Macbook for Accounting Student

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Hey how is everyone? Ok I'm looking in to buying a laptop for college, so I just want some information on the macbook. Like the subject of this thread says, I am an accounting major and I will mainly be using for school purposes. I do of course also browse the web, watch some online video's and listen to music but other then that not much else.

The hardest thing to do is to justify the price. The only reason I ever seem to hear for the high price is that mac's don't get viruses, well almost never get them. I have a PC at home and it is slowed down by a million viruses it seems. Also I have always used a PC and I am concerned about the switch.

I plan on going somewhat basic and getting the 13inch macbook with these specifications.
# 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
# 160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
# Keyboard (English) / User's Guide
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

What would you suggest upgrading from here?

What are the basic advantages a macbook has over a pc?
Is it worth paying the extra money for one if I'm not going to be using all the photo and video features?
Is the Microsoft office the same on the mac as it is on a PC?
 
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2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
Hey how is everyone? Ok I'm looking in to buying a laptop for college, so I just want some information on the macbook. Like the subject of this thread says, I am an accounting major and I will mainly be using for school purposes. I do of course also browse the web, watch some online video's and listen to music but other then that not much else.

The hardest thing to do is to justify the price. The only reason I ever seem to hear for the high price is that mac's don't get viruses, well almost never get them. I have a PC at home and it is slowed down by a million viruses it seems. Also I have always used a PC and I am concerned about the switch.

Fact: There are no viruses that can infect OS X. None. Zero. Nada. There are a couple trojans disguised as legit software, but you can only get those by deliberately pirating the software they are disguised as.

There also is no spyware. Zip. Nada.

I plan on going somewhat basic and getting the 13inch macbook with these specifications.
# 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
# 160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
# Keyboard (English) / User's Guide
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

What would you suggest upgrading from here?

What are the basic advantages a macbook has over a pc?
Is it worth paying the extra money for one if I'm not going to be using all the photo and video features?
Is the Microsoft office the same on the mac as it is on a PC?

By and large, the whole "Macs are so much more expensive" argument/complaint is largely bogus. Apple doesn't compete on the cheap end, sure. What they do sell are first-class machines that perform better than the competition and hold up better. In fact, when Vista first came out, a PC magazine did a laptop roundup and found that a MacBook Pro was the fastest Vista laptop out there. If you were to price out a laptop that is truly comparable to an Apple MacBook, you'll find the price difference really isn't that great. On the desktop side, there have been articles that have demonstrated Mac Pros are actually CHEAPER than a truly comparable Dell.

That said, you have to decide if you really want or need a first-class machine. Macs do have a higher resale value, Apple's customer support is routinely rated as best in the industry, and as a former Windows user who used to build his own PCs, I can tell you that OS X is the bomb. Once you settle in, it is soooo much more relaxing to use. It's much faster and MUCH more secure than Windows is, and the upcoming Snow Leopard has been highly optimized for Intel Macs. So much so that the minimum system requirements are lower than what the current Leopard requires. And if you find you just HAVE to use Windows software, you can dual-boot it, use a virtual machine, or use software like Crossover, which successfully "tricks" many Windows apps into running without Windows.

I can also tell you that no other laptop has the integrated multi-touch trackpad/button that MacBooks now have. I've always hated using a trackpad, preferring a mouse. This new multi-touch trackpad is freaking amazing and won me over completely.

As for MS Office for Mac... it's not quite on par with MS Office for Windows. In fact, you may be better off using OpenOffice or NeoOffice instead.

As for your specs, I suspect that will do. If you wind up needing to run Windows in a virtual machine like Parallels, you'll want to max out your RAM, which can be gotten much cheaper from 3rd parties.
 
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Thanks for the insight, the secure system is definitely the thing thats drawing me to get a Mac. I have played around a little bit with a friends Mac, it doesn't seem to confusing and does seem like it can be figured out rather quickly. So I don't think I will need to go back to windows on the computer. And I have to be honest, I'm not sure what your mean with the multi-touch trackpad??

My concern with not using office is how my computer will handle receiving and sending files from teacher and classemate's, most of which use Microsoft Office on there PC's. Will I have trouble with this or will they? and does the OpenOffice or NeoOffice come on the Mac's? I can get a copy of Microsoft Office for my Mac for free.

As for the specs pricing, could I upgrade anything later on? And like you said with the ram, are the rest of the upgrades able to be purchased at a lower price somewhere else??
 
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White MacBook. iLife '09. iWork '09. Mac OS X 10.6
Multi-touch trackpad: The trackpad of your computer can be touched with more than one finger to perform different functions. You can also use multiple-finger gestures.

OpenOffice or NeoOffice don't come with macs, but you can download either one. I don't like them personally, so I'd recommend Apple's iWork. Much nicer interface than MS Office and 99.9% compatible. Don't worry, I do this all the time for my school work and it comes out just fine.

As for ram, there are several companies that sell it. Crucial is a great place that sells it (they have ads on this forum frequently-just click on them to go to the website). But those specs look fine for what you want to do. With SL (Snow Leopard) on the way though, you may need more ram. I don't know.
 
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Thanks for the insight, the secure system is definitely the thing thats drawing me to get a Mac. I have played around a little bit with a friends Mac, it doesn't seem to confusing and does seem like it can be figured out rather quickly. So I don't think I will need to go back to windows on the computer. And I have to be honest, I'm not sure what your mean with the multi-touch trackpad??

The new aluminum MacBooks have a trackpad that doubles at the mouse button. The entire trackpad is a button. But how it operates depends on how many fingers you are using and how you are using them. One finger push is left-click, two-finger push is right click. You can scroll pages by simply running two fingers up/down or left/right on the pad, and much more. Once you adapt to it, it truly is awesome.
Multi-finger MacBook trackpad gestures demonstrated on video

My concern with not using office is how my computer will handle receiving and sending files from teacher and classemate's, most of which use Microsoft Office on there PC's. Will I have trouble with this or will they? and does the OpenOffice or NeoOffice come on the Mac's? I can get a copy of Microsoft Office for my Mac for free.

Unless they are using some really advanced features and formatting in MS Office that aren't replicated in the version for OS X, you should have no worries. You can download OpenOffice or NeoOffice for free. MS Office isn't free. I suggest searching the forums for more discussions about the three.

As for the specs pricing, could I upgrade anything later on? And like you said with the ram, are the rest of the upgrades able to be purchased at a lower price somewhere else??

Besides the RAM, the hard drive is easily upgradable. I'm not so sure about the processor itself. There's nothing else that potentially is upgradable.
 

cwa107


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14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Besides the RAM, the hard drive is easily upgradable. I'm not so sure about the processor itself. There's nothing else that potentially is upgradable.

All of the Mac notebooks have non-upgradeable processors (they're soldered fast to the systemboard).
 
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A very important aspect of this which you need to take into consideration is whether or not the software you'll need for business and accounting classes or even in professional use, will be available for the Mac. A friend of mine at work, is also a business major at Baruch College, and said that he recently bought a new Dell rather than a Mac because of not being able to get the software he needed for the Mac.

Of course there's the option of running VMware or something similar, but he isn't into that for some reason. He'd rather just deal w/a single OS I guess.

Doug
 
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Does the white macbook have the multi-touch trackpad or is it only the aluminum ones?

Yeah I was thinking about going to up the 4GB of RAM just to be on the safe side. I can get MS Office for a Mac for free so that isn't a concern. I will definitely check out IWorks though now and see how I like it, thanks!

I didn't even think that there is certain software that I won't be able to use on my Mac for my accounting classses. Thanks for the heads up, do you by any chance remember which software he couldn't use?
 
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Also with what I am going to be using it for, would you suggest upgrading to an aluminum macbook or will the white be just fine? Or is there some major performance differences that warrant the higher price? From the outside looking in, I would rather spend that money on a printer and the Apple care package.
 
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The white MacBook would probably suit your needs fine. If you happen to need Firewire, then the aluminum MacBook is out of the question since it lacks Firewire. It has a "normal" Mac trackpad with one separate button and implements some early multi-touch features, though not quite as advanced as the one on the current aluminum models is capable of.
 
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Most colleges send out computer offers through the school and lists of necessary software at some time during the summer. I suspect they'll come soon. Wait to purchase a computer until you are sure you won't need software outside of MS Office. You will, almost undoubtedly, be required to use Excel for a number of your classes.

I'm not sure what school you are going to attend, but many universities with a focus on business require all students to get the same laptop to make sure there are no incompatibility problems. Double-check on that too. Also, if you're going to attend a tour, open-house day, or orientation at the school during the summer, just ask one of the students you see around campus if they have or know of anyone with a Mac. That would clear things up nicely.

Have fun at school. College is the best.
 
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Is the aluminum macbook much better then the white macbook? I have heard that the screen is better and the graphics are but since I'm not getting a Mac to use it for any design purpose that really doesn't affect me. The new multi-touch trackpad would be nice to have, but not for $300 extra.
 

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Is the aluminum macbook much better then the white macbook? I have heard that the screen is better and the graphics are but since I'm not getting a Mac to use it for any design purpose that really doesn't affect me. The new multi-touch trackpad would be nice to have, but not for $300 extra.

The differences in the screen alone are worth $300. That's one thing you have to take into account when you buy a notebook, as the screen is not upgradeable. Always buy the best you can afford.
 
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I have heard that opinion before about the screen and it isn't something I'm concerned with, I'm more concerned with what else makes the price difference acceptable. Oh and I am pretty much borderline with the price. If I go with the cheaper aluminum macbook, I can't upgrade anything, while with the white macbook I can do some upgrades with the extra $300
 
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I have heard that opinion before about the screen and it isn't something I'm concerned with, I'm more concerned with what else makes the price difference acceptable. Oh and I am pretty much borderline with the price. If I go with the cheaper aluminum macbook, I can't upgrade anything, while with the white macbook I can do some upgrades with the extra $300

The aluminum MacBook is 4.5 pounds, vs 5.0 for the white one.

The aluminum one is sexy with that unibody aluminum shell, and has the more recent multi-touch trackpad.

The white MacBook has a 55-watt-hour battery, the aluminum is 45-watt-hour. But the screen on the aluminum uses less power, iirc, so I think the difference in battery power is probably irrelevant.

The aluminum MB has MUCH faster RAM... 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM vs 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM on the white MB.

The white MB has a firewire port... the aluminum doesn't.

That's pretty much what the differences boil down to (aside from the aforementioned screen differences). Faster RAM and half a pound less weight are the non-cosmetic advantages to the aluminum MacBook. The improved multi-touch trackpad will likely make for a better experience. Being integrated as the button also, you have more surface area to use as a trackpad, and it has more advanced gestures than the regular trackpad on the white. The pluses for the white MB are the firewire port (if you need it) and price.

Apple - MacBook - Technical Specifications - Specs for the MacBook (white)
Apple - MacBook - Technical Specifications - All the specs for the 13-inch MacBook notebook
 
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Way... way too many specs to list.
FWIW my wife's an accounting student.. and has a macbook... she runs vmware and resolved any software issues that way.. now hates XP :D
 
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Do you not have to run any kind of AV software on OS X?
 
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lifeisabeach
Do you not have to run any kind of AV software on OS X?

Nope... there's nothing to screen for. There are no viruses. None. Zero. Nada. And while there are a couple trojans disguised as commercial software, it's simple enough to avoid them by simply not pirating software.

Some people advocate using AV software to avoid forwarding virus-ridden emails to Windows users... for the sake of the Windows users, not ourselves. Quite frankly, if those Windows users aren't running AV software already, then they likely are already screwed. I don't feel I should have to look out for them.
 
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FWIW my wife's an accounting student.. and has a macbook... she runs vmware and resolved any software issues that way.. now hates XP :D

What kind of macbook does she have?

And this probably makes me look really dumb, but what exactly is vmware?

And what were some of the issues that she was having?
 
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