My niece looking at Macbook

She is looking at the Macbook for college:

http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/WebObjects/EducationIndividualCustom.woa/6084005/wo/OL33iT9u7EW62XKi8HXPcktpZ6f/1.?p=0

What do you think?

Lynn

 

I'd have to know more about what her needs are, but the MacBook generally can be a very good machine for a college student.

 

She's not a gamer, will be using it for her communication classes and graphics, general college stuff.
Lynn
Hey Zadillo I really like your avatar. Looks like a Texas highway

 

Yeah, it should work just fine for that kind of thing.

If you're near an Apple store (or another store that stocks MacBooks), it might be worthwhile to check one out....... in particular the MacBook keyboard is something she might want to try out to make sure she was comfortable typing on it, etc.

Also, has she ever used OS X before? If not, it can be fairly different from Windows, so she'd want to learn about it (plenty of people who can help, and there are also some good books such as David Pogue's "Mac OS X Tiger: The Missing Manual")

If she is more comfortable with Windows, she might look at Sony's new CR series.

P.S. Thanks for the compliments about my armadillo...

 

Its Lynn! Welcome to the Apple forum .

Anyways, it seems her tasks are suited for the MacBook, but its personal preference. As zadillo said, trying one out first hand is always the best.

Tell her to read this article: http://www.apple.com/support/switch101 (I should count how many times I suggest this article ). It will help her understand what's what in Mac OS X and may determine if she likes the way OS X works or not.

 

Thanks Sam for your advice. We'll look at that site.
Lynn

 

I use my computers for roughly the same stuff as her. My girlfriend has the macbook and I find the screen can be tiring to look at for long periods of time. You may REALLY want to consider that if she will be on the computer for more than a few hours a day.

 

o yea itll work. but dont pay 158 dollars for apple to install 2 gb of ram.

you can get 2gb here for $90, or 3gb here for $175.

if you want my opinion buy the 2gb for now (as it should offer a sufficient amount of storage) and you can buy i 2gb stick later on if you need more memory. and dont worry its very easy to install the ram, and if youve never done it or are nervous theres a video guide on youtube i can try to find for you if you want it.

i would also suggest looking at openoffice.org before springing the money for office for mac.
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/faq/installing/X11.html

 

Actually, the current OpenOffice runs under X11, which consumes quite a lot of resources. NeoOffice runs independently and is the Mac version of OpenOffice.

 

If the macbook pro had the macbook's battery life (around 6 hours) it would be the ultimately perfect computer. I'm getting between 2 1/2 and 3 hours with my macbook pro, with iTunes playing. Anyways if you want anything more than 4 hours out of one charge, get the macbook. Otherwise, it's up to you.

 

Hi, I'm currenty in school now and I recently purchased a macbook for the first time within the past week. I think I can give you a little perspective of an actual student using a mac.

1. It looks cool. I didn't buy the mac based solely on looks, but it doesn't hurt. All my classmates are ohhhhh, ahhhhh....

2. It has internal wireless connection so she can jump on a wireless network. It is nothing to be scared of, really east to connect. Some networks require a password, some don't....the hardest thing to connecting to my school's network is clicking connect after I put in my password.

3. The screen is really nice.

4. Battery life is really long. If I charge it fully, I can use my notebook all day without recharging (more or less three classes lasting 5 hours in total) no problem.

5. She can purchase Microsoft Office and have the applications she'll need like powerpoint, word, etc. In class I can view the powerpoints that the professor is speaking about, and instead of writing on them like with a convertible tablet, I can type notes in a space below the powerpoint. It is a great feature to have.

6. I am not an IT professional so I can't tell much difference between the operating systems....I use it for viewing powerpoints in class, checking email, web browsing....basic student stuff...I can say the macbook is easy to use. It has icons on the bottom of the screen such as the internet icon, and a calendar icon. It is really nifty having it because I can click the icon and my calendar pops up. It is a must for a med student like myself.

7. I will say that I think the Intego firewall and antivirus made it run awkward. I couldn't run my internet today I think because of it. I trashed it and now I'm back online. They say you don't need the extra software, but I thought better safe than sorry.

All in all I think the macbook is really easy to use and has all the features I need. Plus, it even can run windows so that should be the deal breaker right there. It can do all a pc can do, plus run OSX.

 

I get 4-5, and sometimes a little more than 5 hours on my MBP while taking notes.

 

Macbooks only support up to 2GB of RAM.