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Mac vs. PC

GO!!

did you already graduate high school?

still no idea what I'd major in other than pussyology

you should ace that one for sure, youre definately a p****

get a mac

NO reason to buy a Mac for school. PCs do everything Macs do these days and just as well, and then they do MORE. Macs have lost their hold on the productivity niche and now they're just pricier less versatile PCs with a shiny OS for yuppies.

I just helped my sister pick out her college notebook. Came down to a couple of $750 choices...an HP and a Sony with identical stats. She liked the Sony's keyboard better. It's Core 2 Duo 2.10 ghz, 4GB RAM (DDR2 sadly but oh well) and some Intel graphics processor with something like a 300GB HDD. Nice machine...I'd be happy with it. It also has some nice features like HDMI out, tons of USB ports, and even has an actual 56k modem (heh).

One thing we found was this particular HP's 6 hour battery is HUGE and acts like a cooling tray because it protrudes down so far from the bottom of the notebook. Most certainly NOT ideal for tossing in a backpack or briefcase. So keep an eye out for crap like that.

I would check to see if the schools you are applying to have a program as such, and see what they are requiring for this year, and buy something that is more powerful than that - most likely, next year the specs will be upped, and you might be s*** out of luck with the laptop you buy now...

Either way, I recommend a Lenovo. They're not stylish in any sense, but there is a reason the Thinkpads are the best laptops in the business....

LBC Tail Overlays!

Most of the time, I've found HP's to have the best value. When considering what you get for your money, HP has been pretty good (aside from looking at really cheap brands). For me though, I also have an HP card which provides me no interest financing up to a certain amount of time if you pay it off within that time so that tended to be a factor in some of my decisions as well (Though, I also have a Dell card that hasn't been used).

I'd look at a few core features in making your decision:

A. How much power do you need? An influential factor in any computer's price is going to be CPU power.

B. Size - 17" laptops are cool and all but can be a bear to carry around as they are both heavy and bulky.

C. Battery life - consider if you'll have a lot of circumstances where you might not have access to a power outlet. My 17" Core2Duo will run out at about the 2 hour mark. Hardly enough to get me through any single 3 hour class I had last semester. My netbook can handle more than 6 hours on the battery. Obviously my computing power is somewhat limited with the netbook, but it suits my needs well.

D. Price. If you have a strict budget, then a lot more compromise may be needed. But you also don't want to waste your money on features that you will never use. Also consider that if you are under a strict budget that you should consider peripherals as well. A wireless mouse in a laptop is handy to have (I tend to have bluetooth included on my laptops and use bluetooth mice but the Logitech VX nano series would be a great compromise since the receivers are so small) and you'll probably need some kind of bag to carry the laptop in. Laptop backpacks are pretty good choices for school use.

Lastly, I probably wouldn't put any empahsis on any engineering software you might consider using on it. With another year of high school to go it could be 3 years before you might even see a course that requires such software. By then a laptop with specs that are considered expensive now will likely be much cheaper. Example, about 3 years ago, we got a high end laptop for my girlfriend to do school work with. It required her to be able to adequately use 3D development software (animation) and have as much desktop space as needed. We paid nearly $2K for it. I just checked HP's website and I could build a computer with similar specs for about half of what we paid. And its actually a better computer since many of the minimum specs of the newer models are better than what we have. Not to mention computers can break, malfunction or get stolen. If you're not needing the power for the next few years, it may be a better financial choice to wait on getting a computer for specific high end software.

I won't judge if you use such an excuse to get yourself a nice gaming rig though.

Sony, for most of their products, tend to get a lot of the form factor issues right. I opted not to go with an HP netbook as the 6-cell battery option was extra AND make the unit thicker. The Samsung I ended up with has a 6-cell standard and while it makes the overall dimensions a bit thicker, it is towards the back and is rounded. It essentially acts as a tilt for the keyboard. The Asus netbook we got for my GF's sister for graduation was also quite thin and that also had a 6-cell battery.

Nuff said.

Better yet, buy a laptop that's not spectacularly overpriced and comes with Vista, and depending on where you buy it you can get a LEGAL free copy of Windows 7.

What exactly makes the Macbook Pro worth getting over all the PCs that can be had for the same price with better features?

Name brand.
Thats all it is.
pc's can do the same for the same price and still do more. heck you can buy a pc for about 399 and it does something a 700$ mac can do. sometimes better.