<p>for all the people bashing macs: as someone who has seen both sides and actually knows how to use a computer, macs are actually quite nice. the macbook pro runs w7 perfectly with bootcamp. also, the “dell batteries” aren’t any less effective as any other battery. you simply just don’t know how to use it correctly. </p>
<p>when you use your computer with the cord, you’re supposed to either 1) take out the battery if it’s full 2) charge the battery until it’s full and then take it out. Why? Because the cord charges the battery and it keeps discharging if it’s full, effectively taking out the amount of charge the battery can hold. The macbook batteries are different – and seeing as how the’re non-removable, they kind of have to be – they have a special chip that tells the cord to stop charging the battery and directly port the charge form the cord to the computer.</p>
<p>yes, the macs are expensive and i would say don’t go for them unless you have the money to spend but the macbooks are far superior in terms of the screen (you can see from any angle, whereas the laptops from any other manufacturer will start to discolor), better build quality (unibody > plastic), and just from personal preference, the keyboard is amazing.</p>
<p>however, if you don’t have the money for a macbook pro, i’d say get an ibm thinkpad, hp, asus, dell, or acer. (ranked in preference).</p>
<p>don’t get a netbook. they’re literally worthless.</p>
<p>edit: yeah, wait for the i5 processors. the macbook pros are going to be running the i5’s i don’t think they’ll have i7 except for the desktops. it should be coming out fairly soon. look for the laptops on a school bookstore website though. they were selling the student discounted macbooks at a lower price than normal</p>
<p>^^my major contention is basically a very strong processor. seeing as the arrandale processor family(ie. mobile i7,i5,i3) offers the greatest performance out on the market right now im leaning towards getting a macbook pro WITH that processor architecture.</p>
<p>the bottom is where the mbps are. it has gotten to the point where some retailers have taken off the SKU for the older macbooks and put in newer “dummy” ones in preparation for the new ones</p>
<p>they’re going to release another nvidia most likely more powerful than the 9400 (the 15 and 17 in ones have a 9600) that is able to switch between cards without having to log out. most likely more powerful, not sure though.</p>
<p>oh for the record, if you’re going to be lugging that thing around all day, i’d get the 13.3 inch one. i have the 15. i bought it pretty hastily in December when i should’ve waited for the Arrandale ones as well, but i needed a laptop for my stay in Taiwan. I’ll probably be purchasing a 13.3 by itself to carry to classes.</p>
<p>if you don’t mind the weight, then go for the 15, but if you do, then go ahead and get the 13.</p>
<p>oh for the record, if you’re going to be lugging that thing around all day, i’d get the 13.3 inch one. i have the 15. i bought it pretty hastily in December when i should’ve waited for the Arrandale ones as well, but i needed a laptop for my stay in Taiwan. I’ll probably be purchasing a 13.3 by itself to carry to classes.</p>
<p>if you don’t mind the weight, then go for the 15, but if you do, then go ahead and get the 13.</p>
<p><em>recognizes x61t recommendation</em> Those can be modded to have the best LCD I’ve ever seen on a laptop. </p>
<p>I’ve had a lot of Macs, and currently have a Sony. If you’re going into physics or engineering related majors (math too), you might as well get a tablet because otherwise what’s the point?</p>
<p>I disagree, but it depends on what you are doing. I have a macbook and a dell mini 9 (on which I added an extra 2GB RAM and installed Linux). The macbook is great, but to be honest, I do most of my schoolwork and browsing on the mini9. It weighs all of a kilogram, which is awesome when it comes to toting it around on campus.</p>
<p>The downsides to it are: you can’t game on it, it’s a little hard to type on (small keyboard), and the screen is tiny. I’ve gotten used to the keyboard (and can now write papers-- lots and lots of papers --on it), and I don’t play video games (if I did, I’d probably play them on the macbook). And the screen? What can you do? It only cost me $350 with student discount at UCSD bookstore. Btw, newsflash: SD CC students can pick up student discounts at UCSD bookstore with school ID.</p>
<p>However, I can write papers, make graphs, browse the web, check email, compile java apps, run Google Earth, and lug the thing around in a backpack without potentially slipping a disc. So I guess it just depends on what you need. I needed something cheap that I could be productive for school on. My netbook totally fulfills that.</p>