Looking to buy a laptop...

[TOMahwk 351]

I've been saving up my money for a laptop as I'm going off to college next year. I've decided upon majoring in Graphic Design and to focus on animation. I've asked around a bit and people have told me I'll need a pretty powerful machine and to get a Mac (I like Macs anyway and I don't really want a PC so please don't tell me to buy one. Yes I know they're more expensive).

 

Anyhow, when I go to Apple's website to buy one I chose a 15-inch Macbook pro.

 

This is where I am asking for advice...

(I'm not much of a computer guy I'll admit)

 

 

 

Granted yes, I know usually spending more money gets you better stuff... the question I have is, how much better?

 

Would it be worth adding $250 for the 2.5GHz processor? And $200 for the extra 4GB of memory? (I've decided I'm going to go with the 750GB 7200 rpm drive)

 

Again, I'm going to say this: Yes, I'm sure you can get the same type of PC for a cheaper price. I hear it everyday. Please don't tell me to get one. All I'm asking is would it be beneficial to spend the extra money on those upgrades.

 

(Also as a student I will get a $200 discount, plus a printer and an ipod [i think])

 

Any opinions?

[Nah 3,181]

Well in my opinion, get an Acer laptop or an HP one, they are really high in quality, and are great laptops. Dell is another great idea, they have really nice notebooks.

[Vexx3 1,540]

To answer your question, the CPU "upgrade" would not make enough of a difference to justify spending an extra $250. As for the RAM, it really depends on what the laptop is going to be used for.

[TOMahwk 351]

To answer your question, the CPU "upgrade" would not make enough of a difference to justify spending an extra $250. As for the RAM, it really depends on what the laptop is going to be used for.

 

Well, I'm going to be majoring in graphic design and focus on animation. So I'm going to do a lot of rendering and I'll probably be using video editing software to make extended cartoons

 

 

 

 

Also for gaming

Edited March 18, 2012 by TOMahwk

[Vexx3 1,540]

Well, if you're going to be doing lot's of animation, then the RAM upgrade could be a good idea. And if the games you're going to be playing are pretty new, high graphics games then it will definitely help there as well.

 

I'm kind of perplexed on why they think adding .1 GHz is worth $250...

[TOMahwk 351]

Yeah I've been wondering that too. I don't know too much about computers so for all I know it could be a worthless upgrade or it would've made my computer a super computer.

 

Glad I asked actually, I was going to buy that upgrade

[Vexx3 1,540]

It would probably be cheaper to get the 4 GB of RAM and buy 8 GB elsewhere, as well.

 

Looking on Amazon, there's a few 8 GB kits for around $40.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Vex3d

[Aureity 3,055]

Also for gaming

 

Just keep in your mind, my friend has a Macbook Pro and most of the games he play (Civ 5 is the one I remember most) seem rather sluggish.

And you might want to get the RAM upgrade...8gigs will last your cpu a long time (in terms of not becoming obsolete)

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

The CPU upgrade isn't worth $250. Trust me on that.

 

 

It's not listed in your screenshot, but Apple offers a higher-resolution 1680x1050 display on the 15-inch MacBook Pro's. Of all the possible upgrades, this is likely the one you will benefit from the most. You will be doing a lot of graphics work on this computer, by the sound of it, and the higher-resolution screen will let you fit more toolbars, windows, and other items on the screen at once. The extra screen real estate will really make your life easier. Any movies and games will also look a bit sharper, too, which is always nice. If you have an extra $50 to burn, get the anti-glare version of the display, or the computer will be nigh unusable in a brightly lit room or outdoors without cranking up the brightness and draining your battery. Its colour reproduction is also much more accurate than the glossy screen's.

 

 

Games won't really know what to do with 8 GB of RAM, seeing as most games these days are made for consoles first, which have very little RAM. But as you're going to be doing a lot of big rendering projects, 8 GB will let you create much longer previews and work with more complex scenes. $200 for an extra 4 GB of RAM is very expensive, however, and I would strongly recommend purchasing your RAM separately and installing it yourself if you feel comfortable doing that. This is what RAM really costs without the Apple markup.

 

 

I'd recommend the faster 7200 RPM hard drive as well - or if you can afford it, even one of the SSD options. Solid state drives are an order of magnitude faster than hard drives - just look how much faster MLP Forums runs since I moved it to an SSD-based server. If your computer can render faster than it can write data to the hard drive, you'll see faster render times with an SSD. Everything else will run blazing fast as well in day-to-day use. But even if an SSD is too expensive for you, the 7200 RPM hard drive will still make your computer a bit snappier in general. Once again, though, there's Apple markup in play - you can find cheaper SSD's elsewhere, like on Newegg, and install one yourself.

 

 

Hope this helps. My natural instinct is to recommend a Windows computer to you that could get you all this at a much lower price, but you've made it pretty clear that you're not interested in those whatsoever, so these are my recommendations considering your limited upgrade options with a Mac.

[Marcato 2,143]

Leave it to feld0 to give you every angle. macs, although very good computers, are very, VERY expensive, and its for that reason i have never gotten one. However i do know a few friends that use them. Macs are generally safe from viruses and have a smart design. However if you are changing to mac from a windows device it is very difficult to get into the new system and file works.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,520]

Leave it to feld0 to give you every angle. macs, although very good computers, are very, VERY expensive, and its for that reason i have never gotten one. However i do know a few friends that use them. Macs are generally safe from viruses and have a smart design. However if you are changing to mac from a windows device it is very difficult to get into the new system and file works.

 

This is an extremely common misconception that should not factor into your decision to choose a Mac computer. The only reason that Mac OS X has a reputation for being "virus-proof" is simply because not that many viruses for the platform exist. The reason for that is not because the OS is inherently "safer" but rather because OS X forms a relatively small percentage of the PC market and is thus not worth making as much malware for as Windows. OS X viruses do exist, and will continue to increase in number as the platform gains popularity. When they do, many Mac users who fell for the "Macs are virus-proof" myth will wonder why all of their files have suddenly been deleted or why their computer refuses to boot.

 

I'm not going to get into the Mac vs. Windows thing here, but it is also a myth that Windows is helpless against attacks - Microsoft have made many, many, many security improvements in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Most system-level attacks would actually ask you for permission to fulfill their evil deeds in Windows 7 (hopefully, you won't be ignorant enough to blindly grant them this permission).

 

Never assume that anything is exploit-proof. Do not rely on software to protect you - develop smart browsing and computer use habits instead, and you won't let anything nasty into your computer to begin with. I'm a lifelong Windows user, and I never had a malware problem since I learned a few helpful guidelines several years ago.

[Marcato 2,143]

I never said its virus proof, but just doesn't get viruses as easily as others. But no windows isn't helpless. They just haven't got some protections the mac has. Of course, i cannt say this from experience having never gotten a mac before. So i may be wrong. This is just based on what i've heard. Your best advice on this will come from feld0, so don't necessarily take my word for it. I have taken safety precautions that on occasion have come back to bite me in the but, however they still work excelent wonders protecting me from malicious content. Thus ever since i set up my internet security its ben fairly safe. So if your looking for no worries at all, then i would reccomend looking into that. But still, it is almost impossible to make a computer entirely virus proof.

[TOMahwk 351]

Thanks for your input Feld0! Appreciate the information! I knew about the resolution upgrade actually and was planning on buying it anyway. Thanks a lot for all the input, I'll put it to good use!

 

However if you are changing to mac from a windows device it is very difficult to get into the new system and file works.

 

I've played around on my brother's Macbook for a while, it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to make the change

[Marcato 2,143]

I've played around on my brother's Macbook for a while, it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to make the change

 

Well the change is harder when you are really involved in the computers program folders and do a lot of technical things with it. Otherwise the setup isn't too hard to change. It sounds like your getting some practice from somewhere so it prepares you for whats ahead.

[TOMahwk 351]

Thanks everyone though for the input. I was originally going to just click on a lot of the upgrades and buy them, but now I know I should just go online and get some of them cheaper and install them myself. Should save me a lot of money...

 

 

Again, thanks guys!

[Oblivion 20,265]

Omg, looking back at this topic SSD's were SO expensive back then my gosh!!!!! 

[Lucky Bolt 34,915]

I'm getting a chormebook for my birthday next month. I'm sorta kinda....REALLY EXCITED 

[Splashee 28,537]

Just remember, to charge the batteries every now and then. All my laptops' batteries have died just because I let them rest for a few months without use. There is a protection circuit in there that prevents batteries from ever be used again if they have been depleted too much (which happens even if the laptop or pad has not been turned on).

 

I might hate laptops for many reasons, but the batteries needing babysitting is the worst!

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,376]

If the laptop is newer, the battery life must be better