College Laptop

I'm going to put this out there right away, I'm not looking to buy something top-of-the-line.

Here's the deal, the only programs I'm absolutely certain that I need to run are photoshop (I'm not quite sure which version I'll get, but I'll at least have Element 4.0; I'm using 7.0 right now, but I won't be able to easily move that to another computer for, what I believe to be, obvious reasons) and other software related to the Wacom Intuos3 I'm using.

I understand that it's possible to get Microsoft Office programs on a Mac (without installing all of Windows, mind you), and I'd prefer to do that as, in my past experiences, moving documents from Macs to Windows is an absolute nightmare. If anyone knows a little bit more about this and can tell me if it's absolutely necessary or not, I'd be very grateful.

Currently, there are no plans to run games on the computer. If I decided to do that down the line, I'd probably look into dual-booting with Windows (unless anyone else has a better suggestion).

The only thing I'm unsure about is what I should have in the way of hardware. Given what I've requested in the above, I don't imagine I need anything particularly spectacular. I can run all of that stuff just fine on the three-year-old piece of junk I'm running now. I imagine, though, that in the future I'll probably want to run some different programs that might require a little more from the computer. I have no idea what to anticipate, but knowing me, I'll probably try to use something of the sort.

I can handle a computer just fine as long as I don't have to be part of all the hardware on it. That stuff baffles me.

Obviously it's very dependent on how much money you want to spend, as laptop prices can range pretty wildly. What I wish I'd done is get a cheap, lightweight laptop and saved up the rest of my money to build a desktop a few years down the line. Instead I got a workhorse, which is nice, but it sucks to take it to class. It's no fun to carry it around. If you go for something like a Vaio (expensive, but awesome) or some other small laptop, toting it around campus will be much more tolerable.

A trial of Office came when I got my Macbook pro. I thought it was ugly and microsofty so I trashed it xD but If you were going to payfor/crack it you wouldn't have to worry about downloading it! Alternatively, there's a suite called Neo Office that is pretty much about the same, except free. (it's a port of open office, I think)

If you're seriously looking to go the apple route, since you don't want to do anything intensive, look at getting just one of the macbooks. The two inches less of size will be easier to tout around also.

btw, my wacom graphire 3 works fine on my macbook pro:) and it's very nice to use if I don't want to use the touchpad!

Just remember that you'll be using Rosetta as a backend for Word and Photoshop until their respective companies port them over to OSx86 proper. There will be some performance issues.

If you want portability you can't really go beyond a 14.1". A 15.4" notebook is possible to carry around comfortably, but they're difficult to place on the regular school desks. I can't really recommend any lower-end models, but look at HP if you want an alternative to Dell. Asus is also a great brand, but I don't know too much about their lower-end machines.

How much are you willing to spend?

I bet with ps7 you could run the windows version in crossover pretty easily. at least, it wouldn't be any worse than how ps7 runs on my old desktop:(

Hmmm... a Mac person, eh? It still suggest getting a Windows PC simply because you've got a whole lot more software for it.

As far as price, I really have no idea how much I can spend on it. It's a graduation gift from my parents. My old man hasn't told me how much he's willing to spend on it. He's insistent on ordering through the University of Miami for a discount, which means my options are limited to a Dell or a Mac. I think the choice is fairly obvious.

I'm not very concerned about the size. I never intended to get more than a 15", and I already have something to carry it around in that my sister brought back from Italy (ridiculous, really), so that's not a concern. The more I look at some of the Apple software, the less concerned I am about getting Microsoft Office (although if I change my mind down the road, I can buy it at the U). After looking a bit, I've realized that the difficulties students had in class sending files from their Macs to the PCs we use at school are more related to their ineptitude than the difficulty of the process.

Since my old man seems pretty set on getting the Pro, I've been looking at the two 15" choices. The difference in the space on the hard drive is not something I'm concerned about. I have an external one already anyway.

I guess then it comes down to two questions. First, what's the advantage of a 2.2GHz and a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo? And what's the difference between the same graphics card with double the SDRAM? I can't imagine taking the step up is necessary considering what I plan to do with the computer, but considering the ~$440 increase in price between the two, I just wanted to be sure there aren't any specific advantages.

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Originally Posted by Ouch!

As far as price, I really have no idea how much I can spend on it. It's a graduation gift from my parents. My old man hasn't told me how much he's willing to spend on it. He's insistent on ordering through the University of Miami for a discount, which means my options are limited to a Dell or a Mac. I think the choice is fairly obvious.

I'm not very concerned about the size. I never intended to get more than a 15", and I already have something to carry it around in that my sister brought back from Italy (ridiculous, really), so that's not a concern. The more I look at some of the Apple software, the less concerned I am about getting Microsoft Office (although if I change my mind down the road, I can buy it at the U). After looking a bit, I've realized that the difficulties students had in class sending files from their Macs to the PCs we use at school are more related to their ineptitude than the difficulty of the process.

Since my old man seems pretty set on getting the Pro, I've been looking at the two 15" choices. The difference in the space on the hard drive is not something I'm concerned about. I have an external one already anyway.

I guess then it comes down to two questions. First, what's the advantage of a 2.2GHz and a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo? And what's the difference between the same graphics card with double the SDRAM? I can't imagine taking the step up is necessary considering what I plan to do with the computer, but considering the ~$440 increase in price between the two, I just wanted to be sure there aren't any specific advantages.

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That a 2.4 Intel Core 2 Duo would be way over double the speed? Unless the 2.2GHz is an Intel Core 2 Duo also. Then the difference would be 2MHz. Personally, I'd look into RAM, because Photoshop can use up a LOT of RAM working with high DPI images and high resolution images. You're looking at the 1gb-2gb range recommended. However, you'll probably be able to get by with a 512mb stick, I wouldn't recommend it though.

They're the same cpu with the same L1 and L2 cache except the 2.4GHz is 200MHz faster than the 2.2GHz one. As far as the GPU. The 128MB 8600GT has lower clock and memory speeds than the 256MB 8600GT, but that really won't make a difference especially if you're doing photo editing work. If you're not going to dual boot and game on Windows then don't bother with the high-end Macbook Pro.

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Originally Posted by ZeZipster

That a 2.4 Intel Core 2 Duo would be way over double the speed? Unless the 2.2GHz is an Intel Core 2 Duo also. Then the difference would be 2MHz. Personally, I'd look into RAM, because Photoshop can use up a LOT of RAM working with high DPI images and high resolution images. You're looking at the 1gb-2gb range recommended. However, you'll probably be able to get by with a 512mb stick, I wouldn't recommend it though.

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Yeah, they're both Intel Core 2 Duo. I just didn't want to write it twice. As far as RAM, 2GB is the standard with a Pro. If I want any more than that, it'd be cheaper to buy it and install it myself (or more likely have a friend do it for me).

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Originally Posted by Yamaneko

They're the same cpu with the same L1 and L2 cache except the 2.4GHz is 200MHz faster than the 2.2GHz one. As far as the GPU. The 128MB 8600GT has lower clock and memory speeds than the 256MB 8600GT, but that really won't make a difference especially if you're doing photo editing work. If you're not going to dual boot and game on Windows then don't bother with the high-end Macbook Pro.

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And how much faster exactly is 200MHz? Is it noticeably faster?

The only reason I'm even considering the better hardware is because I can imagine wanting to dual boot for games in the future. As it is, part of the reason I don't want to is because I don't have any games that I want to play, but I won't pretend that it's not very likely that down the road there will be some things that grab my attention. For some reason my dad seems to support the idea of dual-booting, although I'm not quite sure he understands the what the purpose of that would be.

Anyway, thanks for all the help.

200 Mhz is a joke figure nowadays. The two systems processors are pretty equal, especially for your needs. You really need to be concerned more about the RAM.

On a side note, I'd always go for a Dell over a Mac. Maybe it's just me though.

Both SKUs of the 15.4" Macbook Pro come with 2GB of RAM.

and it is definitely enough to run photoshop. And WoW, fyi. and also KOTOR

Aye, WoW seems to be almost a mandatory element of the today's University-life.