Hardware So thinking about getting a Mac for college

[Mangofett]

Yes, college is still several months away, but I was doing preliminary research on laptops, long story short the 15.4" MBP was the best value/price for what I was looking for. I am actually running OSX (10.6.6) right now, on my quad-core system in VMW7, and speedwise it seems to be an accurate representation of what I saw in the store (i.e. instant)

SO a few questions:

College students, who are in addition power users, how has a MBP held up/holding up? I'll be doing engineering.
Are there any caveats or perks that I should know about? Regarding Apple or the laptop in general?
Unique software to try now?

 

[Clydefrosch]

no idea if youll be using any software for your engineering, but chances are, you'd be better of with a windows system... who knows what crazy program you need one day that wont work on a mac?


if all you're going to use it for is taking notes and surfing, well... yeah macs can do that too, between a mac and a decent laptop, they have a similar lifespan, laptops are cheaper though

 

[Mangofett]

You don't understand. There was no suitable PC equivalent. I'll end up installing Wine anyway.

Although maybe I didn't look hard enough. My price limit is $2000. The PC must be:

-from a reliable manufacturer (that means no HP)
-quad core, or high clocked dual core i7
-graphics good enough for CAD (that is, mid level gaming graphics are fine)
-portable, therefore lightweight and no bigger than 15.4"
-screen resolution of 1680x1050 or greater
-around 7 hours of battery life

If anyone wants to give a stab at finding something suitable, go ahead

 

[Slyakin]

For what you're asking for... If you don't want to build a computer, then I think a Mac is fine.

Just be sure to use BootCamp on it. It can be a life-saver. Wine sometimes just doesn't cut it.

 

[Sop]

This http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-l702x/pd?oc=d...el_id=xps-l702x or this http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-l502x/pd?oc=e...el_id=xps-l502x
Am I doing it right?

 

[Joe88]

You don't understand. There was no suitable PC equivalent. I'll end up installing Wine anyway.

Although maybe I didn't look hard enough. My price limit is $2000. The PC must be:

-from a reliable manufacturer (that means no HP)
-quad core, or high clocked dual core i7
-graphics good enough for CAD (that is, mid level gaming graphics are fine)
-portable, therefore lightweight and no bigger than 15.4"
-screen resolution of 1680x1050 or greater
-around 7 hours of battery life

If anyone wants to give a stab at finding something suitable, go ahead

what do you need that odd res for?
almost all laptops that are 15.6" and below use 1366x768 res, there are a few that carry higher but at that size screen its pointless

 

[Mangofett]

No, its certainly not pointless. My old laptop has a 1920x1200 display. It was basically a dual-monitor replacement. You can only have one thing open at a time at a tiny res like 1366x768.

As for those Dell laptops, they do look pretty good. Researching them more now.

 

[Splych]

http://www.xoticpc.com/
they make custom laptops for a good price .

i am not much of an expert for laptops but if you plan on doing heavy work on it , i doubt it'll last for 7 hours to the most.
possibly 2+ hours . there are a lot of laptops there that are under $2000 and are more powerful than them at their equivalent prices i am assuming

EDIT: MSI GX640-260US fits your criteria nicely for $1100 at it's base price .
the Sager NP8130 is also worth a look for having a 1920x1080 display under a 15.6" monitor . there are however , other specs you should look at as well .

 

[Mangofett]

That Dell XPS 15... that's the new standard for me. It's clear it was meant to be a MBP competitor, and so far its the best deal.

Splych, the MSI you linked me has poor battery life according to reviews...

Sure, they wont last 7 hours playing games, but they'll last 7 hours of surfing. Because they have good power management.

 

[Jiggah]

No, its certainly not pointless. My old laptop has a 1920x1200 display. It was basically a dual-monitor replacement. You can only have one thing open at a time at a tiny res like 1366x768.

As for those Dell laptops, they do look pretty good. Researching them more now.

That's great but why make it a requirement when the one you were looking at doesn't do it either. The max res for 15-inch Macbook Pro is 1440x900.

 

[Joe88]

No, its certainly not pointless. My old laptop has a 1920x1200 display. It was basically a dual-monitor replacement. You can only have one thing open at a time at a tiny res like 1366x768.

As for those Dell laptops, they do look pretty good. Researching them more now.

I beg to different because I have a 1366x768 on my laptop and have multiple things open on screen, aero snap makes it a lot easier/quicker

 

[murkurie]

Not sure why you say no HP, I'll still recommend it. As seeing as the mac doesn't meet your screen requirement have you though about the HP Envy 14? I use a envy 17 and as seeing the Envy is HP flagship model build quality is outstanding, and they have performance if your willing to sacrifice battery life. which you should be if you want a desktop replacement I feel.

 

[Sop]

Maybe this http://sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=ca...;selected_cat=7
or you can look around that site for a notebook you might like

 

[Joe88]

I can only imagine how bad the battery life is on that thing

 

[Splych]

I can only imagine how bad the battery life is on that thing

i tried looking for it , but couldn't find a thing . xD

 

[Joe88]

im guessing about 2 and a half hours to 3 though
anyway best to not look for gaming laptops if you care about battery life

 

[raiderscrusade]

I would probably say the Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E but it is probably way over your price range of $2,000.

I have this laptop, and it is a fantastic, top of the range laptop.

I wouldn't choose any other laptop, honestly.

But it is up to you, and you probably wont go with this laptop because of its price, this was just my 2 cents

 

[Mangofett]

Not sure why you say no HP, I'll still recommend it. As seeing as the mac doesn't meet your screen requirement have you though about the HP Envy 14? I use a envy 17 and as seeing the Envy is HP flagship model build quality is outstanding, and they have performance if your willing to sacrifice battery life. which you should be if you want a desktop replacement I feel.

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareT...bility_1109.pdf

Here is a report by a warranty company. HP had a failure rate of over 25%. That's just sad.

Anyway, I don't know what you're running, but 1366x768 is certainly not enough to have Premiere/After Effects run side by side, or an API and NetBeans run side by side. CAD does not do particularily well on a low resolution either. Vertical scrollbars appear and nothing is possible without frustration anymore. Like I said, I'm a "power user"... I need the power to run top level programs when plugged in, and battery life to take notes in class.

 

[Joe88]

Asus and Toshiba have the best reliability ratings in laptops with apple and sony trailing right behind them
HP has the worst

 

[Mangofett]

Ugh, so it turns out the Dell is $400 off only today and tomorrow. Since I'm not ordering either of those days, looks like the Macbook is still preferable.