New laptop for prospective Computer Science student?

First things first, by prospective I mean I want to do computer science, I'm only in AS level.

Okay now that is out of the way. Basically my laptop from 1796 (2005) packed up, might get it fixed don't know yet but I will still need a new laptop and I am planning on doing computer science.

My uses include, a lot of web browsing with multiple tabs open at once (around 5 minimum), some skyping. Quite a office apps so word and PowerPoint etc. I may also be buying the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, so something which can run those services pretty smoothly (Not entirely sure if I will be getting this though, so this isn't really a must).


Let's say I have enough money to afford the newest 15" MacBook Pro baseline model (I think it is about £1399) would a Mac be a good buy or are there any alternative Windows machines which are equally as good.

I was also thinking, could I take a desktop PC as I am planning to build one in the not too distant future (dual boot windows and Mac OSX) but then buy a cheap laptop like a chromebook or the Samsung Note Pro 12.2 (I really do love that and I can do some light Android gaming as well with this) to take to lectures and such just to type up the notes and view PowerPoints and use my desktop as my main machine if you like for all my programming and stuff.

What are your thoughts and which is better, desktop and tablet/cheap laptop or just high end laptop?

Thanks

PS. One thing I'd like to note is that I would prefer if this computer could be long lasting so I can use it long after university, partly why I have been looking at MacBook Pro's

TSR Mobile on my HTC Desire running Android 4.4 KitKat

Get the MacBook Pro if you can afford it, also if you can wait until you get to university Apple will give you 15% student discount-I don't know whether you can wait that long however.

This will make much more sense than buying a desktop and cheap laptop-from my experience cheap laptops drive you crazy, and a desktop isn't so easy to move around which you'll often need to do as a student.

First things first, by prospective I mean I want to do computer science, I'm only in AS level.

Okay now that is out of the way. Basically my laptop from 1796 (2005) packed up, might get it fixed don't know yet but I will still need a new laptop and I am planning on doing computer science.

My uses include, a lot of web browsing with multiple tabs open at once (around 5 minimum), some skyping. Quite a office apps so word and PowerPoint etc. I may also be buying the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, so something which can run those services pretty smoothly (Not entirely sure if I will be getting this though, so this isn't really a must).


Let's say I have enough money to afford the newest 15" MacBook Pro baseline model (I think it is about £1399) would a Mac be a good buy or are there any alternative Windows machines which are equally as good.

I was also thinking, could I take a desktop PC as I am planning to build one in the not too distant future (dual boot windows and Mac OSX) but then buy a cheap laptop like a chromebook or the Samsung Note Pro 12.2 (I really do love that and I can do some light Android gaming as well with this) to take to lectures and such just to type up the notes and view PowerPoints and use my desktop as my main machine if you like for all my programming and stuff.

What are your thoughts and which is better, desktop and tablet/cheap laptop or just high end laptop?

Thanks

PS. One thing I'd like to note is that I would prefer if this computer could be long lasting so I can use it long after university, partly why I have been looking at MacBook Pro's

TSR Mobile on my HTC Desire running Android 4.4 KitKat

Gettíng Mac OS on a custom buíld, ís kínda hard, you need specífíc hardware whích wíll límít you a lot.
Personally thínk you should waít tíll the summer before you head of to uní before decídíng.

Mac's are quíe expensíve,but Í would suggest them only to those who actually want to use software to do creatíve thíngs such as vídeo, photo editíng, etc whích they are good for.

For heaven's sake, why do people assume that PC's won't last? If you buy a good quality laptop and give it the same kind of respect you'd give to a Macbook, it will last just as long and will give you vastly more value for money. Especially as a potential CompSci, I would have assumed that you would want a good degree of control over your hardware, which you won't get with Mac OS. Really, you ought to be thinking about Linux.

Yes I have already specced out a potential hackintosh using TonyMacx86. I have researched quite a lot into building a hackintosh so that is not a problem it's just the case of compatible programming environments which is my main problem.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Well, most comp scí computer labs should have dual boot wíndows and línux.
Though remember the íssue of movíng the desktop back and forth.

Yeah that would be a problem but it would help for things like content creation which will be a much better experience on a desktop than on a laptop. I think I will wait until I've gone to some open days to see what sort of computer facilities different universities have and base my decision on that

Posted from TSR Mobile

Other thíng ís the ímportance of a laptop, ít helps duríng study leave where you can barely get a computer

I have a Macbook pro 13', its really good for computer programming because it comes with python preloaded, safari (which I am using at the moment) is good as well (I currently have 12 fairly heavy usage tabs open and no lag/slowness at all). I have boot camped my mac as well and that allows me to plan some basic games like MW3 on the windows side.
Having said all of that, however, PCs are a bit more mass market and I don't know whether some of the applications you will need to use for computer science will be better suited on windows. My friend has a Lenovo and that works quite well for him so it might be worth having a look at that.
Edit: I also use Skype a lot on mac with lots of web tabs open - no problems on Macbook pro, and I am using the last generation (not the newest one).

Oh wow, okay thanks that's useful! I assume you are doing compSci at university as well? And is the 13" quite small. All my laptops at home are 15.6" and I can't imagine using a smaller screen but I guess it is better for transport and probably a little lighter which will make quite a lot of difference.....

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm hoping to do compsci at uni although I'm not there yet. I do quite a bit of programming at school though so I have some experience. Macs are generally light enough that you could get any size (another guy at school has the latest MacBook Pro 17 inch and he can carry it around no problem). Macs are fairly superior in terms of life as we'll (I've had mine for four years with only minor problems. The most major of which was that the RAM isn't held in very well so it fell out once when I dropped it - my fault really.

Any self respecting Comp student got to be on Linux

I'm not saying that PC's won't last, in my experience they don't seem to last as long as I would have liked unlike my friend's MacBook Air. The only control I would really want with my hardware on a laptop is the hard drive which I can do with a Mac and maybe the RAM if it is less than 4GB which isn't really a problem with a Mac. I wouldn't really need the same level of control on a laptop as opposed to a desktop which is why I was thinking of both a laptop and a Desktop.

Regarding Linux, I've never actually tried it which is quite surprising coming to think of it seeing as I like explore new things, like rooting and such on my Androids but I will take a look. What distinct advantages will it provide post university?

Posted from TSR Mobile

So will Linux run on any laptop/desktop. I assume it's more forgiving in terms of comparability compared to trying to run Mac OSX on custom hardware. Also I was searching for laptops which have Ubuntu already loaded but couldn't find many.....

Also some reasons why Linux would be better for a CompSci student would help a great deal?!

Posted from TSR Mobile

As someone said, any self-respecting comp sci student should have Linux installed.