College Student MB vs MBP

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I'm thinking about purchasing a new mac pretty soon to replace my Inspiron laptop (2.13Ghz P-M, 2gig ram, 100Gb HDD, Radeon X300 128mb). The battery finally crapped out on me completely and with the price a new battery costs from Dell I'd rather put the money toward a new laptop.

I can't decide if I should go with the MB or the MBP. I don't really need all the extra ports or fancy lighted keyboard so it's like I'm paying an extra $700 just to get a better graphics card, as everything else component wise is the same correct? The MB gets better battery life too right? If that is the case I'm definitely gonna go with the MB, I'll just build a $700 pc to play games on.

I know apple is reluctant to release info on updates but is it a good time to purchase a macbook right now? I remember looking at them a while ago and it doesn't seem like the specs have changed much, is there going to be an update soon? And most importantly am I going to notice a significant speed increase with a MB over my current laptop? Is the intel graphics chip going to be at least as good as my old x300?
 
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Atlanta
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP 2.2Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 120GB HDD
Check out this comparison chart I put together with the Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro. It pretty much breaks down every possible feature there is. It includes battery life, ports, weight, etc.
 
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Whittier, CA
Your Mac's Specs
uMBP 2.66/4GB/320GB; iMac 2.66Ghz/4GB/320GB; Apple TV; Black iPhone 3G 16GB
My fiancee is a adjunct professor and I'm still finishing my BA; each of us have white Macbooks. Can't beat the size and battery life.

In fact, I upped mine to 4GB of RAM for $80 and Leopard just flies on this thing...
 
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I went ahead and got everything I want purchased in my shopping cart at apple.com. I have the White 2.2Ghz Macbook with the standard RAM and HDD, iWorks pre-installed and applecare.

I also went to newegg.com and added a
Canon Powershot SD870 IS (which was $30-40 more expensive on apple store) 4GB of Kingston Ram ($119)
HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 200Gb HDD ($199)

I can change out the harddrive without any warranty issues right? And Apple includes the OS and iWorks cd's so that I can reinstall the O/S and all programs back onto the new drive?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
uMBP 2.66/4GB/320GB; iMac 2.66Ghz/4GB/320GB; Apple TV; Black iPhone 3G 16GB
You'll be fine... the HDD is user-replaceable so it shouldn't be an issue.

Enjoy your new Macbook.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP 2.2Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 120GB HDD
Yes, you'll get the iWork and Leopard DVDs included in your Macbook box.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
15" MacBook Pro (Early 2008) 2.4GHz 4GB RAM running 10.5.4
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15" MBP 2.2Ghz C2D 4GB RAM 120GB HDD
It's a full version though. All you need is the serial number to activate it.
 
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Yeah, that's correct, all I had to do was punch in the serial number on my iWorks disk and it opened up all the functionality on my iWorks installation.

Needless to say I only tested that out for a short while before i reinstalled onto the new hard drive. Installation was extremely simple and I really like the secure erase feature the O/S has, although it does take quite a while if you go with the more secure methods.
 
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Lubbock/Arlington/Houston, TX
Your Mac's Specs
Black Macbook
I've had my black Macbook for almost a month now, and I could not be happier.
 
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Buffalo,NY
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Late 2009 Unibody MBP, 2.8ghz, 500gig, 4gig
beastykato,fist of all welcome to our community.
i was in the same situation as you are now 6 months ago. but instead of you i have always wanted a mbp. and i have some facts for you. the only difference between mb and mbp isnt just the graphics card. u get everything better with a mbp. i am not sure if it is like here where u live but in here in Turkey nearly every mb owner that i know is complaining about their mbs and regretting they didnt get the better one.in mbs the bluetooth airport hdd battery and the screen are full of problems. and by comparing the physicals they nearly weight the same and mbp is thinner. but of course these are only my ideas. i hope u wont regret your decision like my friends here.
 
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I like the macbook pro a lot and have used a friends macbook pro, however, the only reason I would need the extra power is for playing games. I don't do any professional graphics work or anything like that.

I'm definitely happy with my macbook though, I know that the MBP might have fancy light up keys, more ports, better video card and some additional features like extended desktop stuff but that's all stuff I don't really need. My MB is definitely faster than a friend of mines MBP on routine tasks at least enough to be noticeable especially if a lot of programs are open and running. This could be attributed to my 7200rpm hard drive and 4gb ram vs his 2gb ram though.

As far as reliability goes HDD wise apple ships the macbook with Hitachi brand drives the same as the one I bought 3rd party just the slower 5400rpm variety and my screen quality is excellent so far. Wireless connectivity has been fine both at home and at school too, in fact, much better than my Dell was in that regard.

I do have one issue though, hopefully someone can shed some light on it. When I charge my MB it only gets up to 99% charge now and the little indicator light on the charger never goes from orange to green it just stays orange because it's only at 99%. Is this a problem? Is there a way to force the battery to fully charge?
 
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I would go with MacBook just from a size and battery life perspective. It will have plenty of power for school work and is small enough that you won't have any problems taking it to class.
 
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Late 2009 Unibody MBP, 2.8ghz, 500gig, 4gig
i am happy for you beastykato,that ur mb is fine.i just mentioned those issues because these are what my friends have been seeing on their computers.and by the way dont worry about the battery it is totally normal for it to say it is charged %99.it never goes upper my friend ;) (but some people say that after a while using battery hardly and it loses it is health like %10 percent it starts to charge %100)
 
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Well, it just concerned me because it says the the light is supposed to go green when it is completely charged. And it did so for the first couple days but not it's just staying orange no matter how long I leave it plugged in.

EDIT: I wanted to add that I purchased my MB already because it seems some people don't know that yet. I did have another thread where I said I had gotten it but it got lost as new threads came up.
 
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Santa Barbara, CA
Your Mac's Specs
12" PB , 80GB HDD, 1.5Ghz G4, 1.25GB RAM
In late 2004 I bought my PowerBook G4 12" And I have to say

"I will never buy another 'metal' mac"

Yes, the plastic (MacBook, iBook) will scratch easier but when metal bends it does not bend back. I bought a samsonite laptop backpack (fully padded) and only used my 12" powerbook in it for 2 quarters going to class and taking notes--and the now the laptop casing is deformed in many places from consistent but light pressure. I hate it! Don't get me wrong i love the mac but I hate its so messed-up now. The latch has trouble catching when I close it, and the case is bulging in places; and trying to bend it back.... don't try it... trust me!

IF you plan to "take it with you" (which IS the whole point of a laptop riight?) I wouldn't get the pro just on the premise that its got an aluminum case. IF you plan to be one of those wierdos who buys a laptop that never leaves a single desk, then sure, go for the pro I definitely think its better.
 
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Chicago, IL
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MacBook Pro 15" 2.33 GHz 3 GB RAM
I'll weigh in on this question, since I've been thinking a bit on the subject lately.

I'm a college student, and I got myself a MacBook Pro about a year ago. I enjoy the backlit keyboard and especially the larger screen (not to mention the fact that the screen is matte). I think the keyboard is nicer than the MacBook's as well.

The thing is, with the larger screen, you lose just a little bit of portability. I still carry mine around with me a lot, but it'd be easier with the baseline MacBook. Also, since you'll have Spaces, you'll have plenty of virtual desktops to work with.

I got the Pro mainly to leave the option of gaming open to myself, but I realistically don't game that much, being a student, and am now wondering if that extra thousand bucks could have been put toward something else. In short, having the Pro is a really nice and enjoyable experience, but if you want it keep in mind that you're sinking in a lot more money. Make sure it's worth it to you.
 

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