<p>Okay, so I've owned a few Mac's before and currently own a MacBook Pro that I will be giving to my brother. I am now in the market for a new laptop for my first year in college. Since I'm familiar with Mac's and the fact that I can boot Linux, OSX, and Windows on it, does it seem like a good idea to get a Mac? I'm looking for portability, battery life, and overall just a good dependable laptop. </p>
<p>I've been looking at the new 13" MacBook Air's and don't really know what to look for in a Windows laptop. Current specs that I've been looking at for a MacBook Air are as follows:</p>
<p>This build costs $1609 and comes with a $100 gift card. I'm still debating between 256GB of storage or 512GB. The difference in price would be $270 and would come out to $1339 for the 256GB. </p>
<p>I've heard ASUS laptops are great, but honestly don't know what I'm going to get. The things about the MacBook Air that are swaying me from a Windows laptop are:</p>
<p>-12 hour battery life
-Super thin and lightweight, very portable
-Amazing support in case of problems
-Dependable
-Great build quality... I know it won't break
-Best trackpad I've ever used and they keyboard is wonderful as well
-Personally like OS X more than Windows, but with a MacBook I have the option of running Windows, OS X, and Linux without having to use Virtual Machines.</p>
<p>These are just things I like about the MacBook's in general. Since I've used Mac's more than Windows, I haven't really looked into Windows laptops and therefore don't really know what their advantages are, hence why I'd like some insight.</p>
<p>If you like OSX better than windows you should definitely go with a Mac (you will regret it if you don’t). I would recommend getting the 256 SSD and buying a 500gb external drive for $70.</p>
<p>@barrk123: That’s what I was thinking… I’ve become so familiar with OSX that I don’t think I’d be able to change without feeling a tinge of regret. I’ve also been weighing the option of the i7 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, as opposed to i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. </p>
<p>The only issue with the i7/8GB RAM/256GB SSD that I see is 1.) I do not see myself using very demanding programs, and from what I’ve read, CS majors don’t exactly use programs that are *that{/I] demanding, and 2.) I plan on keeping this laptop through my 4 years of college and like keeping all of my media and files in one place as opposed to on the SSD and an external drive.</p>
<p>I actually owned a 1TB external drive that broke last year when my dog bumped into my laptop while it was charging causing the external drive to disconnect and fall onto the wood floor 2 feet below. The drive stopped working and had lost all of my files, videos, and pictures (about 1000 pics/vids). Needless to say I was not happy and don’t really see myself getting another external drive.</p>
<p>On the other hand, on my current MacBook Pro (it has a 500GB HDD) I’ve only used 177.2GB of space, with 246GB of free space, and a 75GB bootcamp partition. </p>
<p>@SerenityJade: The school has already stated that any laptop running Windows or OSX will be fine, I’ll still email the professor and see what his thoughts are, though. Thanks for the suggetsion!</p>
<p>@baktrax: I just wanted to get some input from other members to see if what they thought of this or if it would be the right choice, but I now see that it is for me.</p>
<p>As long as you can use a text editor and SSH client it doesn’t matter what you use. Everything else is preference, I use a thirdhand laptop (my dad bought it used and then passed it down to me) and it gets the job done. I would prefer to use a Mac because the OS gives you a more clean, spacious working space and it’s trendy but for the price they go for you can get a much more powerful laptop running on Windows 8.</p>