Computers for Law School 2011 Forum

[Miznitic]

I ordered my Macbook Air on Monday and had it by Thursday straight from China.

[ResolutePear]

I ordered my Macbook Air on Monday and had it by Thursday straight from China.

lolwut

[rcweedman]

FWIW, mine shipped a full week sooner than expected, and that's after I asked them to delay my shipping date 3-4 days because I was out of town. I assume they're busier now because school is about to start, but hopefully it will still ship early.

mine was supposed to ship out on the 10th and i received it on the 8th straight from China.

[thegrayman]

Would ordering a thinkpad today (8/11) be a bad idea if I absolutely need it by 8/22?

[gothamm]

IMO, Pear knows what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff... Except that MS Office 2007 was an odd year...

Anyways, I still don't get why people buy a Mac to run Windows on it... that's just silly.

I own an x220i, and so far, I like the keyboard. But I haven't done intensive notetaking with it yet.

what do you find odd about that? I am running parallels w/W7 on my 13" mbp for onenote. For everything else I use OS X.

[rcweedman]

Would ordering a thinkpad today (8/11) be a bad idea if I absolutely need it by 8/22?

I ordered mine on 7/27 in the evening and got it on 8/8 in the morning. 12 days. 8/11 +12 days = 8/23

I had a lot of upgrades if that makes a difference. who knows? I would say don't count on it getting to you in time.

[ResolutePear]

Would ordering a thinkpad today (8/11) be a bad idea if I absolutely need it by 8/22?

I ordered mine on 7/27 in the evening and got it on 8/8 in the morning. 12 days. 8/11 +12 days = 8/23

I had a lot of upgrades if that makes a difference. who knows? I would say don't count on it.

Check out the prices on Amazon. They're a solid 2-day delivery with a free student prime account.

[drmguy]

Just got my MBA and it is great.

If you get a MBA make sure it has a samsung SSD.

[Cubyfan21]

Will a hp dm4-2050 work? cheap and small

[thegrayman]

Would ordering a thinkpad today (8/11) be a bad idea if I absolutely need it by 8/22?

I ordered mine on 7/27 in the evening and got it on 8/8 in the morning. 12 days. 8/11 +12 days = 8/23

I had a lot of upgrades if that makes a difference. who knows? I would say don't count on it.

Check out the prices on Amazon. They're a solid 2-day delivery with a free student prime account.

Right on, I'll check out that avenue, thanks

[JackMcCoy]

Just want to add, I purchased a 15in MBP, and love it. Battery life is excellent, speed is great. Power on and off time is amazing compared to my windows PCs.
One thing to add, for those deciding between 13 and 15, I *think* the 13 won't allow two side-by-side windows (like a MS WORD and internet window) open at the same time, and look acceptable.

[Miznitic]

If you get a MBA make sure it has a samsung SSD.

There is unfortunately, no definitive way to guarantee a samsung SSD if you're ordering it online. The only conceivable way to guarantee it is to go to an Apple store and try it that way with something they have in inventory. Downfall to that is you will not get the student discount.

I have a MBA 11" with the Toshiba, and it's fine. Absolutely blazes through everything I need it for. I opted for the 64gb SSD and 4gb of ram. If I find myself in need of more hard-drive space in a year, I'll consider Otherworld Computing's MBA SSD upgrade. (e.g., http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDAPAE180/ )

[cofc2008]

My 11" MBA will be hear on tuesday. it's gonna be sick.

I don't really understand why someone would buy the 13" mba, just get the MBP.

MBA and MBP differences (base models):
- MBP is 1.54 lbs heavier (big whoop).
- MBP has speakers WITH subwoofer (obviously not a 15" street-shaking woofer)
- MBP has 2.3 Ghz intel i5 processor, vs. 1.7 Ghz i5
- MBA comes standard with 128 gb ssd, vs. 320 gb ATA in MBP
- Native resolutions are 1280 x 800 for MBP and 1440 x 900 for MBA
- MBP has 2 firewire ports (none for the air)
- MBP has an optical drive, while the air has no room for one.
- MBA is 100 dollars more than MBP.

Everything else is the same including battery life and graphics card.

I just dont see a reason to pay more for what I deem to be less. If you wanna go for portability and have to have a mac, the 11" mba is where you wanna invest. And for those who would say it is too small, I am a quasi giant and my hand covers about 60% of the 11" mba but I can type and rest my palms just fine.

If someone has a good reason to opt for the 13" air instead, please enlighten me.

[Perch]

I'm still having the hardest time deciding between the air and the pro, 13". I'd get the upgraded air version for 1599 before discount, or the 1499 pro so the air just doesn't seem to make sense given what you get for the money. However, I love the keyboard on the air and think I'd prefer it for typing in exams.

Edit: for $1199 you get the 2.3ghz i5 with a 320gb hard drive MBP, versus a 1.7ghz i5 MBA with 256gb hard drive for $1599. If I want the MBA, but can't deal with the 128gb drive, do I seriously need to pay $300 bucks to basically get an extra 128gb drive?

Note- prices before educational discount.

[cofc2008]

forgot to mention I'm gettin' it STRAIGHT FROM CHINA

[ResolutePear]

I'm still having the hardest time deciding between the air and the pro, 13". I'd get the upgraded air version for 1599 before discount, or the 1499 pro so the air just doesn't seem to make sense given what you get for the money. However, I love the keyboard on the air and think I'd prefer it for typing in exams.

Both keyboards are horrible for prolonged typing, imo.

But this is coming from somebody who uses mechanical keyboards and Thinkpads, so it's like.. you can't really complain about JW:Black Label when you've never had single malt scotch.

[cofc2008]

you can't really complain about JW:Black Label when you've never had single malt scotch.

Great analogy and soooo true.

[drmguy]

If you get a MBA make sure it has a samsung SSD.

There is unfortunately, no definitive way to guarantee a samsung SSD if you're ordering it online. The only conceivable way to guarantee it is to go to an Apple store and try it that way with something they have in inventory. Downfall to that is you will not get the student discount.

I have a MBA 11" with the Toshiba, and it's fine. Absolutely blazes through everything I need it for. I opted for the 64gb SSD and 4gb of ram. If I find myself in need of more hard-drive space in a year, I'll consider Otherworld Computing's MBA SSD upgrade. (e.g., http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDAPAE180/ )

I got the student discount in store.

Also, the store I went into said if I didn't get a Samsung on the first try they would let me try another but no more after that. The salesman then said that if I didn't get one after those two I could do the same stunt at a different Apple store.

I have to mention this story because it seemed way too strange to just be coincidence. While I was waiting to be helped I checked every MBA in the store and they all had samsung drives. They brought out the first one and it was a Toshiba and then they took it back saying that I wanted to get a Samsung. The second one they brought out was a Samsung. Apple claims they can't differentiate, but it seems really strange that all the floor models were the faster SSD and that when they went back after I complained they brought me out a Samsung. At least in store I felt that they were trying to pitch the Toshiba SSDs out on people that didn't know any better.

[23402385985]

Both keyboards are horrible for prolonged typing, imo.

Really don't agree with that at all. My 13" MBP is the best keyboard I have owned so far (and I went through a ThinkPad a few years ago and assume they have similar keys as they did then). I love the feel of the MBP keyboard.

[ResolutePear]

Both keyboards are horrible for prolonged typing, imo.

Really don't agree with that at all. My 13" MBP is the best keyboard I have owned so far (and I went through a ThinkPad a few years ago and assume they have similar keys as they did then). I love the feel of the MBP keyboard.

Each to their own, I guess.

I will say that there are better keyboards if you have to do 3-4 hour spurts of ~50wpm typing, though. Especially on the desktop.

[drmguy]

Both keyboards are horrible for prolonged typing, imo.

Really don't agree with that at all. My 13" MBP is the best keyboard I have owned so far (and I went through a ThinkPad a few years ago and assume they have similar keys as they did then). I love the feel of the MBP keyboard.

Each to their own, I guess.

I will say that there are better keyboards if you have to do 3-4 hour spurts of ~50wpm typing, though. Especially on the desktop.

Honestly I think it is just like the switch to a touch screen smart phone. At first it is strange but once you adjust I doubt you would ever look back. When my MBP was new I was very uncertain typing because the keys don't have very much resistance but now I type much faster and desktop keyboards/non-mac laptop keyboards feel like typewriters.

Ultimately though, to each his own.

[ResolutePear]

Both keyboards are horrible for prolonged typing, imo.

Really don't agree with that at all. My 13" MBP is the best keyboard I have owned so far (and I went through a ThinkPad a few years ago and assume they have similar keys as they did then). I love the feel of the MBP keyboard.

Each to their own, I guess.

I will say that there are better keyboards if you have to do 3-4 hour spurts of ~50wpm typing, though. Especially on the desktop.

Honestly I think it is just like the switch to a touch screen smart phone. At first it is strange but once you adjust I doubt you would ever look back. When my MBP was new I was very uncertain typing because the keys don't have very much resistance but now I type much faster and desktop keyboards/non-mac laptop keyboards feel like typewriters.

Ultimately though, to each his own.

I've used scissor switch keyboards, rubber domes, etc. style keyboards. It kills my hands when I have to constantly bottom keys out.

It's nice to type on those keyboards(the same are used on their desktops) for general use, but as somebody who worked hardcore data entry for 3 years straight - you need some tactile response to avoid issues with carpel tunnel and the such. Of course, I think of myself to be a poweruser when it comes to the amount of time in front of a computer - so mileage will vary.

[zeth006]

I have to agree that the chiclet keyboard after one year's of use isn't exactly my favorite either. I find myself preferring the standard desktop keyboard or the Lenovo's.

[thegrayman]

I went with the T420 from Amazon, shipped today

I used a Thinkpad when I was working big4 auditing, the keyboard will hold up to a nice 14-15 hour panic session when you need to finish everything before you file a client's 10K, so it passed the test in my eyes.

[BeanTownBee]

My X220 is scheduled for delivery on 8/15, which is pretty close to the default estimate shipping date (when I purchased). Not sure if all the emails, phone calls and chat rep convos had any effect, but I'm happy to have it in 8 days instead of the projected 17.

from Shanghai, China fwiw.