hey guys! I was just wondering if I should get a pricey macbook pro, or just a macbook.

I am planning to use the upcoming laptop for college/university purposes. And I plan to use the laptop to help me create advertisement/design work for my portfolio to enter an art or ad school and also use it in the school. Any suggestions would be awesome!

Thanks in advance

if you have enough money take PRO.
just because of bigger screen.13inch is too small ...



R

mmm just wondering. How long would it last approximately? And should i get it now or wait till leopard comes out?

Btw, im used to using a PC at the moment. I've used some macs before, but havent really felt it out. Whats the "big" differences and why do "creatives" use/prefer them?

i would suggest a 17" MacBook Pro for design/advertising purposes.

how long will it last?
expect battery life to be anywhere from 2.4 hrs to 4.5hrs with varying usages. expect around 3-3.5 for average use i would think. you may want to invest in a 'power brick' - basically a giant battery with either a MAINS or USB adapter for charging things. obviously you'd get a MAINS one for your macbook pro.

And should i get it now or wait till leopard comes out?
When leopard comes out (october from memory) all that will change is the operating system most likely. their wont be any huge hardware upgrades (although expect maybe the 17" Pro to change to the new screens). So if you want to save the $129 and wait until laopard is already installed - wait. if not, buy it now and upgrade to leopard when it arrives. i'm buying a new 17" with HD screen in the next month or two (as soon as i can get 50% off through my dad's work) even if leopard isnt out, and i'm getting mine mainly for graphics/photography/webdesign/entertainment, if that helps you a little.

and as to why creatives prefer them...they used to be far superior to windows in photoshop performance. now the difference is marginal but they are still simply more reliable!

for you a Macbook Pro wil be just fine, dont expect any games to run smoothly though

Then again, imho, the 'cheap' MAcbook pro is certainly worth the extra money.!

The only reason to buy a Pro, is it's video adapter. MacBook has a stinky 950 GPU, while Pro is having a new cool nVidia GeForce 8600 Gt, that can run DX10 in Vista. Also it can bring you an ultimate graphics in mac games as well.

P.S.
Though, I think that MacBook is more stylish and modern.

Yea, I agree the design of the macbook definitely looks sleeker and more modern.

I dont think I can afford the 17" macbook pro I can only really afford the 15" for now.

But my question on how long it would last me, means how many years approximately can I use it before I really have to switch? Because I dont want to fork out like 2000 dollars and find myself wanting to change the laptop in like a year. Since you guys are more familiar with the rumors and such, maybe you can stop me before I buy

Thanks alot!

I gues about 2-2.5 years. Or maybe even 3. But if you want to have an up to date computer, you should change your mac a least once for 2.5 years. That's great, most of my friends with PCs, upgrade or change their PC once a year.
But this MBP hardware will keep being actual for more than 3 years, cause lots of people are happily running old TiBooks, same will be with the MBP.

okay, thanks a lot for all your input! Looks like I'll order my 15" MBP next week
can't wait!

One more question, should i get the matte screen or the glossy screen? Is it just preference or is there a big difference in eye strain etc?

don't forget that macs hold their value really well. there are still g4 ibooks and powermac g5s selling on ebay for about 75% of the original price. so even if you do decide to upgrade in the future, chances are that there will be somebody out there willing to shell out for a well-kept mac

and my vote goes to the macbook pro

So... should i get the matte screen or the glossy screen? Is it just preference or is there a big difference in eye strain etc?

Thanks!

Im buying a MBP 17", i figure if im going to spend money, i might as well buy the best thing i can

With the 15" I dont need to buy an external monitor to work do I?

And could I get more details about the "brick battery"?

Thanks.

As said, glossy screans give more reflective colors (as I read somewhere). My friend had a glossy screan as an addition to his Dell XPS, while gaming. I couldn't feel any difference, but my eyes were very relaxed and the gamma was a bit brighter, also glossy cover look's cooler.

Im still really debating between the MB or the MBP, mainly because of the monitor size.

Since im using it mainly for print designs, I probably wont be needing much of an "uber" vid card. But i'd be nice to play some games on the book. But Im saving like 600 CDN from it, and im wondering of the 600 CDN is worth the extra 2" monitor, vid card, ram, and all those cool things like the lite up keyboard.

What are your suggestions?

To be completely honest, I'm in the same boat. Once Leopard comes out, I'm buying one of the 2, and not sure what one to get. I'm highly leaning towards the MBP, simply because it'll run Aperture better, and the Bigger Glossy screen is good for photo editing. But it's quite the choice.

Take into account the the MBPs are now upgraded and alot better now, come wth more standard ram ETC. So it's a better deal, I'm leani9ng towards them right now.

I'd stick with the MacBook. It's sleeker, cheaper, and works just as well. Personally, I like the smaller screen. 13" is like heaven (smaller to lug around).

OK man, if you want a computer, that will run all of modern games and vCard that will stay actual for some years buy a MBP, but if you aren't going to use it for gaming, so buy a MB.

Alright, thanks for helping make my decision, especially Promacuser!

Thanks for thanks.
Also, I've just found out that glossy displays are much better than mate, but there is 1 bad thing about 'em. They are like a mirror. They reflect light and objects. So it's hard to work with them in the sun light, the sun reflection won't let you see the picture. Though, they have better contrast, eyes will stay relaxed, their is almost no space between pixels, the picture quality is much higher, it looks greater.

Im pretty sure I'm getting the MB, as I'm not much of an avid gamer and such. I read places that the 950 GPU can be expanded to 224mb with enough ram. Since I'm planning to upgrade to 2 gigs of ram, is there a way manually to maximize the integrated video?

I understand that windows does it automatically as needed, but Im not to sure about the mac OS.

Since Im getting the MB, Im pretty much stuck with the glossy screen. Never used one before, but I've heard good things about it.

It is imposible to change vcard on a macbook. It doesn't have space for the card. Though, I think that Mac OS X will find the card that is compatible wih it same as windows. Also, you don't need to boost your memory. 1024 is enough for 224 mb of vram.

man, i'm in the EXACT same boat as you.
getting ready for university, getting myself a nice notebook, but not too much cash.
i think i'm going to stick with the macbook, but all those weird rumours are starting to scare me...

Im still quite concerned about the "fraying" magsafe adapter. Seems like its really common.
What are you concerned about?

Yea, I'm getting a second tier MacBook for college this fall (white with 2.0 GHz processor). Unless you're using the big professional apps, I don't think a MacBook Pro is necessary. I like to play games here and there, but I'm just a casual gamer. Warcraft III and Unreal Tournament 2004 work fine on a MacBook, and I've seen Half-Life 2 run great on a Mac Mini using Boot Camp before, so I'm not worried. Sure, they won't run at highest settings, but that's really not a big deal to me.

Oh, and 1 GB RAM is sufficient. 2 GB is just straight up overkill.

Its good to know that I made the right choice with the high end Macbook. And yea, I play warcraft III once in a while too, simple casual gamer. thanks for all your comments. They all helped aloooot!

The rumours I've been hearing are, yeah, the MagSafe adapter, the SuperDrive physically destroying media, the cracks appearing on the case, the fans not coming on until the laptop reaches 95 degrees...
there are a bunch.
However.
I know a bunch of people with macbooks who have never experienced any of those problems.
I'm going to go for it.

same here, hope for the best. hahaha

Which model are you going to get?
I'm going to get the 2.16ghz 120gb white, as soon as it goes on sale at BestBuy.

macbooks are great - i wouldnt hesitate to recommend one. i used to have one, and only upgraded to a mbp cos i got a great deal on a refurb. i loved that little white 'book tho

Im getting the same as you, but Im ordering off apple.ca cause I have education discount. Plus I get a rebated nano, which is one hell of a deal.

Loving how the macbook looks cooler compared to the mbp. its so catchy!

You should check out the apple site too, you did mention that you were heading to university, maybe you can qualify to save a hundred bucks and get a free nano.

i actually looked into it last night! i'm just a little ticked at how Apple charges more for Canadian customers, even though our dollar is almost the same now.
Might go for Apple.ca..... but..... I'd really like to have a store to take it back to instead of mailing it. No apple stores in my town.

Yea theres no apples stores around where I am either. Im trusting Apple on this one and ordering off their site for the discount and the nano. Its a nice bundle. Hopefully I'll get one thats perfectly fine.

I wish you luck! I'm trusting that the Macbook has been out for long enough that the flaws are worked out.

It seems like youve made up your mind! Enjoy your new macbook The macbook really does look better than the macbook pro. However I would have gotten a 15.4 inch pro for the better vid card, RAM and proc.

Ordered my macbook last week on saturday.... Still hasnt arrived yet, stupid Purolator tracking system just sucks. Its been stuck at "Left Toronto Sorting Center" for 2 days. Even my rebatable ipod arrived already, and it came all the way from china by fedex. Weird how apple used fedex though, I went with free shipping.