Computers for Law School 2011 Forum

[FalafelWaffle]

lulz

And I am a mac person going for a PC for lawl school. Damn you Onenote!!!

Dude...just run Windows 7 on your Mac. Will cost you extra $$$, but worth it. Or try a different program. OneNote beats the shit out of Word, but seriously, there's more out there is money's an issue.

[risktaker]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

[FalafelWaffle]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

I'm getting a MBP 15", but if I had to get a PC I'd get a Toshiba Portege or a high end HP. I hate Dell with a burning passion.

[FalafelWaffle]

If you like the idea of a MacBook Air but hate Apple, the Samsung 9 series looks pretty sweet.

[risktaker]

Thanks man!

[Chupavida]

.

[absolutazn87]

OneNote isn't worth buying a PC for. People put too much emphasis on "the method" as if somehow the software you use to take notes will translate to epic grades. There are a number of options available for macs that will get the job done just as well.

The short version: buy a mac unless you need cost-effective video gaming. Pick up a 13" MBP or an Air; the new models of both are fantastic. Be sure to get an educational discount, and buy in the fall to get a free iTouch. If you don't want to keep it, you can sell it on craigslist and subsidize your laptop.

If you insist on a PC, the nicer Lenovos are ok, and Asus is a good price/performance leader with good reliability.

SSDs are amazing.

TITCR & SSDs are awesome!!

FYI: the "buy a mac, get a free ipod touch" deal should start in may.

(writing as a former apple store employee)

[kalvano]

I don't know why people think these threads are needed every few months. It's always the same answer - buy a Mac if you like Macs, buy a PC if you like PC's. There is no material difference between the two. This hasn't changed in years.

[almightypush]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

I'm getting a MBP 15", but if I had to get a PC I'd get a Toshiba Portege or a high end HP. I hate Dell with a burning passion.

I'm debating between a 13" and 15" MBP myself... but just curious: do you think a 15" laptop would eventually become burdensome (in terms of portability)?

[geoduck]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

I'm getting a MBP 15", but if I had to get a PC I'd get a Toshiba Portege or a high end HP. I hate Dell with a burning passion.

I'm debating between a 13" and 15" MBP myself... but just curious: do you think a 15" laptop would eventually become burdensome (in terms of portability)?

I can confirm that it does. My MBP is from the couple years between the 12" PowerBook and the 13" MBP and I constantly wish the damn thing took up less room.

[missinglink]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

I'm getting a MBP 15", but if I had to get a PC I'd get a Toshiba Portege or a high end HP. I hate Dell with a burning passion.

I'm debating between a 13" and 15" MBP myself... but just curious: do you think a 15" laptop would eventually become burdensome (in terms of portability)?

The difference is huge when you have to carry it around all the time. I went from a MBP 15" to a PC in the 12" range. I find it much easier to carry around. From the moment I brought the MBP out, I was regretting having such a big computer to take notes on.

I would go with the 13" in a heartbeat.

[FalafelWaffle]

I don't know why people think these threads are needed every few months. It's always the same answer - buy a Mac if you like Macs, buy a PC if you like PC's. There is no material difference between the two. This hasn't changed in years.

Indeed buy a Mac if you want a Mac, but all PCs are not made equal. And some would-be Mac users need a little coaxing about how Parallels/BootCamp isn't a big deal if they need Windows

[FalafelWaffle]

Tag because I don't know jack about computers and my HP is the size of a freaking desktop.

I'm getting a MBP 15", but if I had to get a PC I'd get a Toshiba Portege or a high end HP. I hate Dell with a burning passion.

I'm debating between a 13" and 15" MBP myself... but just curious: do you think a 15" laptop would eventually become burdensome (in terms of portability)?

The difference is huge when you have to carry it around all the time. I went from a MBP 15" to a PC in the 12" range. I find it much easier to carry around. From the moment I brought the MBP out, I was regretting having such a big computer to take notes on.

I would go with the 13" in a heartbeat.

Most of my friends agree. Personally, I find myself feeling crowded/cramped typing on the 13". I also find 15" better for multitasking. My current laptop weighs more than both models, and I don't find it burdensome. The weight difference between the two is pretty inconsequential I think-the dimensions are what I would worry about-15" is a pretty standard size, and I doubt you would be crowded for space in most classrooms. 17" would be a bad move, but 15" should be golden. Personally, if I'm going to spend several hours a day staring at a laptop screen, I want it to be fairly spacious. Go to an Apple store and look at them if you're unsure.

[absolutazn87]

Most of my friends agree. Personally, I find myself feeling crowded/cramped typing on the 13". I also find 15" better for multitasking. My current laptop weighs more than both models, and I don't find it burdensome. Personally, if I'm going to spend several hours a day staring at a laptop screen, I want it to be fairly spacious. Go to an Apple store and look at them if you're unsure.

That's one main reason I jumped to the Macbook Air. It's the only Apple notebook that has a 1440x900 resolution screen in a 13''. That's the same resolution as the 15'' base model packed in a 13'' computer.

[FalafelWaffle]

Most of my friends agree. Personally, I find myself feeling crowded/cramped typing on the 13". I also find 15" better for multitasking. My current laptop weighs more than both models, and I don't find it burdensome. Personally, if I'm going to spend several hours a day staring at a laptop screen, I want it to be fairly spacious. Go to an Apple store and look at them if you're unsure.

That's one main reason I jumped to the Macbook Air. It's the only Apple notebook that has a 1440x900 resolution screen in a 13''. That's the same resolution as the 15'' base model packed in a 13'' computer.

I'd love an Air, but I'm not ready to take the plunge and use it as my primary computer.

[kalvano]

but all PCs are not made equal.

But the answer for that changes little, if at all. Lenovo / Asus.

[Baylan]

I did something a little different than most others here. Because of the way my computer purchases broke down going into law school, I had only a netbook for computing the summer before school. I decided to build a desktop in addition to it. For a total of $800, I have a super lightweight, 4-6 hour battery life (after a year of use) netbook to take notes on and have for school, and then have a nice desktop to do heavy duty computing and multitasking with at home.

I am really happy with my decision. I can deal with the small screen and keyboard of a netbook, however, and didn't find it to limit my typing/exam taking. If anything, the slow processors and the like probably helped me by keeping me more focused in class. I don't screw around and play flash games or sporcle during class, because the little guy can't multitask too much.

Also: another one for dropbox. And my referral link.

http://db.tt/ipDDGto

[savagedm]

I don't know why people think these threads are needed every few months. It's always the same answer - buy a Mac if you like Macs, buy a PC if you like PC's. There is no material difference between the two. This hasn't changed in years.

Indeed buy a Mac if you want a Mac, but all PCs are not made equal. And some would-be Mac users need a little coaxing about how Parallels/BootCamp isn't a big deal if they need Windows

So because of this, you are inferring that every PC that is not functionally better than the Mac means that would-be purchasers of said PC should just go ahead and buy a Mac because a particular computer which is not representative of the whole is inferior? I fail to see how the logic works.

(Simplified: because some PCs suck, they should buy Macs?)

[bk1]

So because of this, you are inferring that every PC that is not functionally better than the Mac means that would-be purchasers of said PC should just go ahead and buy a Mac because a particular computer which is not representative of the whole is inferior? I fail to see how the logic works.

(Simplified: because some PCs suck, they should buy Macs?)

Even if the majority of PCs sucked, as long as there were legitimate Wintel contenders, the Mac > Wintel for this reason would still be stupid advice.

[geoduck]

I don't know why people think these threads are needed every few months. It's always the same answer - buy a Mac if you like Macs, buy a PC if you like PC's. There is no material difference between the two. This hasn't changed in years.

Indeed buy a Mac if you want a Mac, but all PCs are not made equal. And some would-be Mac users need a little coaxing about how Parallels/BootCamp isn't a big deal if they need Windows

So because of this, you are inferring that every PC that is not functionally better than the Mac means that would-be purchasers of said PC should just go ahead and buy a Mac because a particular computer which is not representative of the whole is inferior? I fail to see how the logic works.

(Simplified: because some PCs suck, they should buy Macs?)

Way to put words in his mouth. A more logical interpretation would be that some people want a Mac, but are considering another brand because of their need for Windows. These people need to be reassured that any Windows software can be run on a Mac using either dualbooting or virtualization.

Further, he briefly mentions (rather unnecessarily) that PCs come in much higher varieties of spec and reliability than Macs do. This makes the Mac v PC choice more complicated if you aren't already decided. I believe he is trying to warn against trying to directly compare a POS $400 dell with 3 hour battery life and huge pixels to, say, a Macbook Air. When you compare apples to apples (forgive me), the price difference shrinks severely.

[bk1]

Way to put words in his mouth. A more logical interpretation would be that some people want a Mac, but are considering another brand because of their need for Windows. These people need to be reassured that any Windows software can be run on a Mac using either dualbooting or virtualization.

Further, he briefly mentions (rather unnecessarily) that PCs come in much higher varieties of spec and reliability than Macs do. This makes the Mac v PC choice more complicated if you aren't already decided. I believe he is trying to warn against trying to directly compare a POS $400 dell with 3 hour battery life and huge pixels to, say, a Macbook Air. When you compare apples to apples (forgive me), the price difference shrinks severely.

The price difference is still significant. No reasonable person is comparing a Macbook to a netbook.

[geoduck]

Way to put words in his mouth. A more logical interpretation would be that some people want a Mac, but are considering another brand because of their need for Windows. These people need to be reassured that any Windows software can be run on a Mac using either dualbooting or virtualization.

Further, he briefly mentions (rather unnecessarily) that PCs come in much higher varieties of spec and reliability than Macs do. This makes the Mac v PC choice more complicated if you aren't already decided. I believe he is trying to warn against trying to directly compare a POS $400 dell with 3 hour battery life and huge pixels to, say, a Macbook Air. When you compare apples to apples (forgive me), the price difference shrinks severely.

The price difference is still significant. No reasonable person is comparing a Macbook to a netbook.

I didn't say anything about netbooks. Those are a totally different class. If it has an Atom, it's closer to a phone than a laptop in my book. And yeah, I did say that his mention is very unnecessary. It's like saying "Buy an Audi if you want an Audi, but remember that not all American cars are made equal."

[bk1]

I didn't say anything about netbooks. Those are a totally different class. If it has an Atom, it's closer to a phone than a laptop in my book. And yeah, I did say that his mention is very unnecessary. It's like saying "Buy an Audi if you want an Audi, but remember that not all American cars are made equal."

I was being hyperbolic but I was pointing out that anybody comparing a MB/MBP/MBA to a $400 Dell is off their rocker.

[kalvano]

Also, just to make sure this is in every recent thread about computers, Macs are no different than PC's, hardware-wise. You're paying extra for a fancy case and for a pretty OS that is better looking and more user friendly than Windows 7 (albeit not by much anymore), but not as functional or powerful.

Well, that and an awesome touchpad. I do miss that on Macs.

[PomasThynchon]

but all PCs are not made equal.

But the answer for that changes little, if at all. Lenovo / Asus.

You're right, it's not like new models are being released all the time. I would go HP over Asus personally.