Sell me a mac

oli356

oli356

oli356

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Hey there, edit: this is gonna be a long post, sorry!

Well I've been working all summer and now back to college and feel like spending money -typical me-. Will still be working a bit to keep myself 'topped up' though on money and have enough to buy a Mac and not be broke :)

Never used one before (plan to take a walk down to the Apple store in my lunch hour tomorrow and have a little play around for a bit)

Was looking at the MBA's and the MBP's. As great as the MBA looks, I guess your paying more for the thiness etc. Though the SSD seems to be the main advantage over the MBP.

I'm a college student so I have bought a NUS card and from the site have access to the further education and higher education store. Though the further education discount is only like 7% compared to higher which is 15. Though not sure if it would let me use the higher one or not... or either of them if I purchase from home.

Going on the higher education prices though:

MBP: 13", 2.3GHZ i5, 4GB RAM, 320GB 5400rpm HDD £859

The higher end 13" MBP would be OTT. The 15" costs £1332 and would rather not go paying that much.

MBA 11", 1.6GHZ I5, 4GB, 128GB SSD: £859.20
MBA 13" 1.7GHZ I5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD: £945.60

So it would be the MBP 13" (maybe buy a SSD and install it myself) or the MBA 13". The price between the 11 + 13" isn't much and the screen resolution might be a bit better; though I think I saw that the MBA has a better screen res then the MBP anyway.

I would most likely have Windows on a Mac, as I think most people do anyway. Incase for any reason I need it.... Not sure what the best method of this is, using the VMware software maybe?

-----------------rambling over--------

Anyone know about the higher education discounts and if I could use it then?

And the main point of the thread, why should I go and spend nearly a grand on a Mac over a Windows laptop (which tbh I wouldn't go and buy :p)

Cheers! :D
 
Opening a can of worms with that question really. My honest answer is, if you have no motivation to use OSX then you might as well save your money.

Out of the choices I would go with the 13" MBA but, again, if you're just going to install and run Windows then you're really missing half the worth of getting one in the first place.
 
theheyes said:
Opening a can of worms with that question really. My honest answer is, if you have no motivation to use OSX then you might as well save your money.

Out of the choices I would go with the 13" MBA but, again, if you're just going to install and run Windows then you're really missing half the worth of getting one in the first place.
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Of course I would use OSX, looks like a totally different OS compared to Windows and well you pay the extra bit for the OS. I might never need Windows, but it's there if I do need it. Though don't see why I would, only if I was using some software what didn't work on Mac for e.g.
 
Find yourself a second hand bargain IMO.

I picked up a 3/4 month old 15" with full 3 year applecare for £1100. The guy paid north of £1500...

If you don't do a lot then the Air is up your street but always worth looking for a bargain!
 
Concorde Rules said:
Find yourself a second hand bargain IMO.

I picked up a 3/4 month old 15" with full 3 year applecare for £1100. The guy paid north of £1500...

If you don't do a lot then the Air is up your street but always worth looking for a bargain!
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Keeping an eye on the MM. Though wouldn't want to be sending that much money really, if it was local then it's a different story.

Just looked the MBP also was refreshed in February so not to long away till it's refresh, compared to the air atleast. With the 11" air being the same price as the 13" mbp it's a hard one really. Though the air has a better cpu it has the ssd
 
oli356 said:
Keeping an eye on the MM. Though wouldn't want to be sending that much money really, if it was local then it's a different story.

Just looked the MBP also was refreshed in February so not to long away till it's refresh, compared to the air atleast. With the 11" air being the same price as the 13" mbp it's a hard one really. Though the air has a better cpu it has the ssd
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Air will only be refreshed with Ivy Bridge I recon.

Apple tend to leave things for 10-14 months before updates, and guess what happens in Feb/March next year? ;)

Also I drove 85 miles to pick this one up, but ebay is also a good bet, see the other thread for the bargin a bloke got.
 
Concorde Rules said:
Air will only be refreshed with Ivy Bridge I recon.

Apple tend to leave things for 10-14 months before updates, and guess what happens in Feb/March next year? ;)

Also I drove 85 miles to pick this one up, but ebay is also a good bet, see the other thread for the bargin a bloke got.
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Feb/March, a new one I guess?

Which thread did you put that in?
Item number: 280737974637(auction site) will keep an eye on that, though the 11" version. Just seems like that would be to small.
 
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Im not sure you can post links to eBay directly bud.

Im buying a MBA 13" Base Model in october for university, as i will be ferrying it to uni everyday, and using it at home. If i wanted and had the ability to wait till january, i would get a top line 15", but i dont want to :(
 
oli356 said:
Thought you could as they aren't really a competitor, though rules says no auction sites so.. Edited :)
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Just to be safe though bud :).

No holidays ;)

Be careful, as i've spotted a few people claiming to be selling the i7 Quad 17inch Macbook Pro 2011, for sub£1800 which is damn cheap, and they claim its NEW.

When you read the article though, says it has a i5-dual core etc, so be careful.

I always purchase laptops or computers from people/places i know.

Especially apple, as with higher-education i get 3 year hardware warranty on my macbook air (when i get it :cool:)
 
DefiantAsh said:
<snip>
Especially apple, as with higher-education i get 3 year hardware warranty on my macbook air (when i get it :cool:)
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Best to be safe then sorry yeah.

Nice warranty. Shame I can't get the HE discount :( seems like you need to be on the network to buy online as well so. Would have to be at college for the 7% discount. £88 difference between 13" MBA HE discount and FE discount.
 
oli356 said:
Best to be safe then sorry yeah.

Nice warranty. Shame I can't get the HE discount :( seems like you need to be on the network to buy online as well so. Would have to be at college for the 7% discount. £88 difference between 13" MBA HE discount and FE discount.
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Ah, quite a fair bit then.

As i didn't work through summer as i couldn't find a job i will be paying for it on my student finance, which around £970 is a grant (don't pay it back :eek::cool:) So it will basically be free :).

And i'll buy it in my university library, after asking about it of course :).

I expect to get it before october 10th.
 
Gilbert89 said:
Both 13" MBA & MBP Would eat most tasks you chuck at it especially for College/University personally I would buy a MBP and add a Crucial M4 SSD Drive.

Just my opinion.
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Its having the funds though, i have £1100 budget for a laptop, fancied a macbook air.

Baseline 13" MBA is like £955 or so, leaving me £140 or so for accessories, so a graphics tablet, magic mouse and then apple wireless/bluetooth keyboard for when at home and a magic mouse charger.

Costing a total of £1140 or something with my discount. :)

I will do an unboxing hopefully as well as first impressions and an initial review on the first weekend i have the mac, as i will be using it throughout the week. Then new mac users or people fancying one will know what its like from someone who has never used a mac too as well :).

As for the voucher, i dont mind. Most of the stuff i can get for free from uni as it goes, like Office for Mac and things like that :).

Oh and the Macbook Air 13" has a bigger resolution than the 13" Macbook Pro, :) Better battery life too i think, as well as being lighter lugging it to university and back everyday :)
 
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Keep just going back in forth in my head. Hopefully going to see them in person will help.

Air: SSD (noticeable difference), screen resolution higher (though much difference?, lighter and thinner (could argue that it's a disadvantage in a way, might not feel as tough, not sure if I even prefer the look!

Pro: Better processor good for the future and if I try to do anything more demanding, maybe even play a game.. still looks nice, and tougher :p, could buy an 128GB SSD..
 
Both the Air and Pro have the same HD3000 so you can argue that this will be much more limiting that the CPU speed and thus make little difference between the two. Also although the games will load quicker on the Airs SSD the higher resolution will cause a further headache due to the HD3000 (unless of course you drop the res)
 
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