<p>I'm trying to decide between a 13" MacBook and a 15" MacBook Pro as a college laptop. Aside from cost, my understanding is that the main difference between the two are size/weight and screen size/graphics.</p>
<p>Is there a significant difference in portability? How would you compare them/which would you recommend?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I have a 13 inch notebook for traveling and find the screen resolution cramped. Our kids have 15 inch MacBook Pros and those are nicer. My main laptop is a 17 inch MacBook Pro which I love.</p>
<p>It’s basically a tradeoff. If you’re going to be doing a lot of work which requires higher resolution, then the larger screen would probably be better. An alternative would be to put a 20 inch monitor in your dorm room and hook it up to the MacBook.</p>
<p>I just made this choice last week, and I choose the 15" MBP. My reasoning was that with the mbp I was able to upgrade the processor to 2.93 gHz and I wanted the better graphics.</p>
<p>There isn’t that much difference in portability.</p>
<p>i would go with a macbook. with the last updates there’s almost no difference between macbook and macbook pro, except if you’re doing heavy movie editing stuff. for portability, though, i think 15" macbooks are portable enough.</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d go with the MacBook. For what I use computers for, really nothing between the two would be noticeably different, with the exception of the screen. For me, a bigger screen isn’t worth quite that much! (I do a lot of web browsing, and have a huge music library. That’s about it.)</p>
<p>To be clear, the difference shows in 3D graphics, which makes the MBP a better gaming machine. FCP is not 3D, though the Motion program is, but any real editing in college is done on dedicated machines. </p>
<p>I’ve said before, consider an external monitor and a cheaper machine. A 15" screen doesn’t compare to a 20" or more flat panel on your desk.</p>
<p>I ultimately decided on the upper level 13" MacBook. I get the powerful 2.4gHz processor, the 250 gig hard drive, and the backlit keyboard (hey, I think its cool), and it’s enough for me. If I get tired of the small screen, then I’ll find a cheap monitor, no biggie. But I don’t want 15 or 17 inches of screen sitting on those tiny little fold out desks you get in auditoriums.</p>
<p>OK, time for some fine-print. I will be an applied math major at Duke this fall with research in Neuroscience, brain-mapping and AI/Robotics. So, there would be considerable research work including simulations, algorithm testing and heavy-duty math modeling. Taking all that into account, should I go for the Macbook Pro or a Macbook OR perhaps a Windows laptop?</p>
<p>Noob question: Can you run Linux on a Macbook?</p>
<p>Yes you can run linux on a Mac.</p>
<p>The macbook pro offers up to a 2.93 ghz processor while the macbook only offers a 2.4 ghz. If you’re doing heavy-duty math modeling, the processor speed is definitely important.</p>
<p>For computations that are not graphics intensive, a macbook and macbook pro of the same processor speed will perform almost identically, so you’d need to get a higher level MBP to make it worth your while.</p>
<p>Again, it’s not graphics intensive but 3D graphics intensive where the difference really shows. The MacBook is perfectly capable of doing, for example, movie editing because that’s 2D. You’d need to consider what the simulations are - I’d ask the department. You’d face the same issue with Windows laptops; the price largely determines the components and you’ll get either integrated graphics or a low quality dedicated chip unless you spend the money.</p>
<p>There’s a trend in scientific computing to use GPUs for their FP processing power. Discrete GPUs have far more floating point computational power than do CPUs.</p>
<p>I’m typing this on my 13" MacBook as we speak. </p>
<p>OP: I find the 13" to be more than sufficient. If you’ve grown up on 24" monitors, then yeah, it will seem tiny, but my desktop is a 20" monitor, and my mom’s laptop I used was a 12", and I love the 13". It’s small enough to be portable, but big enough to watch movies on. No, you can’t set it on the other side of the room and watch them, but it’s plenty big, IMO. I bought the 2.4GHz processor equipped one, and it’s really fast, even compared to my desktop. Granted, my desktop only has a 2.0GHz dual core, but still, this is a pretty mean machine for a mid size laptop.</p>
<p>For the Duke guy, I’d probably go with the Pro so you can get the beast processor, but at the same time, that’s one darn expensive computer… I’d make sure you won’t be using lab computers before you invest in that machine. Not cheap. The lab I work in has tons of departmental computers (some of which are very fast machines) for community use- I’d recommend that if you can. </p>
<p>Regardless, I love my MacBook to death, and don’t wish for one second that I’d gotten the Pro, other than to have bragging rights. But this is a pretty powerful machine (again, powerful for what it is) and will definitely get many jobs done.</p>
<p>the macbook is pretty expensive, so why should one get a macbook over, say, a dell, acer, or hp? Those would be much cheaper. How is a macbook better? (I want to know because I can’t find that anywhere and I want to buy a laptop for college. A macbook. But everyone around me tells me I should get one cheaper).</p>
<p>The word ‘better’ might not be the right word.</p>
<p>Macs are just different.
well one major reason why many choose mac over other brands is the operating system. Different people have different preferences. For example, my sister gave me a hard time about getting a mac while she got a cheaper dell, but I prefer OS X to windows so I forked out the extra dough.</p>
<p>Well the Macbook and the Pro are the same model now with the white macbook being known as the macbook. All unibodies are pro’s now.</p>
<p>no…all unibodys are not pros…</p>
<p>[Apple</a> - MacBook - Slim aluminum 13-inch Mac notebook](<a href=“http://www.apple.com/macbook/]Apple”>Mac - Apple)</p>
<p>oh and the macbooks and macbook pros are being refreshed today with a lower price on the macbook pros now. The macbook pro will now start at $1699 with the same graphics card that comes in the macbook currently and the macbook will start at $1199</p>
<p>where did u get that info</p>
<p>[Apple’s</a> new MacBook family: non-removable batteries, lower prices](<a href=“http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/08/apple-announces-new-macbook-pro-at-wwdc-2009/]Apple’s”>Apple's new MacBook family: non-removable batteries, lower prices)</p>
<p>Today is the apple WWDC</p>
<p>i was debating whether or not to get a macbook or the macbook pro. with the new price cut, looks like i might be getting the macbook pro. also, i might get an iphone haha. did apple make any announcements as to when the new iphone will be sold? and the new macbooks?</p>
<p>The new macbooks will be available later today supposedly, I haven’t looked at the iphone announcements if they’ve made any yet. But they are releasing the iphone OS 3.0 soon as well as Snow leopard in september for macs with an upgrade price of $29</p>