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Anyone getting the macbook pro retina for LS? I want it, but I hear it might not be a good option because it lacks a disk drive plus memory compared to the regular mbp.

Thoughts?

Can the computer run a word processing program and a web browser? Then it's probably completely adequate for everything you'll need in law school.

My laptop is more than six years old and does everything I need it to for law school--a brand new computer will be just fine.

Got it, its great and super fast. You can buy a cd-drive that connects through USB. Plus how often do you actually use CD's anymore?

Go get a refurbished MBP, a solid state drive, and 8gb of memory. You'll have a more powerful mac build for less than half the price.

I have a 2009 mbp and it does everything I need, so I'm sure the retina would be even better (you can get an external DVD drive, but I doubt you'd need it). I mostly just use my ipad, actually, with an external keyboard and the Evernote app. This keep everything constantly backed up so that I can get to my notes from my computer, phone, etc.

I'm not yet convinced that the MBP Retina is worth the cost over the regular MBP. Despite what Apple tells you, both max out at 16GB of RAM. You can get the SSD in both (although you're sure paying for it). I still use CDs and DVDs (and still buy music CDs and rip them), so I'd miss the drive, which is close to another $100. Is it a hell of a computer? Yah. Is the screen gorgeous? Yah. I'm just not convinced it's worth the price unless you're doing non-law school things.

(Caveat: I'll probably get a retina, but I'm a former professional photographer, and the screen is great for photo editing. Also, I'm a former Mac Specialist at an Apple Store.)

I love my MBP for LS, if only because it's so damned dependable. I had friends whose hard drives took a crap on their PCs or their files would become corrupted. I'd say 75% of LS students at my school have Macs. That being said, you'll need your computer to last you three years, so just get one that you think can do that. Macs are fantastic though.

I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

This is why I love UVa: our "exam software" is Word, or in my case, Pages. That's it.

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

This is why I love UVa: our "exam software" is Word, or in my case, Pages. That's it.

That's awesome. Extegrity is ridiculously unstable.

nonprofit-prophet wrote:

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

So you're recommending against both Mac and Windows?

omninode wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

So you're recommending against both Mac and Windows?

Call your school and find out what exam software you use. If you use extegrity, I think the safest thing is to go to best buy and buy one of super on sale macs that still have the old OS.

omninode wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:

pertristis wrote:

nonprofit-prophet wrote:I'd hold off on any new mac for a while. My school uses Extegrity software and they told us that the exam software will not be ready for the newest Mac OS before finals this year.

Just boot into Windows.

That would make me nervous. For some reason, my classmates with windows computers were the ones that had their exam software freeze on them.

So you're recommending against both Mac and Windows?

linux is the obvious choice.

Lack of disk drive is not an issue, unless you have some issue with digital download. I used a $300 HP ultra-portable (basically a glorified netbook) and just installed Office for OneNote and had zero issues.

I have a retina macbook pro, and I love it. 256 GB is plenty of hard disk space for law school; it's your photos and movies you would have to worry about, if anything. The lack of a disc drive is a feature, not a flaw. I've used a disc maybe twice on my old macbook, and yet spent so much time lugging it around. Just buy the external CD drive if you really think you will occasionally need to use one.

That said, for the price, it's not really worth it. You can get a 2010/2011 Macbook Pro for under $1000 used. Find one with an SSD or upgrade yourself to make it really fly. The 2010's max out at 8GB of RAM, but the 2011's support up to 16 GB. Also, they hi-res matte screens are great if you can find one with one. I like the Retina, but I still prefer matte to glossy.

But other than exam software compatibility issues with the new Mountain Lion OS, any computer will work just fine.