Macbook Air vs. Macbook Pro Forum

[ManoftheHour]

Get a pro. Macbook Airs are TTT.

[ManoftheHour]

If you take all of the girls in law school with non-macs and hoist one out of huge hat, she's going to be below median in hotness

This.

[Mack12]

I think I'm definitely going to go with a 13" one. After lugging my 15" around all undergrad I would love a more portable one. Now to decide between the retina display and the air.. lax..which one will make me look hotter?
xs20 - (great avatar btw) I know a new air is coming out around october...which frustrates me.

[Ti Malice]

If price is not a concern, MBP Retina 15", hands down. It's exactly 1.5 pounds heavier than a 13" Air, which is not a big deal; a 13" Retina is only 0.61 pounds heavier than the Air. (I owned one of the older thick MBPs, and the Retina is definitely less of a hassle to haul around.)

You're going to be spending a lot of time staring at that screen at certain points in the semester, and the Retina display is so much easier on the eyes than the old MBP/current Air display. It really makes a difference in eye fatigue when you're spending 12+ hours in a single day outlining classes before exams. Also, there are times when I find even the 15" screen irritatingly small for the number of windows I want to see simultaneously. A 13" screen would be a huge pain in the ass, as far as I'm concerned, and 11" would be completely out of the question.

[Xs20]

Sold, thanks Ti. Anybody know if there's any chance the retina MacBook Pros get the new processor/spec upgrade by late August?

[dixiecupdrinking]

Sold, thanks Ti. Anybody know if there's any chance the retina MacBook Pros get the new processor/spec upgrade by late August?

You might as well wait and see.

FWIW I think 13" is plenty big and wouldn't recommend spending the extra dough on the retina Pro. Just a competing view.

[rebexness]

Sold, thanks Ti. Anybody know if there's any chance the retina MacBook Pros get the new processor/spec upgrade by late August?

The Internet suggests No.

[laxbrah420]

I have a 15" screen and a 23" monitor... I'd never consider doing any work without a second monitor...I got the 15" screen for making movies cooler in bed and shit. If you're worried about cash money though, no reason to get a 15" instead of a 13" because of TI's theory... use the 13" attached to a second monitor.

[Xs20]

I have a 15" screen and a 23" monitor... I'd never consider doing any work without a second monitor...I got the 15" screen for making movies cooler in bed and shit. If you're worried about cash money though, no reason to get a 15" instead of a 13" because of TI's theory... use the 13" attached to a second monitor.

Good call, working on multiple monitors is awesome. Did you get an external keyboard/mouse then, or still use your laptop for that?

[Jsa725]

.

[BaiAilian2013]

I have an 11" Air and it's been great. But weight was very important to me (my books don't travel).

[Mack12]

Anyone with 13"s run into problems with the screen size when outlining etc when multiple screens are up together? I'd really rather have the portabiity of this size but am worried that I might need that 15" screen space.

[Lubberlubber]

Anyone with 13"s run into problems with the screen size when outlining etc when multiple screens are up together? I'd really rather have the portabiity of this size but am worried that I might need that 15" screen space.

This really sums up how neurotic TLS is. Just get the goddamn computer you like, they're all fine...No one is going to have an advantage over you just because their screen is 2 inches bigger...

[smdpnp]

OS X Mavericks out this fall

Hopefully everyone who purchases a new laptop this summer gets the free upgrade.

I asked about that, but the clerk told me it'd be a $20 upgrade, even if I bought a laptop the day before Mavericks' release. I don't know if clerks are privy to that kind of info though, so maybe he was just full of shit.

[Reinhardt]

If you're that worried, for the price difference of a 13 inch and 15 inch Mac you can get an entire desktop computer with two 23 inch monitors (barely an exaggeration)

[CalAlumni]

Macbook Pro kills the Air IMO. I had them both during undergrad and the Air overheats all the time if you have too much going on or are watching a movie for too long...the fan starts fanning LOUDLY.

[09042014]

Anyone with 13"s run into problems with the screen size when outlining etc when multiple screens are up together? I'd really rather have the portabiity of this size but am worried that I might need that 15" screen space.

This really sums up how neurotic TLS is. Just get the goddamn computer you like, they're all fine...No one is going to have an advantage over you just because their screen is 2 inches bigger...

He didn't say advantage dood. And he is right, side by side screens is very usefor for law related work.

I used it in class taking notes and surfing the web. I used it outlining--dragging notes from one screen the other. I used it on tests, having the outline on one side and the test on the other. I used it for journal work, having one side be the source and the other side be the work. I've used it writing papers, memos, or anything. One side is research, one side is the writing. Hell I use it just fucking around on the internet, or surfing the web while watching a tv show.

It's a very useful method of working on a laptop. I wouldn't dismiss it as law student neuroticism. Why the fuck is someone going to blow 1000 bucks on a computer, when you can get one that works just fine for 400 bucks if they don't want it to be perfect.

Though maybe with a 13 inch retina, the resolution is good enough to do side by side and get as much real estate as a regular 15 inch.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Macbook Pro kills the Air IMO. I had them both during undergrad and the Air overheats all the time if you have too much going on or are watching a movie for too long...the fan starts fanning LOUDLY.

They've gotten a lot better. Not a lot of processing power difference anymore.

[Toby Ziegler]

get the air with max ram and memory.

I agree with upgrading the ram for sure, the difference between the MBA and the MBP as far as ram is concerned is you can buy, for 50$, 4 additional gigs of ram and have it put right into the MBP but it isn't that simply with the air, it is essentially unchangeable without sending it into Apple or an apple certified tech. Either way it is going to be expensive. So definitely pay the extra $ and get the 8GB of ram, you won't regret it. This will also prevent your machine from running sluggishly a year or two after purchase and with what you say you use it for, will never experience an overload with running multiple programs.

Regarding the memory, for what you say you will use your computer for, you don't need the larger memory (which I believe is 256GB solid state internal flash) to run what you will use. However, it would be wise to get a external hard drive, at least 500GB, but with prices now you might as well just get a 1TB drive, use this to back up everything on your machine. I try to do this once a month and just delete my previous back up so I don't fill my External Hard drive up with basically identical content. As for external hard drives Western Digital, or Lacies are great, you will be able to find videos on YouTube showing how to partition (format) them for Mac if you don't already know how.

Regarding the DVD drive, if you really need it, which 99.99% of the time going forward new technology won't require just because the way the tech industry is going, you can use another machine to access a disk. For instance my wife has a Macbook Air and if she ever needs to access a disc we just put the disk in my MacBook Pro and connect the two machines and her air can access the disk through my macbook pro. So it really is a non issue, as someone you know/interact with will have a machine with a DVD drive.

I probably beat a dead horse, but this is a topic I have done more than adequate research on. And you and I use our computers for essentially the same things.

[zoidberg86]

Question for you guys regarding paying for a new MacBook:

Apple offers a no interest loan for 12 months, as long as you make the adequate monthly payments and pay it off completely by the end of the 12 months. Let's say I end up paying $1800 (upgraded Air + apple care), that'd be ~$150 / month for the year. I'm thinking I could manage $150 from the rest of the loans I am taking.

The alternative is most schools allow you to take an additional loan for a laptop - however, this just gets tacked onto GradPlus. With the added interest rate + origination fee, it seems a no brainer to take the Apple financing on this.

Am I missing something or thinking about this incorrectly? Or is it worth just adding the $1800 onto the rest of my loans since it's basically become Monopoly money these days... (What's the difference between $180k and $182k?)

[09042014]

Question for you guys regarding paying for a new MacBook:

Apple offers a no interest loan for 12 months, as long as you make the adequate monthly payments and pay it off completely by the end of the 12 months. Let's say I end up paying $1800 (upgraded Air + apple care), that'd be ~$150 / month for the year. I'm thinking I could manage $150 from the rest of the loans I am taking.

The alternative is most schools allow you to take an additional loan for a laptop - however, this just gets tacked onto GradPlus. With the added interest rate + origination fee, it seems a no brainer to take the Apple financing on this.

Am I missing something or thinking about this incorrectly? Or is it worth just adding the $1800 onto the rest of my loans since it's basically become Monopoly money these days... (What's the difference between $180k and $182k?)

The money is coming from grad plus either way. Get an Asus and save a thousand bucks brah.

[Xs20]

Is Applecare even worth getting? I've always gotten Square Trade for my iphones because it's the same price and also covers accidental damage

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Air, there's no need for a Pro. Law books are heavy and its nice to have a computer that weighs next to nothing. Buy Microsoft Word though because the compatibility with pages is bad, and everyone uses word.

In my section of 1L the Air was by far the most common computer, probably like 1/3 of students had one.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Is Applecare even worth getting? I've always gotten Square Trade for my iphones because it's the same price and also covers accidental damage

My understanding is that it doesn't cover accidental damage. Basically whatever plans they have i went through the terms with the salesperson and they weren't worth doing.

[Teflon_Don]

Is Applecare even worth getting? I've always gotten Square Trade for my iphones because it's the same price and also covers accidental damage

My understanding is that it doesn't cover accidental damage. Basically whatever plans they have i went through the terms with the salesperson and they weren't worth doing.

+1

I just bought the new 13" Air last week.. it's amazing and the battery life is epic. But, none of the additional stuff is worth buying imo (apple care, etc).