<p>I am thinking about getting a macbook for college, but I am having a hard time deciding between the 15" and 13". I am undecided about my major, but I will be taking some computer science classes. </p>
<p>I need to be able to carry it in my backpack without it being too heavy (I'm a small girl and weigh ~110 pounds). I also want something that will last for more than my four years of college. I will primarily use it for word documents, youtube, browsing the web, and watching movies/tv shows.</p>
<p>Anything bigger than a 10" netbook is too heavy for this 200lb geezer :-). </p>
<p>If the budget allows, MacBook Air, otherwise Pro 13" and a decent external LCD for the dorm room… Do your eyes a favor and don’t do most of your work on a 13" or 15" screen.</p>
<p>Unless you don’t have a desk in your dorm room I really can’t see that being that case. But if you don’t get an external monitor you should get the 15".</p>
<p>How do you backup your Macbook Pro in your “tiny” dorm room? (I am concerned about the limited desktop space of the typical desk in the dorm room.) Do most students do backup at all at school?</p>
<p>The current lower-end 15" Macbook Pro has a 500 GB, 5400 RPM internal hard drive. How large the backup hard drive should be, if I use Time Machine?</p>
<p>Will you recommend me to get another external hard drive in order to always keep a bootable copy of the disk image of the internal hard drive (i.e., using the free Carbon Copy Cloner to make the copy)?</p>
<p>MacBook Pro 13 inch is the best bet! Their way better than crappy Pc, more reliable, better battery life (7 hrs), faster processors (13 inch has a 2.3 ghz) and the 15 inch is slightly better but may be to big. Hope this helped</p>
<p>The processor is not very fast at all, are you even aware the 13 inch macbook only has a dual core? I just bought a $400 HP laptop that has a 2.4ghz dual core. The only thing the mac has better is the battery life, but if you want to spend an extra $800 for 2 hours more battery life along with a crippled operating system, be my guest.</p>
<p>OS X has a Unix core. It’s based on Darwin, which is largely BSD. Unix is anything but crippled, and while OS X does tend to hide things from the user, they’re still there and can still be modified, often much more easily and safely than things on Windows (I’ll take plists, ~/Library’s files, and those in /etc over the registry any day, thanks). In general, although not without exception, OS X is more user friendly, more stable, and more enjoyable to use than Windows. Windows 7 is an improvement, but OS X still wins on just about every count, at least in my opinion.</p>
Is OS X Lion really that bad? There are still some problems to fix for sure as it is very new. But in recent years, Apple has had a quite good track record to fix problems.</p>
<p>For many users, the processor’s speed is rarely a concern. (It is true that a 13 inch macbook pro has a dual core, not a quad core.) If you can afford a solid state drive instead of a hard drive, you can then really notice the speed difference for a normal user (not a gamer.) But the solid state drive is so expensive!</p>
<p>The screen quality and the battery life may be a bigger concern for most users. The overheat problem, if any, is an even more serious one.</p>
<p>I have been using OSX 10.7 (Lion) for a couple of weeks now, and like it very much. It is running on a Mac Mini with a 2.5GHz i5 and AMD Radeon graphics, and feels very fast and stable. I particularly like the full-screen options and new window scrolling features. It should run great on MB Pro or Air laptops that have similar specs.</p>
<p>^Do u have the magic trackpad alf? I’ve been wondering if the lion upgrade is really worth it if you don’t have access to the multitouch gestures that are now such a big part of the OS. Ive heard its nice without it and it’s super cheap for an OS upgrade, just haven’t been motivated enough to grab it yet.</p>
<p>OS X Lion is a fantastic operating system. Windows 7 is good but not perfect by any means. I’ve never had any major problems with my MacBook. I wish I could say the same for my desktop PC.</p>
<p>Big Cat, I have the Magic Mouse, but not the trackpad. I played with Lion in an Apple store, using the trackpad, and thought that it was great, but I’m not ready to give up my mouse. The Magic Mouse cannot handle all the gestures that are possible in Lion (I’m told), but I’m OK with the one and two-finger gestures I already know how to use.</p>
<p>And, my suggestion is that anyone who thinks that the sole difference between a $400 HP laptop and a MacBook is a little bit more battery life and a ‘crippled’ operating system, should not be taken seriously. However, I do have a one-finger gesture for him.</p>