10-13-2007, 01:58 PM

Hi,

The headmaster of my school spoke to us recently about giving us loans for laptops for schoolwork etc etc
What i was wondering is, is a MacBook a good enough laptop for school work?
I may need to use Microsoft Access and Frontpage once in a while but im sure i could use the school computers for that. Everything else, or most things i can do on a mac right?
Also is a MacBook a good replacement for a Pentium 4, 1G of ram desktop PC its about 3 years old and it drives me nuts (self build lolz )

This is all, of course if the school goes ahead with this loan thing. Also it would need to be pretty soon as im in what could be my last year at school.
It also gives my parents a good reason to buy me a shiny new laptop

Oooh, one more question: Whats a base MacBook like for video editing. Probably just in iMovie, just in case i stay on at school and do moving image it would make doing coursework soooo much easier!

Anyway, sorry for the mass amount of questions at once

Thanks,
Daniel

10-13-2007, 02:53 PM

Our school is making us all get Macbooks by this year. Many have already got theirs and everyone thinks they rock as soon as youve gotten used to Mac OS. Macbooks are really great for school because they are small and everything, plus the OS is perfect for creative people and education. iWork will own MS Office for any school project anywhere from homework to final coursework because of it's ease of use and it's easy to make beautiful projects and presentations.

iMovie and other stuff like Adobe CS3 all work fine on even the cheapest Macbook available as far as I know, though I would always recommend getting up to 2 GB of RAM, it helps speed everything up a lot.

The Core 2 Duo inside the Macbook is way better than the P4, so I think it would at least be as fast as your desktop at anything, probably (much) faster. Don't expect to play any games on it though, unless they are older, because the Macbook doesnt have a very good graphics processor, it's fine for anything else though.

I would at least wait another half a month for the new version of Mac OS X, Leopard, to be released, because you will get it free with your new Macbook then. Also, it's possible that the Macbooks will get a hardware upgrade soon (ive read somewhere) so you might want to wait and see if that happens any time soon.

10-13-2007, 03:20 PM

MacBooks are excellent computers for school use. They're very portable (compare them to some of the behemoth Dells that some people lug around), and are more than capable of handling school tasks.

10-13-2007, 03:35 PM

The base MacBook is more powerful than many mid-range laptops. And some high end ones too! I saw a Celeron 17" notebook!!!

I would probably get the black one, just to stick out of the crowd... I would also get iWork over Office any day. Add a Incase Neoprene Sleeve, a big backpack, a iPod touch and I would have the greatest school kit ever.

I do have Office 2004 but I will get iWork when version 09 hits the shelves.

Also why would you use Frontpage??? If you needed some Windows apps, I would get VMWare Fusion. You could probably pick up XP cheap now.

Nick.

10-13-2007, 03:46 PM

if i were you i would go for mbp..in fact i was in your situation,and i did go for itit is also easy to carry around especially easy in an average back pack.
and you can easily play games on it via bootcamp on windows..thats what i do, and also i use my mbp for schoolworks and presentations btw dont expect neo office or iWork is compitable on ms office..they are not..even office for mac 2004 is not good for moving your created-on-mac documents to windows environment..the only way to do this properly u should convert them into pdf..and this just a recommendation..

10-13-2007, 03:53 PM

Though i dont go to school, I use my macbook for University so im sure it would be a similer sort of use.

I find my macbook very good to take with me to university. Here are a few things i like:

The sleep function is great i just open up the macbook and bang it loads... all the windows users have to wait lol. Then when im done i just close the lid and put it in my bag. This is very good when you are late to a lecture or just want to leg it after one, no faffing around!

The battery life on the macbook is much longer than any other laptop i have used. This is a VERY important factor when using a laptop in a learning environment when you cant plug it in.

Mac OSX is much more reliable than windows, no BSOD, errors, computer restarting itself, buggs etc.. its smooth and reliable. Having your computer do this in the middle of taking notes would cause a bit problem for me.

The size of the macbook is great. Its not to small to use comfatably but its small and light enought o easily carry around with you everywhere. Also sometimes bigger laptops dont fit on the desks, but a macbook does!

If your taking notes in a lesson i highly recommend using Journler. I have already recommended this to a person in one of my lectures and he now loves it and me! lol

When you come to open up .Doc word files, powerpoints or excel documents you can! you can either open them in the microsoft mac office suit, or open them up in the apropriate iWork program. There is nothing you can do on windows that you cant do on a mac. If worst comes to the worst just run windows on your mac if you really need to.

When it comes to home use, you can plug the macbook into an external screen so its just like having a desktop. Its also heaps more fun to use and play around with than windows.. I could use Photobooth for hours!

10-13-2007, 04:02 PM

ahh thanks for the really quick replies

It would probably be the start of next year before i would be buying. And if they were updating then i can wait

Come to think of it i probably wont need frontpage or access next year so iWork should do me fine.

Laptops for school seems a really good idea. Also it means i wont have to use the old Pentium 3's that never do seem to work.

Thankyou for all your help!