Depending on your student discounts, one thing I would suggest before investing in MS Office is to look into NeoOffice. It's a free, open-source alternative to MS Office with its own versions of Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. If you're going into something like business or management, you may need the extra features and compatibility of MS Office, but for most things, I'd say NeoOffice should meet your needs. I'm in university right now, studying Stats and Physics, and NeoOffice has met all of my needs so far. It may not be enough for you, but look into it before buying MS Office for Mac. It's fully compatible with all MS Office formats (.doc, .docx, etc.)
I have a MacBook and I take it with me to all my classes. It's definitely enough for me, and I wouldn't like carrying around the extra space the MacBook Pro takes up, but if you're going to do a lot of photo/movie editing, etc., you may need the extra room. That's up to you, really. Just keep in mind how much you'll want to carry to class with you. As already mentioned, I love that I can just close my MacBook and forget about it between classes until I open it up again. Its sleep has never failed me, unlike Windows'.
If I had more money, I'd spring for a MacBook Air, because its features really are about all I need. Lots of people say it's not enough, but I plan to get one eventually, but as a poor college student, it's not quite for me, yet.
As for Windows on your Mac... if you still think you'll need it. Well, Bootcamp is free, but if you want XP, you'll need one with SP2 already on the disc. If you want to go emulation, I suggest VMWare Fusion. I have it and it works great. The only thing I really need Windows for is some Stats software that isn't developed for Mac anymore.
About needing a new one... if you want to do a legal installation, you'll definitely need to buy a new one, especially if you're using Bootcamp. If you want to use Fusion, then you technically can use your old reinstall discs from your PC if you still have them, if you're willing to bend the rules a little.
If you still have the registration/activation code that should be printed on a colorful sticker somewhere on your old PC, the installation should go just fine. The only problem will be "activating" Windows, which needs to be done in 30 days or you can't use it anymore. There are two roads you can take. One of them, finding a "crack," is illegal and I probably can't discuss it here. The other road, slightly less illegal is to call up Microsoft and tell them you upgraded your motherboard/RAM/hard drive/etc. in your old PC machine and now you need to reinstall Windows, but your code isn't working, because it doesn't recognize the hardware anymore. They'll give you a new code that will let you activate. If you uninstall Windows from your old machine, this would almost be legal, except that technically that copy of Windows is only supposed to be used on that specific PC, which isn't something you'd run into with a store-bought copy.
I have a MacBook and I take it with me to all my classes. It's definitely enough for me, and I wouldn't like carrying around the extra space the MacBook Pro takes up, but if you're going to do a lot of photo/movie editing, etc., you may need the extra room. That's up to you, really. Just keep in mind how much you'll want to carry to class with you. As already mentioned, I love that I can just close my MacBook and forget about it between classes until I open it up again. Its sleep has never failed me, unlike Windows'.
If I had more money, I'd spring for a MacBook Air, because its features really are about all I need. Lots of people say it's not enough, but I plan to get one eventually, but as a poor college student, it's not quite for me, yet.
As for Windows on your Mac... if you still think you'll need it. Well, Bootcamp is free, but if you want XP, you'll need one with SP2 already on the disc. If you want to go emulation, I suggest VMWare Fusion. I have it and it works great. The only thing I really need Windows for is some Stats software that isn't developed for Mac anymore.
About needing a new one... if you want to do a legal installation, you'll definitely need to buy a new one, especially if you're using Bootcamp. If you want to use Fusion, then you technically can use your old reinstall discs from your PC if you still have them, if you're willing to bend the rules a little.
If you still have the registration/activation code that should be printed on a colorful sticker somewhere on your old PC, the installation should go just fine. The only problem will be "activating" Windows, which needs to be done in 30 days or you can't use it anymore. There are two roads you can take. One of them, finding a "crack," is illegal and I probably can't discuss it here. The other road, slightly less illegal is to call up Microsoft and tell them you upgraded your motherboard/RAM/hard drive/etc. in your old PC machine and now you need to reinstall Windows, but your code isn't working, because it doesn't recognize the hardware anymore. They'll give you a new code that will let you activate. If you uninstall Windows from your old machine, this would almost be legal, except that technically that copy of Windows is only supposed to be used on that specific PC, which isn't something you'd run into with a store-bought copy.
