The Student Room Group

Should i get a MacBook Pro for uni?

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I have been using mine for almost two years now. Before that I have run through two HP and one Acer laptop. And I must say that this is the best I have had!

It boots faster, it doesn't crash, the system never dozes off into the "hung" mode.
The backlit keyboard is very useful on long haul flights and on the road.
It is easier to navigate across screens and programmes.
In general, aesthetics of it are pleasing!
The machine is built to last: the battery runs longer than anything I had in the past, it doesn't get hot, and it makes no noise.
The spotlight function isn't too bright, though!
And yes, its more expensive. But I feel this is better than having to buy a cheaper one every two years. So, if money isn't a constraining criteria, then do! But I agree with what someone said: we don't use it fully! I use it to read, email, surf, skype, write, excel, photos and occasionally drawing purpose. But you can get this on most laptops these days!
Reply 21
Original post by charlie9872
1.) An extra £400 isn't worth 4 hours extra battery life, when a device called a 'plug' is nearly always accessible.

2.) Fair enough, the screens on Mac's are unmatched, but the lenovo I Was on about has an LED backlit screen that does the job perfectly. Again, not worth the extra money for the screen of a Mac.

3.) The Mac's as standard have intel 3000 graphics which is horrible and can't run new releases. The 6650m in the Lenovo is capable of running BF3 at medium settings. You have to upgrade to get the 6750m or 6770m and are only available in the higher end 15inch or 17inch versions.

4.) Who gives a **** about the 'dimensions' of a laptop. I buy computers in relation to what would give me the best bang for my buck, I really couldn't care about the size of it if I can get something considerably better for less.

I was doing all my comparisons to the 13inch as well, I was saying that the 13inch was still overpriced in relation to anything similar in the market.

I'm not saying they're bad. They're very good, and they have fantastic build quality - but they are simply too much money and very overrated I'm only voicing my opinion, trying to save people some money.


Typing this on my phone do I do apologise if it isn't as clear as I would like it to be

1) like I said, I do agree apples 15" laptops are overpriced, just not to the extent you stated. The 13" MacBook pros which are by far apples most commercially successful product is evenly priced compared to its windows counterparts when you factor in other things. And 4 hours battery is pretty significant for a student. Students buy laptops on portability and that includes having a good battery. Are you telling me no one gives a damn about a laptop which can be used for a full day t university without having to worry about finding a plug socket to charge up?

2) Correction, the macs 13" have intel 3000. And I don't many 13" laptops which have dedicated GPUs. The 15" all come with a dGPU and a reasonable at that given apples history and the dimensions of the pro.

3) who gives a ****? Err, the average student who needs to lug it back and forth around campus? A huge bulky 15" laptop isn't going to practical at all. The 'best bang for buck' argument is weak. If you want best value build a desktop for which you will get fantastic specs for as little as £600. Portability with laptop is a massive factor for people buying laptops, and apple are key players in providing power in a beautifully designed case and thinness.


I don' strengthen these points later when I get home
Original post by zara55
Ignore all the nay-sayers - MacBook or MacBook Air are both brilliant and streets ahead of the competition. Jealousy motivates a lot of the people who dislike Mac on TSR.


I don't really think it's jealousy. I would probably 'nay-say' unless you have lots of spare money or you actually need a Mac (iOS development, music editing etc.) but it's not because I'm jealous - I'm instead opting for a desktop which all in will probably cost me over £900. Nor do I recommend this, however :tongue: Though I agree with the point Mad Vlad commonly makes of 'why get a laptop when it'll probably never leave your room'?
Original post by PVisitors
Come back to this thread in one months time after WWDC when Apple will almost definitely have a retina display Macbook Pro out. Then try trot out the line you can get an identical laptop for half the price.


A Retina Display Macbook Pro? By Steve Jobs' own definition of 'Retina' the screen must have a dpi of at least 300 (and that's if you're looking at it from 12 inches away - if you're further it needs to be greater). For the 13" MBP to have a 'retina' display, its resolution would have to be in the region of 2100 by 3400 or higher. If that happens, I'll gladly eat my shoe - or at least the lace.
Reply 24
Original post by hassi94
A Retina Display Macbook Pro? By Steve Jobs' own definition of 'Retina' the screen must have a dpi of at least 300 (and that's if you're looking at it from 12 inches away - if you're further it needs to be greater). For the 13" MBP to have a 'retina' display, its resolution would have to be in the region of 2100 by 3400 or higher. If that happens, I'll gladly eat my shoe - or at least the lace.


Retina display is by this definition.
http://i.tuaw.com/2012/03/01/retina-display-macs-ipads-and-hidpi-doing-the-math/ So a 13.3 MacBook pro would have a "retina display" with 2560-by-1600

Apple hve been updating their osx icons etc and backgrounds and indeed the hidpi mode each upgrade. Started off as hidden options, not as of 10.7.4 it is now clearly visible. Why are apple doing this if they are not preparing for a retina based mac(s). Then note that apple's release notes mention nothing of this hidpi which has been found. This is the exact same as mountain lion, all features are being announced, again except for hidpi which is more prevalent in the mountain lion builds.

Factor in that Tim Cook on the iPad retina announcement mentioned "expect more innovations like this in 2012" after he announced the retina display and the fact Intel have stated ivybridge supports retina displays and Sharp are producing the izgo retina displays which are 90% reduction in power. I think its like you could be eating shoe laces when the next MacBook line is refreshed, possibly by WWDC.

Oh and microsoft have announced windows 8 will support retina resolution displays.

Edit; bit more clarification over the 10.7.4 upgrade last night. http://mobile.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/?newsid=3357157&pagtype=allchandate
(edited 11 years ago)
The redesigned MacBook Pro (which allegedly looks like a chunkier MacBook Air) is rumoured to be launching sometime in the next couple of months, so if anyone is planning on buying one I would wait for a little while...
still using my T60 from 2007. works flawlessly.
Reply 27
Original post by ?!master?!mini?!
still using my T60 from 2007. works flawlessly.


Thinkpads are great. They could probably survive a bomb blast :biggrin:
Reply 28
Original post by hassi94
A Retina Display Macbook Pro? By Steve Jobs' own definition of 'Retina' the screen must have a dpi of at least 300 (and that's if you're looking at it from 12 inches away - if you're further it needs to be greater). For the 13" MBP to have a 'retina' display, its resolution would have to be in the region of 2100 by 3400 or higher. If that happens, I'll gladly eat my shoe - or at least the lace.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely the further away you are, the less the dpi needs to be?
Reply 29
Original post by Andy Ftw
Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely the further away you are, the less the dpi needs to be?


You're right. And saying that the dpi needs to be 300 to be retina is false too. The link I provided shows what constitutes a retina display. It isn't just a marketing term. Retina just has to be the visible eye cannot see pixels from the distance people use the device. So in this case you use a 13" device further away than a 3.5" phone do the ppi can be lower and still fall within the description of retina
Original post by Mad Vlad
Why do you need a laptop? What are you going to be using it for?


porn you know what nevermind.
Reply 31
If you get a macbook (I did) they'll be great til something goes wrong. Battery replacement was £101. Ouch. If it was the logic board it would have been £300! I think if you get a PC, don't download porn/bad stuff and treat it properly then it'll last you a long time. And if something DOES go wrong, it'll likely be cheap and easy to replace. :smile:
A windows laptop will last just as long as a mac. Granted you aren't a complete idiot when you use it.

The only way you can justify spending £1000+ is if you're doing any editing/music or whatever, but even then it's debatable as (for music atleast) logic isn't even industry standard.

Be smart. Buy a decent windows laptop for £500, and save that extra £500 for when you can't afford to eat.
Reply 33
i know MBPs are good, but have you considered a Dell Alienware? i have one, and they are like crazy-wicked good. great for everything, as they have multiple graphics cards and tons of RAM (because they are originally a gaming laptop, so they need all the memory for games). bit expensive, but check them out. good thing is they run Windows system, so no annoying OS change. i think the Alienware M11x laptop is like £700, with like £200 aside for any accessories you want to get. check it out.
One thing I don't get is people keep complaining that you are just paying more for the brand.
Aren't you essentially doing the same thing in every other thing you buy?
Reply 35
Yes but imagine instead of £5 for ben & jerrys over £2 for any other ice cream, it's actually £15. Would you? Joking aside, if people treat the computer right then it'll last.

Guaranteed.

There is never really much justification for getting a Mac. Especially just to use at home. I know they're nice and look good but honestly a standard laptop for £500 or less will be fine.
Original post by PVisitors


Typing this on my phone do I do apologise if it isn't as clear as I would like it to be

1) like I said, I do agree apples 15" laptops are overpriced, just not to the extent you stated. The 13" MacBook pros which are by far apples most commercially successful product is evenly priced compared to its windows counterparts when you factor in other things. And 4 hours battery is pretty significant for a student. Students buy laptops on portability and that includes having a good battery. Are you telling me no one gives a damn about a laptop which can be used for a full day t university without having to worry about finding a plug socket to charge up?

2) Correction, the macs 13" have intel 3000. And I don't many 13" laptops which have dedicated GPUs. The 15" all come with a dGPU and a reasonable at that given apples history and the dimensions of the pro.

3) who gives a ****? Err, the average student who needs to lug it back and forth around campus? A huge bulky 15" laptop isn't going to practical at all. The 'best bang for buck' argument is weak. If you want best value build a desktop for which you will get fantastic specs for as little as £600. Portability with laptop is a massive factor for people buying laptops, and apple are key players in providing power in a beautifully designed case and thinness.


I don' strengthen these points later when I get home


1.) But its not evenly priced at all, and that's the point you seem to be missing, compare it with what you will, the 13" is overpriced, as is everything else in their range. People are more likely to buy the 13" as well because of the huge expense, they're unlikely to spend yet more money upgrading the screen size.

2.) Looking at the specs 15" specs online, it doesn't state that its a dedicated GPU so I'll assume you pulled that one out of your arse, but still thats besides the point for two reasons. 1 - Dedicated or not its still a intel 3000 which is a highly average graphics card nowadays. 2 - You're contradicting yourself as earlier you pointed out that you think that you think the 15" is overpriced and that the 13" is where apple 'excel' - but there's no option other than the intel 3000 on the 13" even though its their most 'commercially successful' product as you state. So its either go for one with a ****e graphics card or go for one with a mildly better (dedicated) card, in an 'overpriced' MBP in the form of a 15". Ok then.

3.) MBP's are pretty heavy when it comes to comparisons with laptops. The only thing that would bother me about carrying around my laptop is the weight... "beautifully designed case and thinness" agreed, but yet again, I wouldn't pay an extra £400-500 for this. With the argument for the desktop you brought up; I could build a desktop with far better specs than any of the mac's for around £550 - If you want portability why not just have the best of both worlds. Build a fantastic desktop for around £600, and then just buy a netbook. Oh look, you'd not only have a desktop capable of running anything, but you'd also have a netbook - slimmer and lighter and more 'portable' than anything in the Mac's range, and guess what, you'd still have £200 left in your bank account...
(edited 11 years ago)
Have had a Macbook Pro 13 for 2 years now. It's faultless. After my experience with iMacs for the past few years, I decided to take the plunge and get an iMac back in 2008. The next logical step was the MBP for when I began university for the first time two years ago. Here's my reasons behind having a MBP:

- Great battery
- Looks great
- OS X was one of the biggest pulls for me (a far more intuitive and productive system than Windows, especially with things like Expose and Mission Control)
- Backlit keyboard (not many laptops had BL keyboards a few years ago)
- Very thin and light for a 13 inch laptop
- Great screen, backlit LED.
- I produce music and wanted to begin using Logic
- I wanted a more seamless syncing solution for my iPhone to make good use of the calendar etc.

I say, if you have the money, wait. There is meant to be updates to the MBP line in the coming few months. You won't regret your decision in getting a MBP.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 38
Original post by admbeatmaker
You won't regret your decision in getting a MBP.


Wait til it needs repairing. You really will haha.
Original post by dignityinclay
One thing I don't get is people keep complaining that you are just paying more for the brand.
Aren't you essentially doing the same thing in every other thing you buy?


Yes, but not to the extent that Apple do. Apple are seen as a 'premium brand', something that's been built up and have a huge fan base that will buy their products regardless of price, hence why they can charge so much. Look at all the other brands running Windows as well, they have to all be competitive with their pricing to be able to gain market share, as there is so much choice. With Mac's, its just them in a single market as they run a separate operating system.

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