Best Law School Laptop for the Money

[drdolittle]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

Exhibit A for why you should buy a piece of shit 500 dollar laptop.

And case closed.

[nyjfanjmk]

For the basic user, is there any significant difference between the regular Mac Book and the Mac Book Pro to justify the extra $$?

[T14_Scholly]

Macs are gay.

[jimicornerstone]

Macs are gay.

PCs are homophobes.

[Sangiovese]

For the basic user, is there any significant difference between the regular Mac Book and the Mac Book Pro to justify the extra $$?

You can play games on a macbook pro.... well, if anyone made games for a mac that is....

Sorry, I really have no idea what the difference is - I just wanted to take a cheap shot at Macs

[GobiasIndustries]

For the basic user, is there any significant difference between the regular Mac Book and the Mac Book Pro to justify the extra $$?

Right now, the regular (white) MB and the entry-level MBP are pretty much the same machine on the inside, save for the smaller stock hard drive that comes in the MBP. The major difference is in the architecture; the MBP is an aluminum unibody with a backlit keyboard and a higher quality display. So you pay about $200 more for the construction and "extra" features.

[HBK]

Would there be any advantage to waiting until closer to when school starts to buy? Are there usually better sales towards the start of school, or is that when companies try to charge the most because they know students will be looking to buy?

[09042014]

Would there be any advantage to waiting until closer to when school starts to buy? Are there usually better sales towards the start of school, or is that when companies try to charge the most because they know students will be looking to buy?

Usually its a bit cheaper, but also better technology comes out.

[drdolittle]

Would there be any advantage to waiting until closer to when school starts to buy? Are there usually better sales towards the start of school, or is that when companies try to charge the most because they know students will be looking to buy?

Maybe a little advantage but I would buy now or soon so you can thoroughly test out the computer before you really need to rely on it for classwork, etc.

[OneKnight]

For the basic user, is there any significant difference between the regular Mac Book and the Mac Book Pro to justify the extra $$?

You can play games on a macbook pro.... well, if anyone made games for a mac that is....

Sorry, I really have no idea what the difference is - I just wanted to take a cheap shot at Macs

Bah, with bootcamp, such concerns are solidly in the past.
OSX for school
Windows 7 for gaming
Partition down the middle

Go for the 13 inch MBP and you can play Civ4, the only game you need

[ConMan345]

For the basic user, is there any significant difference between the regular Mac Book and the Mac Book Pro to justify the extra $$?

You can play games on a macbook pro.... well, if anyone made games for a mac that is....

Sorry, I really have no idea what the difference is - I just wanted to take a cheap shot at Macs

Bah, with bootcamp, such concerns are solidly in the past.
OSX for school
Windows 7 for gaming
Partition down the middle

Go for the 13 inch MBP and you can play Civ4, the only game you need

Alpha Centauri is still so much better

[Sangiovese]

Alpha Centauri is still so much better

I remember playing the original Civ on a 286 with no hard drive.... the game came on 4 (I think it was 4) huge 5.25" floppy disks that you had to swap depending on what you were doing.

Of course, that was high style compared to my first computer - an old TI99-4a... with a tape cassette drive.

God I'm old...

[lawduder]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

Exhibit A for why you should [strike]buy a piece of shit 500 dollar[/strike] take care of your laptop.

?

[09042014]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

Exhibit A for why you should [strike]buy a piece of shit 500 dollar[/strike] take care of your laptop.

?

Shit happens. Unless you need the extra power, investing money in a laptop is a poor plan. Especially when that money is being lent at 8.5% interest.

For someone with no income an expensive laptop isn't worth it.

[nax425]

I love my macbook air...but I only really use it for Itunes and word processing and internet surfing. Don't know how compatible it is for anything else...?

[HBK]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

Exhibit A for why you should [strike]buy a piece of shit 500 dollar[/strike] take care of your laptop.

?

Shit happens. Unless you need the extra power, investing money in a laptop is a poor plan. Especially when that money is being lent at 8.5% interest.

For someone with no income an expensive laptop isn't worth it.

+1

Going to law school is expensive. Relocating, books, tuition, add up. Paying $1,500 for a toy is not a priority. I just need something that is reliable, replaceable (if something happened- broken, stolen, etc), and gets the job done.

[daesonesb]

Notice that the keys are in alphabetical order, because you're a law student, and should know your damn abc's by now.

[OneKnight]

Alpha Centauri is still so much better

I remember playing the original Civ on a 286 with no hard drive.... the game came on 4 (I think it was 4) huge 5.25" floppy disks that you had to swap depending on what you were doing.

Of course, that was high style compared to my first computer - an old TI99-4a... with a tape cassette drive.

God I'm old...

Despite my praise for Civ4, I too played the original Civ on floppy disks. That said, I really only got into it when Civ II came out in '96. I still play I and II from time to time on Chronicles...

[cpboy77]

Does anyone know anything about bundles which include a desktop and a laptop? I've heard of them existing. I'd search for myself but there's an internet block here at work (which miraculously doesn't block this site).

[motiontodismiss]

+1

Going to law school is expensive. Relocating, books, tuition, add up. Paying $1,500 for a toy is not a priority. I just need something that is reliable, replaceable (if something happened- broken, stolen, etc), and gets the job done.

Buy a high quality laptop (and by the way this !=expensive), take care of it, and in case god forbid the unthinkable happens, get insurance.

$2k on a laptop may not be a priority but the risk of it crashing in the middle of your exams is a concern.

[09042014]

+1

Going to law school is expensive. Relocating, books, tuition, add up. Paying $1,500 for a toy is not a priority. I just need something that is reliable, replaceable (if something happened- broken, stolen, etc), and gets the job done.

Buy a high quality laptop (and by the way this !=expensive), take care of it, and in case god forbid the unthinkable happens, get insurance.

$2k on a laptop may not be a priority but the risk of it crashing in the middle of your exams is a concern.

But 2K dollar laptops aren't that much less likely to crash. A bottom of the line Toshiba is just as reliable as the top of the line Apple. You are paying 2000 dollars for better performance, not for reliability.

Paying 2000 dollars for a laptop you are just going to surf the net with, and write on is stupid.

[Sangiovese]

+1

Going to law school is expensive. Relocating, books, tuition, add up. Paying $1,500 for a toy is not a priority. I just need something that is reliable, replaceable (if something happened- broken, stolen, etc), and gets the job done.

Buy a high quality laptop (and by the way this !=expensive), take care of it, and in case god forbid the unthinkable happens, get insurance.

$2k on a laptop may not be a priority but the risk of it crashing in the middle of your exams is a concern.

If you needed a $2K laptop in order to get one that was reliable, then I would agree 100%. However, you can spend $6-700 and get one that is, by all practical standards, just as reliable.

Bells and whistles and "cool factor" =/ reliability

[daesonesb]

Honestly: Shop around at bestbuy and find a model you like. If you are smart, you'll find something with a midsized screen, no bells and whistles, lots of ram, decent processor and harddrive, that is in the $1,000 range. At that price point, you either have pretty good laptops with no extra features, or shittily made 17 inch dells and compaqs with tons of features. Once you've found what you want, shop around online to find it for the cheapest price.

Unrelated note: Dont fall for the antivirus packages that might come with your new copy of windows 7. Just get Avast and spybot and call it good. If you have system restore running on the regular, most virus issues can be solved by running in safe mode and engaging system restore.

I got this beast http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Bishop/1009050mv.shtml in early 2006 (dual core was pretty new back then), and have had no problems at all with it over the past 4 years. Clearly I will uprgrade for LS, but I have definitely found that this computer was worth the investment.

[Mr. Matlock]

Alpha Centauri is still so much better

I remember playing the original Civ on a 286 with no hard drive.... the game came on 4 (I think it was 4) huge 5.25" floppy disks that you had to swap depending on what you were doing.

Of course, that was high style compared to my first computer - an old TI99-4a... with a tape cassette drive.

God I'm old...

I owned this one:



I also remember the cassette drive PET computers. Damn.....

[motiontodismiss]

+1

Going to law school is expensive. Relocating, books, tuition, add up. Paying $1,500 for a toy is not a priority. I just need something that is reliable, replaceable (if something happened- broken, stolen, etc), and gets the job done.

Buy a high quality laptop (and by the way this !=expensive), take care of it, and in case god forbid the unthinkable happens, get insurance.

$2k on a laptop may not be a priority but the risk of it crashing in the middle of your exams is a concern.

But 2K dollar laptops aren't that much less likely to crash. A bottom of the line Toshiba is just as reliable as the top of the line Apple. You are paying 2000 dollars for better performance, not for reliability.

Paying 2000 dollars for a laptop you are just going to surf the net with, and write on is stupid.

They (the expensive/high performance ones) do last longer IME, even if it's only a function of me beating it up a lot less. My overpriced PC was a brick at 3 years. My sister's HP DESKTOP was kaput in 2. My MBP is perfectly functional at 40 months. Or maybe the more expensive brands are less likely to turn out lemons. Oh, and back up everything like your life depends on it.