<p>So I am looking to get a new laptop. I am leaning towards a MacBook Air or Pro. I would like to keep it under 1250. I am majoring in either business or computer science. I might be minoring in computer science. My current laptop is a 2010 acer aspire 17.3 inch. and here are the problems with it</p>
<p>viruses-very easily
its very slow
its screen is large and doesnt fit in most bags.
its very heavy at about 7lbs
its out dated
it has problems running heavy software
battery only last about 2 hours at best
it has broke USB ports
Sound only works sometimes</p>
<p>needless to say its new laptop time. And heres what I need in a laptop</p>
<p>portable
light weight
long battery life
multiple usb ports
SD card slot
needs to run, either keynote/pages/numbers or microsoft office
Photoshop and Lightroom-Photography is a hobby of mine
iMovie-on a rare occasion, or a good equivalent of that.
compatible with printer
And I might need an optical drive
lots of storage, or low enough so I can get an external hard drive-I store photos, music, and videos on my laptop.
does NOT get viruses easily</p>
<p>cost is important, but these are more. I will spend a little more to get a laptop the fits my needs for college.</p>
<p>Macbook Air seems fine if you are fine with buying an external hard drive/Optical Drive. As for the virus issue you might want to check out Trend Micro Anti Virus.</p>
<p>Wait a few weeks, get the Macbook Pro. They should be coming out with the new Haswell processor update which should increase the battery life another 3-4 hours from whatever the current generation macbooks are getting.</p>
<p>I have been using a MacBook Air for programming work as well as Photoshop/Lightroom (as I do photography and a lot of post-processing), as well as for traveling and writing and that sort of thing, and it is an excellent machine. My 3-year-old one still holds up pretty well on the latest OS, albeit it is a bit slow when it comes to big Photoshop or Lightroom files.</p>
<p>If you’re focused on portability, go for the Air. It’s pretty fast for normal work, like Word and that sort of thing, and acceptably fast for Photoshop (I do design on the side, and it works well.)</p>
<p>If you absolutely need computing power and don’t want an external hard drive, go for the Pro (preferably with an SSD still, for speed). Or, if you’re doing a <em>lot</em> of graphics work.</p>
<p>Both are great for CS work, though if you’re doing Java, Eclipse might be a little sluggish on the Air. For what you’re doing, I’d lean towards the Pro, since it’s also a bit more future-proof.</p>