<p>I thought I saw a thread on this topic weeks ago, but can<code>t find it now. My parents are giving me a new computer for HS graduation. I</code>d like to go with the MacBook Air because it is so light, but I<code>m concerned that it won</code>t be powerful enough. Mac<code>s are also a lot more expensive, and I</code>m not convinced it<code>s worth it. I will be pre-med, if that makes any difference and I</code>m obviously not a <code>power</code> user--just looking to do school work, tunes, pictures, and web. Any insights would be appreciated!</p>
<p>My parents just got me the hp envy 6, it’s a brand new line that hp just introduced last wednesday. I haven’t received it yet, but when I so I’ll let you know how it is. It seems to be a very good machine, and out was significantly less than a mac, especially with hp’s student discount.</p>
<p>A MacBook Air would probably be okay for generic student use, but I’d say just go with the MacBook Pro if you were to get a MacBook. It’d be a safer bet with greater long-term use. They’re supposedly going to be releasing new models this summer alongside the release of OS X Mountain Lion.</p>
<p>Good to know. Thank you! Are there discounts thru UM?</p>
<p>The discount is through Apple itself (other manufacturers may have discounts for students too), not through the university. <a href=“http://store.apple.com/us-hed[/url]”>http://store.apple.com/us-hed</a></p>
<p>The Macbook Air is fine for school work/web but if you have a lot of music or pictures, you may find yourself filling up the HD pretty quickly. It doesn’t have an optical drive either (in case you still buy your music on CDs). If you are thinking Apple, I would hold off for a little. Intel just recently released its new IvyBridge processors and there is a lot of speculation that it is going to drive a huge upgrade in Apple’s laptop line. </p>
<p>[Mac</a> Buyer’s Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone](<a href=“http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/]Mac”>http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/)</p>
<p>Unless you are a hog of Hard Drive space you will be more than happy with a Macbook Air. Even if you are (and you can only fill it up basically with very heavy software and a lot of movies and uncompressed music), you can always get a external USB hard drive, they are extremely cheap these days as are the USB drives.</p>
<p>My brother has the new 13" Air and he is extremely happy with it for college. It’s still powerful enough to play some games and run all the music, videos and media you would want.</p>
<p>I am waiting for the updated processors to come out in Apple’s laptops lineup and I will probably buy the Macbook Air as well.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you right now that MacBooks aren’t worth the extra money. There’s no extra bang for your buck. Windows does everything that Macs can do for much cheaper.</p>
<p>I know this because I’ve worked with both Macs and Windows extensively, and I have several friends who bought Macs at the suggestion of Apple fanatics and regret the choice.</p>
<p>Huh, this discussion brings me back to when I was a kid and had a giant desktop computer with about 1GB of hard drive space (which meant about 800MB for my and my parent’s stuff, with the OS installed). I was always having to delete some file or another in order to make room for another. Then my dad threw the computer away and when I finally got a laptop for school I never ran out of HD space (because, obviously, we keep increasing the capacity).</p>
<p>In any case, on point: I use a mac, but a macbook pro is too much. I’d go with a macbook air. I avoid PC’s after my last one exploded, and I’m a programmer and OSX’s compatibility with Linux platforms is quite useful in this regard. If I had a PC I’d dual boot with Ubuntu, but that’s not necessary with my mac.</p>
<p>Here is the link to the other thread you saw…:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-miami-florida/1305511-laptop-suggestions-anyone.html?highlight=laptop[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-miami-florida/1305511-laptop-suggestions-anyone.html?highlight=laptop</a></p>
<p>Here’s an outsider’s advice:
[Komando.com</a>, Website for The Kim Komando Radio Show®, Komando Toolbox](<a href=“http://www.komando.com/toolbox.aspx?mode=print&id=12671]Komando.com”>http://www.komando.com/toolbox.aspx?mode=print&id=12671)</p>
<p>I received my HP Envy 6 last week, and I’m EXTREMELY impressed. Even without a 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge processor (2nd Generation i5) it’s extremely speedy, and I’ve clocked it at an average of 15 seconds to boot up (of course, now you can get it with a 3rd generation processor instead of 2nd generation). I will be making a video review soon, but if you have any questions feel free to send me a message!</p>
<p>im trying to decide between the macbook air and the macbook pro. im leaning towards the air but one concern i have is the space. it has 1/4 less space than the pro so do you think that that is too little an amount to have in a college setting?</p>
<p>If you’re worried about storage capacity, just get an external hard drive.</p>