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Need help choosing APPLE laptop for uni!

I am deciding to buy an Apple laptop for university, however I am so unfamiliar with all the different types and sizes.
Could anyone please advise me which is the best type to get for a first year undergrad - something not crazy expensive and which can do standard student functions well/can be transported easily. Thanks :smile:

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Dont buy one now because Apple is releasing a new one soon
Original post by cabdi2014
Dont buy one now because Apple is releasing a new one soon


...and so the viscous circle begins
Original post by pleasedtobeatyou
...and so the viscous circle begins


and sucks in the poor consumerised people who can't escape it's sticky grasp (should it be vicious?)

Original post by ambonkers
I am deciding to buy an Apple laptop for university, however I am so unfamiliar with all the different types and sizes.
Could anyone please advise me which is the best type to get for a first year undergrad - something not crazy expensive and which can do standard student functions well/can be transported easily. Thanks :smile:


Buy the ABA (Anything But Apple).

If you only want it for word processing, films, music, web browsing and a bit of light gaming then why bother with getting something as expensive as a Mac?
Reply 4
Original post by ambonkers
I am deciding to buy an Apple laptop for university, however I am so unfamiliar with all the different types and sizes.
Could anyone please advise me which is the best type to get for a first year undergrad - something not crazy expensive and which can do standard student functions well/can be transported easily. Thanks :smile:


Don't listen to the numerous comments you'll get saying "Apple's ****" They're either windows fanboys or just jealous they can't afford one...

I bought a Macbook Pro 13" retina for £1200 with education discount Saturday.. ( Intel i5, 8GB ram, 256GB SSD) It's pretty awesome, gorgous Laptop...

I'd recomend that one, o rif you need something cheaper you can get the Macbook Air 13" ( i5, 4Gb Ram, 128Gb SSD, 11 hrs battery life) for £700 ish with education Discount which woud be suitable enough for your needs.... Good luck with your purchase :smile:
Reply 5
Original post by natninja
and sucks in the poor consumerised people who can't escape it's sticky grasp (should it be vicious?)



Buy the ABA (Anything But Apple).

If you only want it for word processing, films, music, web browsing and a bit of light gaming then why bother with getting something as expensive as a Mac?


Because Macs have better build quality ( AKA not built out of tacky plastic crap ) Better battery life (Not gunna die after 4 hrs tops like windows ) Feel more premium, just generally work like they should and best of all come with OSX, A much better OS for uni life....

As I said on my own post regarding my purchase friday, Why would I buy a tacky piece of pastic ****, Bundled with Microsoft latest disastorous Lump of ****, With cooling systems clearly designed by Iraqi's causing my Gentleman Sausage to turn to charcoal when I can have a Mac that's exactly the opposit. Worth the premiums I say.
It depends if you want to be replacing it a few months. If you want to replace it every few months get a cheap netbook but if you want something that will last a long time like a MacBook then go for it. I have had mine since 2007 and literally it's been my best friend for years rarely breaks down only been to apple a few times and easily fixable but generally it's only broken down once due the power supply being seven years old.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 7
apple is very soon going to launch a new laptop just wait for it.
Don't be a mug by buying an Apple laptop. Seriously save your money, you will need it for living expenses.

As good as a Mac may be preached by its fanboys, it won't make for a good roof over your head.
I own both a Windows PC and a MacBook Pro. Previously, I've owned several windows laptops from varying brands for about £300-500 each. The MacBook Pro has been my best investment yet. The battery life, the material. It's going to last.

Luckily I have a job so I can afford to pay for it (My grandmother offered to get a 0% interest card for a year and I pay it off with money from SFE that I then replace with my job).

That said, Photoshop is a pain in the ass for Photoshop as it works on retina and it doesn't make sense.
Reply 10
Thanks so much guys.. The main reason I want a macbook is that they are much easier to carry around as I do commute to/from Uni and I have heard the macbook air is ridiculously light which would help. I've had a standard windows laptop for a few years now but I can't imagine dragging something this bulky to uni every day and apple laptops just seem to run a lot faster and smoother. Will be checking out the airbook, thanks once again!
It's a lot mor productive as well for example it doesn't take all day to load up, you can run more than one programme on it and doesn't slow down or give up.

Apple you don't need to buy expensive anti virus software as they rarely get them.

Windows you will have to pay for a rather expensive office system unless it's preloaded as the free options are rather rubbish they do the job but it's not as good as office for mac 2011 plus some macs have iWork already preloaded and that's quite good.

iPhoto is excellent but bother with itunes as there's always a fault. I just use iTunes to play and download music not to transfer


Posted from TSR Mobile
However you need insurance for it as they can easily get nicked but with a naff old windows laptop dont really bother. My MacBook is only insured for the house usage


Posted from TSR Mobile
To all you guys talking about Windows/Linux laptops being slow:

If you don't know how to look after your laptop/pc or know anything about basic computer maintenance then yes your Windows/Linux will be slower. However, if you're not soft in the head when it comes to laptops/pcs, you can save yourself about a grand.
Reply 14
Original post by WeedCanKill
To all you guys talking about Windows/Linux laptops being slow:

If you don't know how to look after your laptop/pc or know anything about basic computer maintenance then yes your Windows/Linux will be slower. However, if you're not soft in the head when it comes to laptops/pcs, you can save yourself about a grand.


Have had a windows laptop for about 2 years and it has become significantly slower, yet I have very few extra programs downloaded. Which steps would you recommend I take to speed it up?
Check processes/services, and performance tab of task manager. Run antivirus. Check for bloatware.

Check your startup programmes, do you need all them running at startup? I cleared all mine and defragmented and my startup time is only about four seconds slower than a Mac.

My laptop is a 4 year old Windows, cost me £449. Only upgraded RAM once (cost of about £11), never had speed issues.
A guy who managed (note the past tense; he didn't just say this to get me to go in there and buy one) PC Worlds across the country told me that Lenovo laptops are the best laptops you can buy. Annoyingly I can't remember why, but "the motherboard and all the other crucial components will never break, unlike the way they do on other laptops over time" springs to mind.
Original post by ambonkers
Have had a windows laptop for about 2 years and it has become significantly slower, yet I have very few extra programs downloaded. Which steps would you recommend I take to speed it up?


Clear your shadow copies of System Restore. On my old laptop they took up about 10GB on hard drive space, and every little helps.

Clearing your temp folder will help as well. As will everything the other guy said.
Reply 18
Original post by Ryan-Slade
Don't listen to the numerous comments you'll get saying "Apple's ****" They're either windows fanboys or just jealous they can't afford one...

I bought a Macbook Pro 13" retina for £1200 with education discount Saturday.. ( Intel i5, 8GB ram, 256GB SSD) It's pretty awesome, gorgous Laptop...

I'd recomend that one, o rif you need something cheaper you can get the Macbook Air 13" ( i5, 4Gb Ram, 128Gb SSD, 11 hrs battery life) for £700 ish with education Discount which woud be suitable enough for your needs.... Good luck with your purchase :smile:


Hi, my Toshiba outperforms that laptop, has bigger screen and costed me £250 :/ I upgraded to SSD for an extra £50. I really don't see why apple is so expensive, but eh, that's clever marketing for you xD
They do Apple discounts for students I think

(EDIT: You know this already. Never mind :P
(edited 9 years ago)

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