Darn you Apple!

Well, this comes from a guy who's been a PC user for all his life and was really excited about getting his first Mac (MacBook).

I will be going to college in a couple of weeks.

I waited, and waited, and waited for September 9th, convincing myself that they would release the freaking updates for the MacBooks....but nope.

The day that school starts is drawing closer and now I hear rumor of the Oct 14 release date...

Well, guess what? That's after school starts. So, it looks like I'll have to go with getting a PC....again...

Why don't I just buy the current MacBook? Well, because no matter what anyone says, the current MacBook's specs are way under an equivalently priced PC laptop. I can get an $800 PC with updated specs. That's why I was hoping to wait for the updated models.

Well, don't hate me too much. This post was just sort of a quick rant. ****, I was psyched to get my first MacBook too, but Apple lost me.

*Queue the backlash against this post*

 

I agree, montevina is important to me as well, and coming from integrated graphics (which the macbook uses), it's a significant enough upgrade.
Come october, november at the latest, if there are no updates than I will have to take my business elsewhere. It's unfortunate though, but it's the truth.

 

Ummm... welcome to the world of Mac computers? lol. I'm very doubtful the update would bring it up to a price similar to most PCs.

 

I am glad to see someone agrees. I am contemplating POSSIBLY waiting until October to see what they announce...

However, that means I'll have to go laptop-less in college for about a month...which I am not sure if that's possible anymore...

 

Why not make an account with RBC and get a free Eee PC for the wait? haha.

 

No offense, but I'm sure it's possible. So many of you think that a computer is required to graduate college. I'm sure the school has computers for you to type your essay's on until you buy your own.
It's just being spoiled if people feel they need a laptop the moment they walk into school. I'm sure there many kids in college today that don't have a computer of their own and get by just fine.
I went straight through college with no computer, not because I couldn't get one but because when I was in college computers were just coming into people's homes and it wasn't something you used for school.
What do you think people have done all of these years before computers came out, they graduated college.

 

Hey there you go! I don't know what he's talking about, but if it's possible, then why not?

 

Haha, they are having a promotion where if you make a bank account with them... they give you one... the bill boards are EVERYWHERE here in Toronto at least. Not sure what the catch is though

 

People go to class every day without a laptop and still manage to learn something. Makes you think, huh?

 

Woah! Can people in the US do this?

About the school and laptops. Yeah, I definitely see where you are coming from but I find myself doing pretty much every bit of homework on my computer. Be it typing essays or looking up stuff. I realize there are the computers at the school to use, but I would really just like to have one to carry around and take notes on.

I was being a bit sarcastic there. I definitely know that you can survive without a laptop, but most of my work is done on computers especially with the programs I going into at school.

 

It does depend on the college though. There's usually no need to have a laptop at the beginning of the school year, although it sure does make a lot of administrative issues easier to deal with. Some schools still have one of those flood-the-server-at-7AM registration policies, and not having some sort of computer access (laptop or otherwise) might be an issue if you can't get to a computer lab for some reason. The beginning of the year also is when you get a lot of fairly important e-mails (registration, financial aid, scholarships, communications with professors, event sign-ups, etc.), some of which can be fairly time-sensitive. A laptop would help things immensely there. Certain professional schools also host interviews at the beginning of the school year, and a laptop is useful for those.

On the other hand, I know some schools have switched to a laptop-only exam policy, and a few have a general laptop policy (although not necessarily enforced until exam time). In such cases, a laptop is absolutely necessary to graduate.

 

I can't see any sound logic in that statement.

No but seriously, people with laptops learn more at school.

I could possibly see myself getting a Mac, if they made one you could play graphic intense games on.

 

Apples are overpriced. If you want one, be prepared for that. There are reasons I don't support Apple. :twitcy:

 

Can't tell..is this sarcasm?

Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people have little to no discipline when confronted with sheer utter boredom.

Basically, laptops turn on, minds turn off. When taking notes with pen and paper, you have to at least pay attention to a certain extent to judge what's worth taking down as notes. With a laptop, while some people do still do this, most people don't even process what they hear and just type what the professor says verbatim - not a good way to learn. Some even go as far as to simply record the entire lecture.

Then of course, there's always that nice game of solitaire in the background, and AIM/Yahoo/MSN/G-mail in the other window, or maybe some online shopping site about the latest outfit you want to buy for tomorrow's night out..

 

That is so true. for me, my laptops are more for entertainment purposes. none of my classes required computer. oh what about essays and computer programming? well my school lends laptop to students for free. your school might be a different story but surely there are hundreds of desktops ready for you at the library!! 24/7!!

 

Not necessarily. I am more productive in class with a laptop.

 

I went my first semester without a laptop since I was waiting for the Core 2 Duo MBP to be released in 2007 and just used a desktop. Although I'm in engineering so it might depend on the program. We don't have people that bring laptops to class to take notes. There are one or two people with a tablet. I guess it's just because it isn't convenient to derive equations and draw diagrams on a computer. And it's generally agreed upon that classes that use Powerpoint are the worst since the thought process really isn't involved just staring at a printout and the Prof usually goes too fast. Pen, paper, and a chalkboard still seem to be the best despite technological advancements.

 

I've never actually ended up using my laptop in a math or engineering class. Chem and Physics, yea, so that I can type up the lab reports and such, but with the more equation heavy classes, theres no reasonable way to actually use a laptop productively.

Granted, I've done my fair share of goofing off during lectures as well, so I understand the temptations.

I'd say go for a VAIO SR. The only thing you lose is having to use Vista instead of OS X (I personally don't care much, but there are some people who are really particular) but hardware-wise you gain quite a bit.

 

No, they're not, pix, if you happen to like OSX, can afford the machines, and don't like PCs or Windows, or if you want something a little different than what most other people have, or if you prefer a slimmer, lighter design than most machines with similar specs. Or, if you happen to be like myself and most Mac users of whom I'm aware, and want both a Mac and a PC.

So, your reasons for not supporting (at the ripe old age of 16? lol) Apple?

 

I didn't buy my first laptop until I was 22... About one year after I dropped out of college for the second time.

Doesn't help the "You don't need a laptop to graduate" statement, but I sure got along fine without it. If I needed to type something, I had my desktop at my crappy apartment.

Personally, I think my laptop is a distraction... I wouldn't be getting much school work done with this puppy.

 

trust me, if you check your email at least once a week, it will never be an issue. there are computer labs for a reason and there are office hours for a reason. unless you go on a quarter system like the UC's then the notebook will probably end up doing more harm than good during first month. even during finals week i see all these kids at the library facebooking and warming up seats during their take-break-every-30min-and-pretend-like-i'm-studying period. can't access webcasts? go to class. can't get syllabus and assignment at home? go to computer lab and print them out. if you're even remotely serious about studying then a freaking notebook is not going to slow you down. and no school will enforce computer only exam policy without providing school loaned notebooks at computer centers.

 

It was and wasn't For me having a laptop in school has helped, I see what you mean by blindly taking notes, but I review all my stuff after class when I'm doing the homework. My penmanship is so awful, I really shouldn't even call it "penmanship".

I hate it, but I'm wondering if I'm leaning in that direction, although I just ordered an AW, the contemplations are running wild.

 

Though notebooks probably help a great many people with their schoolwork, others will be easily distracted.

 

I feel you dawg.

The pc oems basically tell us stuff way ahead, kiss up too us while Apple is a giant tease, but I guess thats what makes them ever so more desirable, savvy?

 

I have a laptop and haven't taken to class once, but all my courses are math based or chemistry (calc, physics, chem) and my other course they prof gives us all the lecture notes.

 

Wow, I just checked this thread and it was already up to three pages!

Based on your guys' responses, it looks like I'll be fine without a laptop for a while. I will be fine in the sense that I won't be required to have one, but wanting one is a whole different story!!

 

Personally i would wait the 1 month. It will not make or break you. If you want one that bad then wait.
PC notebooks are all over the place. You have hundreds of choices and it may take you a month just to decide on a good one.

 

I went through the first 3 months of uni without a laptop. I just did all my work in the library which had hundreds of computers. This also made it easier to meet new people and generally get off to a good start.

...Having said that... After I got myself one, I only went back to print stuff and get the occasional book, of course ;-)

 

my 2 cents is get mbp. I doubt there will be any big changes in mbp and I like the current look anyway...I'm an graduating senior at san jose state university, and I went laptopless a week. It just suck!!! I was actually waiting for new MacBook and free new iPod touch. I was very disappointed on not getting free iPod touch that recently announced. Anyway, u should take advantage of the back to school sales. MacBook is only 1k and you get $300 rebates from ipod and printer. In addition to that, students get 10% off.

 

Uhh no disrespect by any means, but things really have changed. Back then the computer wasn't used for almost everything like it is nowdays. Papers, essays, school registration, and research is all done through a computeR and to say that you can get through colege just fine without one of your own is just plain ignorant. You can get by for only so long by going to computer labs. It is not a matter of being spoilt, it is a matter of having what you need to get things done conveniently and as
efficiently as possible.

 

@BHD - I'm in 11th grade in high school and if I only checked my email once a week I would be ****ed in so many cases. Every night I get emails from teachers letting us know about a change in class tomorrow or about some change to a mural I designed.

If I didn't check my email 2 times or more a day I would miss a lot of important stuff.

 

And if you didn't have a computer the teacher has no rights, nor does the school hold any rights that require a student to have a computer and email address to get class updates. You are just creating an excuse.

 

Are you kidding me? In high school the total number of e-mails I got from my teachers was something along the lines of.... NONE! Sounds like your teachers are just disorganized!

 

Everyone needs a computer today so they can copy facts from the net and have automatic spell check for their convenience.

Jokes aside even if thats true for some people , it's a lot more effective using a computer to work with school related tasks, I personally prefer it because it goes a lot faster writing on a keyboard than using a stupid stone age pencil and annoying my wrists.

 

are your classes for future MIT, harvard, etc students only?

 

seems like the teacher (or school itself) has no set of structured curricula set in place for their classes. do you seriously expect every single high school kid to have access to internet at home? even if one student out of five thousand student didn't have access it would be enough to overrule the policy. that's why schools set up computer centers that are easily accessible. if it wasn't easily accessible then the requirement would never fall through. it's inefficient but that's how things work.

 

Yes I agree that a computer isn't 100% necessary. In fact I get quite distracted by people who do use notebooks for things other than taking notes during lectures. I use my notebook for my Chem and Core Engineering lectures, for both taking notes and getting a better detailed look at the lecture slides myself (all available on my uni's web portal and all lecture halls have wifi). Other than that I try to keep my wireless card off, for less distraction and longer battery life.

But with certain softwares that I have to use later on this semester (Pro/E, Intelli CAD, Matlab, Maple...etc). It will be far more convenient to do so on my notebook which is well capable to doing the tasks than spending long hours in computer labs. The hardware of my notebook is basically the sole reason that i purchased it. (the ability to run the GPU as a standard gaming GPU as well as a workstation GPU).

Also my written notes are pretty shockingly messy. I am fairly effective taking notes with my laptop so I am happy with it. Yes I can live without it, but I certain do have a certain degree of need for it.

Johnny T

 

I have yet to have a need for a laptop at school and during classes. Unless your were in maybe graphic designs or something related I don't know.

 

While I agree you can get through with out a laptop, but getting through with out a computer overall is almost impossible. Because if you have a least a desktop you are able to do work in your room, in addition to being able to do all other task you do in a computer.

Laptops are very convenient and the fact that you can take it with you every where makes them more useful.

Not having a computer at all sucks and can be painful, obviously you are not going to die but a lot of things can a happen if you don't get to read important email, or not a able to submit a hw on time.

I went through that process for 3 weeks, since the start of this semester. While my laptop is being repaired. Thanks God I was able to get temporary computer until get my laptop. Because things where starting to get a little out control, since I was not reading emails on time, or read class materials ahead of time since I was able to go to a computer lab at certain hours.

 

Not sure about that. I hated my school's computer center (in the library) getting use of the machines was rather a pain in the butt, and for some strange reason they watched you like a hawk. It bugged me so much I just started going home and doing my work there.

However, for just about anything besides gaming, anything but the netbooks will do you just fine. The current notebooks with core 2 duo's will be great machines for the next 4-5 years. The fact is that gaming is really the only stressor on these machines. Even programs like Photoshop, etc. will run fine. CAD programs as well (though they may take a bit longer to process). You can do 95% of your work on a Dell Mini 9 PC and never need anything else.

The power is about gaming, we all know that. Personally if I want to game, I'll turn on my oven... Er.. Xbox 360. hehe.

That said there is also always the public library as well. I found the computers at my public library were a lot easier to use, and the librarians weren't hovering over me while I worked.

So if you ABSOLUTELY need something, get a Dell Mini 9 PC or something to hold you over, then you can take your time and ask for an MBP for christmas or something. Plus, the netbooks are small and extremely easy to carry from class to class.

 

Some people are so smart here, especially when they did something so special like doing a college without a laptop.

Well, you should also try to stop DRIVING your car to work, instead get a bike and do yourself some good and drop some pounds. Or maybe a horse .. but then you don't get to drop anything - still your horse will drop stuff for you...stinky stuff ..

If the guy needs a laptop for college then he should buy one and not wait forever for Apple who charges 2500$ for a $800 laptop, why, oh why, cause it's white and Leopard enabled.

And whoever writes laptops are not getting plenty of use in school they should go and try to forget about internet (and this forum here) and email.

Hey, people 20 years ago had no problem WORKING without any email whatsoever, but just try to tell the world today they do not necesarily need email/internet for their business.

I know, I could go spend my life in a remote island, fishing and ..

 

way to blow things out of proportion, genius.

 

I work everyday as a sys admin for a managed services IT company.

I do pretty much a very broad range of stuff from support to configuration to troubleshooting.

The only core piece of equipment in my job IMO is my cellphone. Computer? can live without. Laptop? can live without. I can do my job with basically no computer, no car, no laptop, nothing.
I am more efficient with those items sure... However I certainly wouldn't be like "OMG I CAN"T DO MY JOB I HAVE TO BUY A LAPTOP RIGHT NOW!"

By the way I just bought a MBP because OS X is more efficient than windows for a laptop for my role. I did my job without a laptop quite happily previously, but my new MBP has made my life easier.

 

Hey guys, we'll be watching this thread. If we continue to have flame baits, it'll be closed down.