Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, MacBook
Looking for a computer for school?
Summer's end is almost upon us, and you know what that means: back to school! Right now I am sure there are millions of students clamoring to get their various school supplies in order. Pens, paper, Trapper Keepers, and computers.Now, it won't come as a shock to you that we are a little biased towards Macs here on TUAW. Luckily, someone who writes for a real newspaper (they still make those?) thinks that no matter what institute of higher learning you're going to a MacBook will be your best companion.
I can't agree more, thanks to being able to run Windows (in a number of ways) the MacBook is a great portable for any student.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bonzo said 9:39AM on 8-28-2006
err...any chance of a link ;-)
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Peter Mankarious said 9:43AM on 8-28-2006
I just got one for this reason, and I love this machine. The first Mac I've had as well.
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Shreedhan said 11:33AM on 8-28-2006
Mine's on order! But due to lack of parts it gonna take an extra week!! That sucks! Sort it out apple!
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jason said 10:22AM on 8-28-2006
shreedhan im actually selling mine on eBay (just listed late last night) not to try and spam as i love tuaw, but maybe you would be wanting it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=018&item=280022510704&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
offering free shipping, if you mention TUAW ill throw in free upgrade to priority with buy it now! =P
the macbook is great, im just going to replace it and my dual g5 for a new macpro once they start shipping.
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Will said 10:51AM on 8-28-2006
If you're a graduate in computer graphics, the Macbook is not the best companion.
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eugene said 11:29AM on 8-28-2006
jason - is that offer open to all TUAWers?
as for MacBooks for all higher edu. don't know. a friend of mine is going to a top 5 law school this fall that mandate a windows machine. they got so much email about it, they sent a second notice specifically saying macs weren't allowed/accepted (laptops required at this school), despite with bootcamp you're essentially running a pretty windows machine. my friend met a kid who decided to buy the macbook anyways and suffer the consequences later. (of course most of these kids are rich and dropping more money for a dell or somethign is nothing to them).
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jason said 11:41AM on 8-28-2006
yes of course, and their is a free option to parallel's qemu (was posted on twaw a while back) that runs windows too, and it cost no extra money (minus windows cd)
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jason said 12:36PM on 8-28-2006
on yea, and the free priority shipping or any free shipping is good only while their is a buy it now option, (which includes the mini-dvi to vga, usb 2.0 self powered hub and optical mouse)--if you want i can partition everything out for bootcamp prior to shipping.
as far as number four is concerned, you can do all your graphics work on this macbook, minus 3d intensive work--you can do 3d work such as modeling but I wouldnt do any heavy rendering.
since you can run windows and linux in conjunction with the mac os, you have access to every app possible to use.
and the pro apps from apple run incredibly quick, much more so than my dual g5, and emulated rosetta apps seem faster than on powerbook g4 1.5 with 1gb of ram, not to mention the responsiveness of the mac, and the ability to output to 1920x1200 resolution (my g4 powerbook only does 1600x1200) on an external monitor. I love the remote feature, i spent a good amount of time watching trailers with front row, and streaming my videos from my g5 to the macbook.
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Alex said 1:27PM on 8-28-2006
I got a macbook to use at school, so far I'm loving it. People always ask me about it too, I love this machine.
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Sean D. said 1:33PM on 8-28-2006
I'm a professional in computer graphics... I bought an HP nw8440 recently, and I'd recommend it for a student of 3D... it's definitely a hearty little machine for a light(ish) 15.4" notebook- and I love working on modeling an animation in coffee shops... I needed the higher display resolution and a PC-Card slot, so I chose this over the Macbook Pro (and saved $800 in the process). I've still got an iBook for all my Macintoshing needs tho...
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jason said 2:05PM on 8-28-2006
actually lowered the buy it now 100 dollars.
i used to own a dell e1705 (7800 card) with 2gb ram, unfournately they only had the 17 inch model, it was a pain to carry around, and battery life was only 80 mins at best, but it handled maya like a charm! whats the battery life on that HP, (i get around 3-3:30 on the macbook)
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Sean D. said 2:24PM on 8-28-2006
Jason- on my HP, with the ambient light sensor enabled and the optical drive not in use, I can get about 3-3.5 hours on it... fine for modeling and animating, but wouldn't be good for texturing. A little more than 2 hours with the backlight on full. Fortunately, I've usually had a power outlet nearby. There is an additional 12-cell battery that you can attach to the bottom of the computer, which'll probably get you close to 8 hours. Another nice available option if you need to work without power outlets...
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Alan said 2:51PM on 8-28-2006
I'm on my macbook, eating lunch at the University of Central Florida. It puts my 1.25ghz G4 powerbook to shame. I love this little black beauty.
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jason said 3:08PM on 8-28-2006
Alan how is the black one holding up, in terms of scratches and grease? my black nano is crazy scratched, even though it stays in the case. I know the white macbook is the same as the white ipod (least in looks) havnt actually seen the black one. but from the pix it looks uber cool
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MatthewJ said 8:13PM on 8-28-2006
I wish Mead still made Trapper Keepers.
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