doing graphics intensive stuff.



    Priced it comes to 1549 and since you would consider a 1999 macbook pro you just saved 450 which you can use to get yourself an xbox 360 and some shit or take a girl out for as many dates as it requires her to go on until she'll sleep with you.
  • Reply 16 of 87
    Even if you add 2 Gb of RAM do you think you will run into this problem?
  • Reply 17 of 87
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    The latest update to Mindmap allows you to export maps to your iPod... a really great way to review stuff anywhere.



    http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/main.php



    I personally think no-one should be without it, especially college students like yourself.



    Another great app for throwing ideas together is Curio.



    Your best review tool will possibly be your iPod... actually give me an idea for a new thread: iPod in education. Any teacher out there want to have a discussion?
  • Reply 18 of 87
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ecking



    Priced it comes to 1549 and since you would consider a 1999 macbook pro you just saved 450 which you can use to get yourself an xbox 360 and some shit or take a girl out for as many dates as it requires her to go on until she'll sleep with you.




    no way on that 1549 macbook. a refurbed macbook PRO in the refurb store will run you 1599. go refurbished!



    the only macbook worth a college student's money is the 1099 version, the rest of them are too expensive, imho.
  • Reply 19 of 87
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    1099 versus higher end...



    It depends... think of all the possibilities to create amazing projects with iMovie and iDVD? Depending on your prof and course, you could use the superdrive.



    Superdrive also allows backup to DVD.



    There are many doors that could open for an extra 200 bucks. It's 2:00am and I am beginning to crash, but there is room to continue this discussion.
  • Reply 20 of 87
    glossgloss Posts: 506member
    I would say that the MacBook would be ideal. Bump the RAM to 1-2GB and perhaps get a larger hard drive if you're a music collector. The processor and RAM are identical to the MacBook Pro, so in terms of number crunching and, basically, anything that doesn't involve heavy 3-D rendering and pixel shading, it will be very, very quick.



    The biggest thing is that the low-and-midrange MacBooks are really very good deals in terms of hardware and software for the money. With the Pros you're paying a considerable amount more for hardware that will only really make a difference to people who are going to be doing serious HD movie editing and graphics in Final Cut Pro and Motion. Photoshop, Illustrator, and the whole iLife suite should run just as or nearly as fast on the regular MacBook as on the Pro models.
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