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Is having a larger laptop (say 15-in. vs. 13-in.) at all beneficial for taking exams? Or is it just a pain to haul to class?

I took all my exams on a netbook. No issues at all - never really wished I had a bigger screen.

OK. I was just wondering if exams are open note, it might be nice to be able to put two windows side-by-side while you are taking your exam. Can you even have other programs open when you are taking an exam?

Took all my exams on a 13" laptop. Did well enough. Didn't feel handicapped by the size of the screen at all.

My only wish is that my laptop was lighter. This is especially true now that I have a 20-minute walk to class every day. Maybe I'll get a MacBook Air...

vanwinkle wrote: Maybe I'll get a MacBook Air...

Think long and hard before doing that one. Even trying to edit a simple Keynote presentation on an Air is a chore. It is really much more of a consumption/presentation tool than any kind of content creation machine.

CyLaw wrote:

vanwinkle wrote: Maybe I'll get a MacBook Air...

Think long and hard before doing that one. Even trying to edit a simple Keynote presentation on an Air is a chore. It is really much more of a consumption/presentation tool than any kind of content creation machine.

Really? Not my experience using my friends Air. It wasn't all that much slower than my MBP and has a full-size keyboard. What are you basing not being able to edit a Keynote presentation on? Hell, you can do that on an iPad.

I have used a big screen 17, smaller screen 14, medium screen 16, and now I am back to a smaller screen 14. I think that 14 is the best becuase it is so much easier to haul around. Plus, if you are in a class that is crowded, space is limited when you try to fit a big screen laptop + your casebook on the desk.

Also, if you are using examsoft you are not going to be able to use your notes side by side the "bluebook"

blowhard wrote:

CyLaw wrote:

vanwinkle wrote: Maybe I'll get a MacBook Air...

Think long and hard before doing that one. Even trying to edit a simple Keynote presentation on an Air is a chore. It is really much more of a consumption/presentation tool than any kind of content creation machine.

Really? Not my experience using my friends Air. It wasn't all that much slower than my MBP and has a full-size keyboard. What are you basing not being able to edit a Keynote presentation on? Hell, you can do that on an iPad.

(One example) Had to use one for a presentation I was doing, and making some changes to a chart prior to the presentation kept crippling the machine. It could just be some zombie processes or like that they had running in the background (as it was not my machine). But it definitely turned me off to the Air. And yeah, you can do SOME presentations on the ipad. But there is a reason why they restricted the amount of what you can do on the iPad version of Keynote. My only point is that the Air, at least in my *limited* experience with it, does not seem well suited as a main platform, so I don't know if the marginal weight difference is really worth it compared to say a 13" Macbook Pro.

CyLaw wrote:

blowhard wrote:

CyLaw wrote:

vanwinkle wrote: Maybe I'll get a MacBook Air...

Think long and hard before doing that one. Even trying to edit a simple Keynote presentation on an Air is a chore. It is really much more of a consumption/presentation tool than any kind of content creation machine.

Really? Not my experience using my friends Air. It wasn't all that much slower than my MBP and has a full-size keyboard. What are you basing not being able to edit a Keynote presentation on? Hell, you can do that on an iPad.

(One example) Had to use one for a presentation I was doing, and making some changes to a chart prior to the presentation kept crippling the machine. It could just be some zombie processes or like that they had running in the background (as it was not my machine). But it definitely turned me off to the Air. And yeah, you can do SOME presentations on the ipad. But there is a reason why they restricted the amount of what you can do on the iPad version of Keynote. My only point is that the Air, at least in my *limited* experience with it, does not seem well suited as a main platform, so I don't know if the marginal weight difference is really worth it compared to say a 13" Macbook Pro.

Something was up with their config. You should see very little performance drop. Was it an SSD machine? First gen or one of the newer ones? It's possible they had some kind of file transfer or processing going on in the background. SSDs aren't great at simultaneous seeks.

blowhard wrote: Something was up with their config. You should see very little performance drop. Was it an SSD machine? First gen or one of the newer ones? It's possible they had some kind of file transfer or processing going on in the background. SSDs aren't great at simultaneous seeks.

Definitely first gen (which is almost always a mistake). And since it is the machine they give to presenters to run code on, would not be surprised if there were just a lot to background processes that were never properly killed and were running at startup. My rational side knows that it was probably the machine setup and not the machine. But it just left a bad taste in my mouth re: the Air, since I have not had similar problems with any MacBook Pros that were loaned to me for code presentations.

OP, Sorry for the thread derailment.