Do I get a mac or laptop for university in 2015?

I'm just starting my last year in a levels and would like to apply for uni next year doing nursing and I'm not sure whether to get a laptop or mac if I was to get a mac I'd have to start saving now my parents said they'd help me out as well

Reply 1

Alfissti

20

Start saving and when it comes to time to buy one you can decide whether to have a mac or otherwise :smile:

Reply 2

ElementaryMyDear

I don't think it really matters - any decent laptop or mac will do. I guess I am slightly more bias towards macs because I have one and absolutely love it, but I don't see any reason why a laptop wouldn't be sufficient. Do a bit of research into both and find out what a mac would offer in comparison to a laptop. Unless you feel that a mac would be necessary for your course, I don't think the investment would be worth it - I would personally recommend buying a cheaper laptop and saving up for uni instead.

Reply 3

racheyroo

13

You might want to check with your uni, I know for my course we were recommended not to buy macs (i didnt really look into it much as i had a laptop), but if you already had a mac you could still use it it would just be more awkward to put the software on it or something, so it might be worth checking on your uni page just incase they recommend either one

Reply 4

chloe5453

5

It really depends on what you are studying and which works better for the courses you are planning to take. :biggrin:

Reply 5

jelly1000

21

Original post by Emilyroulstone

I'm just starting my last year in a levels and would like to apply for uni next year doing nursing and I'm not sure whether to get a laptop or mac if I was to get a mac I'd have to start saving now my parents said they'd help me out as well

Personally I think macs are overpriced, I got a £249 laptop for uni back in 2011 and its still running now and it does everything I need it to, I've used macs before and not found them any more impressive (just confusing as a long term microsoft user). You won't need expensive software on a nursing degree and you'll be spending most of the time on placement not sat in front of a computer!

Reply 6

sonia23

Original post by jelly1000

Personally I think macs are overpriced, I got a £249 laptop for uni back in 2011 and its still running now and it does everything I need it to, I've used macs before and not found them any more impressive (just confusing as a long term microsoft user). You won't need expensive software on a nursing degree and you'll be spending most of the time on placement not sat in front of a computer!

Hi if I may ask which laptop do you use? I am contemplating between a macbook ai r and a standard Hp laptop and was wondering about compatibilty with macs. What kind of problems (if any) arise while using macs ( while transferring files to pc and interchanging between them)?

Reply 7

jelly1000

21

Original post by sonia23

Hi if I may ask which laptop do you use? I am contemplating between a macbook ai r and a standard Hp laptop and was wondering about compatibilty with macs. What kind of problems (if any) arise while using macs ( while transferring files to pc and interchanging between them)?

It's an Acer, can't remember the exact type (I'm on a PC atm) and I've only ever used a Mac whilst on work experience so I can't comment on the compatibility I'm afraid.

Reply 8

Tom78

18

If you've got the money buy a mac, but they really are beyond the needs of most people.

Reply 9

cole-slaw

5

For gods sake don't buy a mac, they're vastly overpriced junk.

Reply 10

tearteto

12

there are plenty of £500 ish ultrabooks that do the same job as the mac, and sometimes at a better spec.

Reply 11

MatthewJoeCarr

1

Get a Laptop, Macs are over priced and only necessary if you wish to use HIGHLY advanced image editing or rendering software for a design course or something. Macs are next to worthless for anything else... 99% of courses are all based off PC's your uni's system will be designed for PC's, there is zero need to use a Mac and if you ever do your course will have Macs available for you to use.

You'll have spent a third on a laptop you'd have spent on a Mac. Sure it might not look as 'cool' (I have an Alienware laptop, costs about the same as a Mac, looks cooler) But if something goes wrong, take it into a repair place prob take 3-4 hours and cost 30-60 to fix... a Mac is going to cost twice that and take 3-4 days to repair if you're lucky or it'll just be toast and you'll have to buy a brand new one.

Just keep your anti-virus on a laptop upto date, don't download that zip file about Russian brides wanting to meet you or anything else along those lines and you should be fine. Try and keep about 1/4 of the memory free, you can buy a terrabite external harddrive (Like a CD case sized USB stick) to store photos, videos etc as a backup.

Do I get a mac or laptop for university in 2015?

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