Macbook for college

I'm really considering a Macbook for college, but I don't know what to expect in college, which means I don't know what specs I'll need for a Macbook. I don't know if I should go for the lower-end model because I doubt I'll use up 80 gb or the higher-end white one. Will I ever need to burn DVDs in college? because I already have a desktop to burn DVDs. I guess this question is more aimed toward college students. Basically will 2 gb ram, 80 gb hd, and a combo drive be efficient in college? I am also wondering if I should get AppleCare (I don't know if it's worth it because I heard Apple is reliable anyways). Thanks.

 

When I went to college... i didn't even have a laptop... (2 years ago).
I think anything that would turn on and be nice to write papers on would be fine though... perhaps a bit of the net too.
So the lowest-end macbook I am sure would be just fine, especially since you have a desktop you can always "come home" to and use for burning dvds and such. (that is if i am reading you correctly)

 

Well, a few questions. You mentioned a desktop - will you have this with you in college? If you play games, will you only play games on the desktop?

What will you be doing on your macbook? Just taking notes and writing papers? Does your major involve anything to do with computers or require special proprietary software? I.e. programming, CAD, architecture, engineering, statistics, mathematics, astronomy, nuclear physics, underwater basket weaving, etc.?

Some colleges let you take exams on your laptop, provided you burn the exam onto some sort of media (DVD, CD, or even floppy disk) to hand in. Most do not though, but if yours does, you might need some sort of DVD/CD writer.

Having decent HDD space, or at least an external HDD, or some sort of removable or writable media is a good idea in college. You will most likely be sharing lots of videos, music, games, pictures and etc. with your friends.

 

Home is just like 40-60 minutes away, but I'm going to dorm at my college. I doubt I'll play video games while at college, but I'll always have my wii. My desktop is at home and I'm not doing anything that'll involve CAD and engineering. I guess I'll just do some note taking, web surfing, music, and maybe some more things that I don't know yet (school starts in Sept). Thanks for the replies though.

 

Then the MacBook will be great for your college life. Its powerful enough to handle just about anything except gaming . And its portable and can be brought to class if you want to. You probably won't need to burn DVDs unless you're in video editing/entertainment sort of field...

As for hard drive space, I'd recommend you get an external hard drive along with your MacBook. Good for extra space and for backup.