Can't Decide on MacBook Pro

I'm looking to buy a new laptop sometime this summer for college in the fall. I will be a junior and majoring in Computer Science. I have only owned Windows computers but after researching more and more about Macbook Pros, I just can't help but be drawn in by the sleek design, aluminum unibody, quality, features, trackpad and battery life. First of all, I'm curious as to how well windows performs through Parallels or BootCamp. I've had many people tell me that there will be various things for programming I will need that only work on windows. Secondly, I'm curious as to which MacBook Pro I should get. Do you think the core i7 would be more suited for my needs of programming and running windows? I would most likely get the 13" if I could get by with the i5, but if I had to pay more for the i7 I would just go ahead and get the 15". My last question is what are your thoughts on the AppleCare Protection Plan? I do not normally buy extended warranties but after paying $1200-$1800 I would have to consider it.

Oh, and one more thing that I almost forgot. Would you even recommend a mac to a computer science major? I have asked about laptops on a different forum and everyone told me to get a windows laptop but searching the net I have seen mixed opinions.

I have experience with this as I am a computer science major and I say get what ever computer you like more.

A vast majority of programing will probably done in a lab anyway. VMWare works great with windows (or linux which might be more commonly needed). The i5 would be more than enough power for you. It might be good to upgrade the ram to 8gb but I would do this yourself to save some money.

I have never been into apple care but I tend to sell off my computers after about a year and a half anyway.

This goes with ANY electronics purchase: Get the best machine you can afford.

Specific to laptops (not just Apple laptops):
- Always upgrade a laptop processor to the best offered (this cannot be done afterwards.)
- Always upgrade the video card to the best offered (again, this cannot be done afterwards.)
- Hard Drive, if you plan on dual-booting with BootCamp, get at least a 500g so you can give Win7 100g and keep the rest for OSX.
- Yes, you can skimp on RAM if you feel comfortable enough to go out and buy the correct RAM upgrade and install it yourself.

Again, do not skimp on Processor and Video, however. These cannot be upgraded after you buy the machine. Wait the extra month or two for the extra cash to get the upgrades, it will be worth it in the end.

Deckyon said:

This goes with ANY electronics purchase: Get the best machine you can afford.

Specific to laptops (not just Apple laptops):
- Always upgrade a laptop processor to the best offered (this cannot be done afterwards.)
- Always upgrade the video card to the best offered (again, this cannot be done afterwards.)
- Hard Drive, if you plan on dual-booting with BootCamp, get at least a 500g so you can give Win7 100g and keep the rest for OSX.
- Yes, you can skimp on RAM if you feel comfortable enough to go out and buy the correct RAM upgrade and install it yourself.

Again, do not skimp on Processor and Video, however. These cannot be upgraded after you buy the machine. Wait the extra month or two for the extra cash to get the upgrades, it will be worth it in the end.

Click to expand...

I disagree. If you plan on keeping this computer until it falls apart then yes this is may be good idea, but the difference between the i5 and i7 I dont think will be worth it. If you plan on reselling it in 2-3 years and buying a new computer then defiantly go with the i5 because i7 will loose much more of its value to most consumers.

I have personally never bought a computer based on its "resale" value. If you do that, you will never have more than a barely adequate machine that you have to replace ever couple years just to run the newer versions of software that comes out. I have been buying computers for 17 years, and 10 of those years for major corporations. There is a marked difference in performance and longevity getting the better processors and video cards. We see the major differences between the "normal" user machines we buy and the "developer" machines. We replace 10 normal machines for ever 1 developer (on average during a year.)

In the case of the macbook pro the only difference in the i5 and i7 is the clock speed and the amount of L3 cache which in my opinion is not enough to justify the 400 dollar price difference. They will both be relevant computers for the same amount of time. If you game a lot you might appreciate the i7 but you will not notice the difference in a computer science curriculum.

Have to agree with thurstmw, as a college student you are probably always tight on money. You will see no difference in your Comp Sci program using the i5 processor for your work and you will save money. once your done with college and working, you can buy something with more band if you need it and still have your first Macpro for personal use.

In my personal opinion, I would recommend getting the MacBook Pro with the I7 processor, as it would benefit you in regards to the Computer Science field. Even though the I5 is good too which, is what I have. If computer science is what you will be doing extensively, whats a few hundred dollars for the ultimate performance.

I myself am minoring in Computer Science. With that said, I have Window's and Linux installed though Parallels, and they work great. BootCamp would allow you to run JUST Windows instead of OSX.

Im sure your familiar with Raptor and VB/C++ programs which, are WINDOWS only applications, which is why I have Windows installed. I use parallels personally because you can have Raptor running in Mac as if Windows wasnt even there.

But bootcamp would benefit you for playing Games on Windows.

As for the AppleCare... If you think logically what is a 1400 dollar computer worth to you?
I would definitely recommend it, as it will cover everything.

Being a CS major, you will want to install and play with many different operating systems and tools. The only way to run multiple servers simultaneously is using VMware or similar. Don't waste your time with a dual boot system - you get much less that way. Keep OSX - you're going to love it - and put Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc on VMs.

The i5 is plenty powerful for VMware, but you will need lots of RAM, and 8 gig may not be enough. The cost of 16 gig RAM right now is over $1500 since it is brand new, so upgrade a 4gig machine yourself to 8 right now and bide your time while you wait for 16gig to come down.

Also to support multiple operating systems, buy the smallest (cheapest) hard drive you can get, then upgrade it yourself to 750gig or bigger, 7500 rpm flavor. Each Windows VM will need about 100gig of hard drive space, and the Mac will need 170gig for swap file and 100 gig for the system. As you can see, the disk fills up fast.

Also, you will hunger for display space. This means you can get the 13" for portability in class, then plug it into a really big exterior monitor or 2, or 3 (using a USB+Video hub), when you need to get serious.

My brother is a CS major at RIT, and he has a 15in MBP with a 23in display for his dorm. I'd recommend the high res 15in Pro. Its still very portable, and you will have more screen real estate for coding.

Thank you everyone for the replies. After reading everyones reviews, I think my best option as of now is to go for the 13" with the i5. I have a 23" ASUS monitor I bought for my desktop a few months ago that I could always take to college to hook to my macbook for when I needed a larger screen and if I end up leaving that at home I could always just hook it into my TV. Although, I may consider getting the 15" i7 if I happen to make a little extra money over the course of this summer. I'm just not sure if I want to dish out over $2,000 by the time I pay tax and buy AppleCare.

Also just to make sure I got this straight, I can purchase AppleCare anytime before my 1 year warranty is up to get the additional two years, correct?

LEMike09 said:

Also just to make sure I got this straight, I can purchase AppleCare anytime before my 1 year warranty is up to get the additional two years, correct?

Click to expand...

Yup.

Why does my answer have to be 5 characters? 3 did just fine.

Hi,
I am about to buy a new laptop , I will be using it mainly for browsing chatting facebook youtube skype and the most I am going to do is heavy java programming,in future I will be developing games for iphone/ipad and maybe android. I am 14 years old studying java at school.Do you think the MBP 13" i5 base model no upgrades is good enough for me should I buy a windows laptop with higher specs. I really like the mac os and always wanted one, but they were a little expensive.I would like this laptop to be good for next 4-5 years,at least it won't lag in the future.I will install after effects and photoshop just to mess around with.I would like multi tasking example safari(youtube and facebook) and skype video call word processing and BlueJ open and it wont lag.
So is the MacBook pro 13" i5 dual core base model good for me , I may upgrade in the future For SSD and 8gb ram.Also does this MBP have SATA III for SSD connection or will I have to disable the super drive to do so.

Thanks
Luke

I have the 13" MBP i5 - the most basic model. You'll want (not need) the 8gig RAM upgrade to run Windows with VmWare. You definitely need a Mac to write software for the iPhone/iBook/iAnything. AFter a year or so with the 300gig slow dive, I upgraded to an OCZ 500gig SSD. The connector for the hard drive runs at 6gbps, so no worries there. The Superdrive runs only 3gbps - good enough for an optical drive.