dwEEziL June 24, 2008 Share dwEEziL Member June 24, 2008 A co-worker of mine has a daughter who is getting ready to start college and she needs a laptop. She's studying interior design and it was suggested to her that she should get a Mac. Anyone got some good suggestions on the best model for her? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher June 24, 2008 Share Preacher Member June 24, 2008 I suggest a PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 24, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 24, 2008 A co-worker of mine has a daughter who is getting ready to start college and she needs a laptop. She's studying interior design and it was suggested to her that she should get a Mac. Anyone got some good suggestions on the best model for her?a macbook, not a pro, not the air. also tell them to look through the college bookstore or the apple website for the educational discount. preacher, don't you have a gun to go clean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL June 25, 2008 Author Share dwEEziL Member June 25, 2008 Thanks sj, I'll let him know. He works at VT here too so he should be able to get a decent discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher June 25, 2008 Share Preacher Member June 25, 2008 My weapon is now clean, hard to type into my lappy when aiming through your window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 25, 2008 Share anonymo Member June 25, 2008 My weapon is now clean, hard to type into my lappy when aiming through your window. Amateur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[LaW]Maverick June 25, 2008 Share [LaW]Maverick Member June 25, 2008 See, now I'd go with a Mac BookPro personally, but they are pricier. That being said, SJ's right (yup, I'm AGREEING with SJ) to tell you NOT to get the air. That'd be a huge waste for design work, not to mention inconvenient. IF she weren't going into design, I'd say buy a PC too. However, I figured I'd post up and try to be helpful. The reason I say go Pro is that I think you should try to squeeze as much power out of the thing as possible so she can use it for the minimum of 4 four years she'll be in school without too much worry about it getting out-dated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 25, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 25, 2008 she won't need a pro during school, and a 4 year old pro won't cut it when she get's into the workforce. minimize the expense and get a macbook. btw, the reason for the no-air recommendation isn't about power; it's got enough. problem is, when you use the power, yeah, it overheats, shuts down a core, and becomes the equivalent of a good looking pc that I configured (unreliable). get a mac book. not an air, not a pro, not a pc that I configured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playaa June 25, 2008 Share Playaa Member June 25, 2008 (edited) Definitely go with regular old Mac book (black will get her better specs but be costlier) I don't think I'd ever tell anyone who wasn't pointlessly rich to get an Air and the Pro is awesome but probably not as easily portable as a regular Mac book. I can carry mine around easily in a backpack but as a college student carrying it all day it can get bulky (I couldn't even imagine carrying a 15" dell around all day...sheesh). *edit* Oh, and honestly...check into seeing if she can get a school discount on a refurbished one through Apple's website. I can't tell you how insanely happy I am with the money I saved buying my Macbook Pro refurbished and if you could add on more savings in the form of a college discount...well merry Christmas to her. Edited June 25, 2008 by Playaa/Pselus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 25, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 25, 2008 good point on the refurb. IIIRC, i don't think the edu-discount carries over to the refurbs, but ICBRI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL June 25, 2008 Author Share dwEEziL Member June 25, 2008 The guy (who's daughter is starting school) works here at Virginia Tech with me and his group is the contact group for the Apple rep for the school. If there is a discount to be had, he should be able to get the best one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 25, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 25, 2008 i need a clue. can you see what he can do? (srsly) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boiler June 25, 2008 Share boiler Member June 25, 2008 If she's doing DESIGN work on it though, screen real estate is a significant factor here. I would want to stab my eyes out with sporks trying to do much design work on a 13.3" screen with 1280x800 resolution. I suppose the resolution isn't that much higher for the 15" pro (1440x900), but overall screen size and those 100 vertical pixels DO make a difference. (Side note: why the hell do macbook "pros" come with such pitiful resolutions?? The best they can offer for 17" screens is 1680 x 1050? Really? I've seen 15.4" PC laptops with 1920x1200 resolution...) I do a fair amount of design work on my 17" laptop with 1920x1200 and I am thankful for every last pixel as it greatly increases my productivity. I've never understood why people don't think you can do proper design work on PCs, only on Macs. The best software is compatible with both All that said, I would give serious consideration to a Pro, if only because of the larger screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 25, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 25, 2008 still not thinking. macbook. (dvi out + monitor = still cheaper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boiler June 25, 2008 Share boiler Member June 25, 2008 (dvi out + monitor = still cheaper) This is true. Totally depends on mobility needs at this point. I went with a bigger laptop with larger screen/resolution because I needed that kind of space in multiple locations, so dvi+monitor wasn't a viable solution for me. If it is for her though, that's definitely an acceptable solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL June 25, 2008 Author Share dwEEziL Member June 25, 2008 sj, I don't think we can do much for you. Sorry. They take our work ID and such for the discounts normally and I don't think the guy would risk his job for someone he doesn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 25, 2008 Share anonymo Member June 25, 2008 still not swayed. macbook. (dvi out + monitor = still cheaper) That's one magic video card...especially since according to Apple it doesn't support resolutions above 1280x800. Cujo...where are you now!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boiler June 25, 2008 Share boiler Member June 25, 2008 (edited) still not swayed. macbook. (dvi out + monitor = still cheaper) That's one magic video card...especially since according to Apple it doesn't support resolutions above 1280x800. Cujo...where are you now!? Obviously it wouldn't do that for a dual-screen setup, but if you output the video to ONLY the monitor, wouldn't the card be able to go higher res? I hooked our new office HP 8510w laptop (Quadro 570M) with 1680x1050 res to a 1080p LCD TV, set output to TV only, then set resolution to 1920x1080 and it worked great... Of course all this talk assumes that she would be willing/able to do all this monitor switching hoop-jumping herself... Edited June 25, 2008 by boilersax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 25, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 25, 2008 macs support the native resolution of the monitor. my five year old powerbook goes to 1280 x 800 ps - anonymo looks cute in his new pink dress and cujo is looking at him all predatorial like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo June 26, 2008 Share anonymo Member June 26, 2008 macs support the native resolution of the monitor. my five year old powerbook goes to 1280 x 800 ps - anonymo looks cute in his new pink dress and cujo is looking at him all predatorial like I'll agree with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 26, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 26, 2008 figured you would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[LaW]Maverick June 26, 2008 Share [LaW]Maverick Member June 26, 2008 Just a quick bit of advice.... I've had a lot of friends in the design field in college (architects mostly) and I work with a couple of mechanical engineers, and the higher resolution the better for them. It, essentially, gives them more real estate to work with as they draw (think about how much room the menu bars, icons, etc take up in 1280 x 800 vs 1920 x 1200). I was talking to them about resolutions when I was in college, and they all agreed that higher res is a good thing. (that's why I suggested the MacBook Pro because it supports the high resolutions...though I haven't checked as to whether or not the MacBook does) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters June 26, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni June 26, 2008 i'm not arguing about the resolution; i agree that more is better. still, i don't think you're winning (especially for the low-intensity stuff she'd be doing) by spending more for the mbp. hook the macbook up to a monitor if you need the real estate. it's lighter to carry, it's less expensive, it can handle what she'll be doing, and you can dock it to a monitor. get a macbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boiler June 26, 2008 Share boiler Member June 26, 2008 hook the macbook up to a monitor if you need the real estate. it's lighter to carry, it's less expensive, it can handle what she'll be doing, and you can dock it to a monitor. Again, I'll stress that you need to make sure she would actually be OK with doing this. I know a LOT of people that aren't techy like we are that would find this solution to be inconvenient and too much of a pain to want to deal with. Mav - I did check the resolutions of the MacBooks and the Pros - see my post above. I am still baffled that the best resolution they can give you is 1680x1050, and it's only on the 17" beast. srsly apple? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage June 26, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member June 26, 2008 It's not a pain at all. Odds are, this will be her first year in college in which case she will be required to live in a dorm. The small MacBook would be ideal in that it will be easy to carry around. Hooking up a monitor back in the dorm for more screen real estate is a piece of cake. My users do it and they are not at all that bright. If they can do it, a more tech savvy college student can do it. The director in my department was an architect major and even said it would be the best way to go for the cost, etc. These would be the choices: http://www.bookstore.vt.edu/ePOS?this_cate...l&design=vt The Pro 1 would probably be a better choice since it is only a few hundred bucks more for a better machine but also a bit larger and heavier. The better video power of the Pro would probably benefit her in the long run as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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