"New MacBook" vs Air vs Pro for College

Im going to get a MacBook for my senior year in high school and all my years in college but I wasn't sure which one to get, I known the new MacBook is coming out but I wasn't sure how well it would do with the Intel core m and no fan, so I was wondering if it would be better to buy a pro but then they are heavier and I really don't eant to get a air because if the screen resolution, so which one do you think I should get for my sercumstance

Assuming you take it to class, Airs are a bargain right now, tough and light. The only real barrier is storage if you do a lot of photo/video. Screen resolution is overrated imho.

Ok, and yes I would take it with me so either the air or "New MacBook" Thank you for your help

I have a 15" macbook pro and 13" macbook air. If you plan to use it in class and haul it all over campus and have no desire to haul a charger - the MB Air is the way to go. They last 12 hours as long as you do not stream video for hours on end. They are light and fast.

As for screen resolution. Go to a store and really look at a MB Air screen and then at a MB Pro Retina screen. Yes, the retina is nice, but to be truthful, not really necessary unless you are into photo editing on the pixel lever. Compare the weight of the two and think about hauling it with all your books etc. Weight matters.

The new Macbook has one big issue IMO - one port. I bet you will find yourself using and exchanging USB drives with friends. Unless you plan to pay $79 for a dongle and haul it around to, I just do not see the usefulness of a lack of ports. Granted it is pretty and the keyboard and trackpad are very nice but the lack of ports is a deal breaker.

I would say what I used when I went to college but we used punch cards for inputting data and if you don't know what that is....well lets just say it was a long time ago.

Lisa

Very good point on the one port. Apple may regret that, even though I am sure it is key to the thinness.

I missed punch cards by one year. But I knew several people with conventional PCs and original Macintoshes. They even made kind of a backpack rig so you could tote your mac around.

Also, although maybe not in dorm/college life, but putting content on TV with an apple tv, roku, chromecast, whatever is so cheap and easy now, I would think that resolution for watching movies and whatnot is far less important and Apple screens are plenty good without having to go to Retina.

I would say what I used when I went to college but we used punch cards for inputting data and if you don't know what that is....well lets just say it was a long time ago.

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Believe it or not, the first "big iron" that I worked on (IBM 1410) was accessed via punch cards even for testing and maintenance. And the first IBM 360 models that were delivered required punch card input. It was until a year or so later (back in the 70s) that IBM switched to CRT input terminals. You're telling your age Lisa!

My freshman year in college, we programmed FORTRAN on some CDC machine using a keyboard and green crt. The year previous, students had to use punch cards. Apparently the sight of engineering and CS students with spilled punch cards cursing and wailing was not uncommon.

chscag said:

Believe it or not, the first "big iron" that I worked on (IBM 1410) was accessed via punch cards even for testing and maintenance. And the first IBM 360 models that were delivered required punch card input. It was until a year or so later (back in the 70s) that IBM switched to CRT input terminals. You're telling your age Lisa!

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BOY, brings back some memories for me, too! Between my first and second years in medical school (let's see, would have been '68), I had a summer job that involved traveling to the hospitals in Toledo, Ohio and collecting data on patients w/ cervical cancer - then had to return and 'punch' in the data onto cards (can't even remember how this was done).

The afternoons were spent in a nearby hospital working in the pathology department - assisted in a bunch of autopsies - FUN, FUN, FUN! Dave

chscag said:

You're telling your age Lisa!

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LOL! I will be 60 in June and I have it on good authority I do not look that old.

Last week we had a TV crew borrow our green room to shoot an advertisement for one of our members running for political office. They needed older people to sit around a table for one of the scenes. One of the TV crew popped into my office asking if I could tell him where the "older lady" was. When I told him that was me, he said I could not be as I did not look old enough. Made my day! Besides I look terrible on camera...

And for the record - I would have loved any of the current Macbooks when I was in college - in the '70's!

Lisa

Hi Lisa - nice story & congrats!

In my undergrad years at the University of Michigan, my 'computer' is shown below - hung from my belt like an old fashion western handgun - Dave
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LOL! I will be 60 in June and I have it on good authority I do not look that old.

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60 years has been in my rear view mirror for some time! ;D You're just a young gal.

In my undergrad years at the University of Michigan, my 'computer' is shown below - hung from my belt like an old fashion western handgun - Dave

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I remember having to buy one of those new fangled gadgets called a slide rule for my BSEE. ;D Ran out of money fairly quick in the student book store. Many years later I invested in one of the first HP hand calculators and was amazed at how easy it was to do the same calculations I had to do years before on a slide rule. Engineering students today have no idea of what a slide rule is.

And that is a part of what I love about this forum....a lot of wisdom and people who have a similar frame of references and history!


Lisa

chscag said:

Engineering students today have no idea of what a slide rule is.

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Worst of all, they won't get off my lawn. *shakes fist*

Slide rule user here from way back, but my phone has emulated HP calculators on it, not slipsticks, And yes, in college I witnessed an actual staircase punchcard disaster. A three-boxer, no less. Such tragedy Shakespeare never knew. The poor fellow's experience taught me to rubber-band my decks and carry boxes of punchcards in a satchel.

As I do to this day. (Not really.)