<p>We are planning to get our son a new MBP (not the retina one). He is starting at Cornell in the fall. Also considering a nice sized monitor and keyboard for his desk. </p>
<p>Should he take his MBP to class to take notes or would it make sense to get an inexpensive netbook for note taking? Will he need to email his notes to back it up to his MPB or external hard drive or is there a better way? Feeling confused. We are a Mac house with a few PC computers, too (which I avoid like the plague). </p>
<p>If he will use a netbook in class, I would consider the 15", but I would get the 13" MBP if he will take it to class. Of course, he could just get a desktop computer if the netbook is going to class. Pros or cons to help with these decisions would be greatly appreciated. Grandparents and others are helping with these purchases as graduation gifts, so we do have some flexibility.</p>
<p>^ I think it first depends on the class culture at Cornell: Do most or few students take notes on a laptop? Do profs generally allow it or not? The CC Cornell board might be able to say. And is your son already used to taking class notes on a laptop?</p>
<p>My guess is that your son will end up not wanting to switch devices during the course of a day, that he’ll stick with one, and the MBP is the best compromise, though our DD likes her 13" Air better than the 15" MBP for portability.</p>
<p>Macs being factually superior for graphic design in this day and age… now thats comedy.</p>
<p>I bought the new MacBook pro 13’ and I love it!! It’s my first laptop and my first Apple. It’s quite the beauty.</p>
<p>It 'aint factually - it’s actually. Mac rules graphic design, the disparity to PC’s and Windows is a travesty. Show me a graphic designer who works on a PC, and I’ll show you a Graphic Designer who can’t design and is out of work. If I interview a designer and they even mention working on a PC, they go in the “instant reject” pile.</p>
<p>Any other thoughts on 13" Air vs. 13" Pro? Air has a longer lasting battery. We are now looking at Time Capsule to go with it, external monitor and keyboard for the room.</p>
<p>I was just in the same position deciding between the 13 inch pro or 13 inch air. I ultimately decided on the pro. The battery life on the pro may be less than the air, but it certainly isn’t bad by any means. </p>
<p>After looking at both, I felt that the pro was just a better value for the money. I didn’t like the idea of having to buy a separate cd drive and extra memory if I needed it, I would rather have it and not have to worry about it in the future. People also talk about how small the air is, but to me it seemed like it’s almost too small; like it would get crushed by heavy books in a backpack, or something. People talk about the pro like it’s this monster computer or something, but it’s not even that big compared to a lot of other laptops.</p>
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<p>I don’t believe that you can upgrade the memory yourself on the Air - you have to get it right up-front. There are rumors that Apple will bring out a 13 inch Retina Mac in the fall. That should be a killer machine - with the appropriate killer price.</p>
<p>We hadn’t realized about the separate cd drive issue until tonight at the store. The salesperson last time didn’t mention it. We just bought the 13" Macbook Pro (the nicer one). Ordered it from the Cornell store for $50 less than student pricing through Apple plus you get the $100 gift card (free shipping and no tax added).</p>
<p>We were leaning towards the retina display pro for my D, except i just realized it doesn’t have a k-slot for the cable lock systems available for theft deterrence. The standard MBPs still have the slot. The MBAs don’t have the slot. I wouldn’t send my kid to a college campus with a bike without a bike lock, I’m not sure I want to send her with a computer that can’t be locked. She can’t control whether her dorm mates will be vigilant about locking doors etc… The lack of optical drive and inability to upgrade the system on the air or retina models didn’t bother me, but the inability to at least attempt to prevent easy theft of such a device is a concern.</p>
<p>Griffin claims this one works with MBP (though not specifically with Retina), and is only $10.00:</p>
<p>[TechSafe</a> Cable Lock System for Laptops - Griffin Technology](<a href=“http://store.griffintechnology.com/techsafe-cable-lock-system]TechSafe”>http://store.griffintechnology.com/techsafe-cable-lock-system)</p>
<p>It works with the hinge, not with the K slot. It’s not for Air.</p>
<p>I have a tool in my desk or toolkit that can cut through those cable locks in a few seconds. I suppose that cable locks provide protection against the casual thief but do nothing against someone that can afford a cutting tool.</p>
<p>Our daughter got the external optical drive for her Air and hasn’t taken it out of the box in nine months; she does everything (including all audio and video) with WiFi from her cable feed (high speed makes it practical). I’d guess she fits in with Apple market research results. ;)</p>
<p>I haven’t used an optical drive in some time either. If I really needed one, I’d just access it remotely from a desktop or laptop with such a drive.</p>
<p>Here’s the Anandtech review of it:
[AnandTech</a> - The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review](<a href=“http://www.anandtech.com/show/6023/the-nextgen-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-review/1]AnandTech”>The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review)
Definitely not for me. I need my ethernet and VGA outputs and optical drive.</p>
<p>edit - wow, mechanical hard drives are not an option. 256 GB is simply not enough for me, and upgrades are expensive. Also I really don’t like the sharp thing in front of the trackpad for opening the lid that seems to be prevalent in all of Apple’s laptops.</p>
<p>I ordered the 512 GB model upgraded to 16 GB and I ordered a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter and a MagSafe to MagSafe 2 adapter. I have DVI, HDML and VGA monitors (most monitors have multiple ports) so this model should work with what I have. I also ordered a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter because I like the performance of Gigabyte Ethernet.</p>
<p>I’ll use the optical drive in my old 17 inch MacBook Pro remotely if I need an optical drive.</p>