Mac or PC for college?

[jtjallday]

4 hours ago, NickTheMajin said:

 

You aren't going to be able to beat the SSDs in the new MacBooks because they use PCIE. SATA can't hope to even come close. 

That and you're still stuck with the old screen, old battery and old processor. 

 

Honestly there is zero reason to buy an old Macbook Pro. Buy a newer retina unless you can find a used old one for dirt cheap. 

This is a great point. @Mantayd17 I vastly underestimated what the current gen was using. Should have done a google search. SATA doesnt hold a candle to PCIe. I guess I was thinking about the lowest price possible notebook that only needed to do lightweight school-related programs and web browsing. But after looking at some of the specs for the older macbooks and their current market prices, I agree with @NickTheMajin. There are not really any benefits to getting an older macbrook pro and doing the SSD upgrade.

 

TL;DR I stand corrected

[FauntailJabuti]

IMHO It depends on the kind of person you are. If you're pretty knowledgeable about computers, OS's and other important data to take care of your computer, then PC is the way to go. If, on the other hand, you're not terribly interested and want something easy to learn/ use and willing to pay extra for a less customizable setup, then a Mac is a great way to go. 

 

Personally, I use both. My primary workstation is a PC I built, which I love. But I've seen people be recommended PC's when they have little or know real knowledge of how a computer works, how to manage an OS and how to take care of both. In the end, a mac simplfies all of that, but IMHO also comes with added cost and reduced personal power to control all these things. 

 

Anyhow, hope it helps! 

[ionbasa]

2 hours ago, FauntailJabuti said:

IMHO It depends on the kind of person you are. If you're pretty knowledgeable about computers, OS's and other important data to take care of your computer, then PC is the way to go. If, on the other hand, you're not terribly interested and want something easy to learn/ use and willing to pay extra for a less customizable setup, then a Mac is a great way to go. 

 

Personally, I use both. My primary workstation is a PC I built, which I love. But I've seen people be recommended PC's when they have little or know real knowledge of how a computer works, how to manage an OS and how to take care of both. In the end, a mac simplfies all of that, but IMHO also comes with added cost and reduced personal power to control all these things. 

 

Anyhow, hope it helps! 

I'd disagree. Find me one comparable alternative to the macbook pro that has the same battery life. I triple boot Windows 10 + Ubuntu + OSX, and the Macbook Pro gets me though a good solid 6-7 hours running Solidworks, Matlab, and AutoCAD. Any MAC is just as powerful as a PC if you know how to use it.

 

Yes, the EFI s a little tricky to setup if you don't want to use bootcamp, but the ID, rugged design, and overall performance is worth it in my opinion (as long as you're not gaming). Every single laptop I've owned has had broken hinges, or cracks in the body near hinges from repetitive closing and opening after a while. I've yet to see this on MBPs due to the hinge design.

 

My two cents:

If you need an good productivity laptop with excellent battery life, then MBP takes it in my book.  If you want gaming, then go for something else.

[iTzPrime]

38 minutes ago, ionbasa said:

I'd disagree. Find me one comparable alternative to the macbook pro that has the same battery life. I triple boot Windows 10 + Ubuntu + OSX, and the Macbook Pro gets me though a good solid 6-7 hours running Solidworks, Matlab, and AutoCAD. Any MAC is just as powerful as a PC if you know how to use it.

 

Yes, the EFI s a little tricky to setup if you don't want to use bootcamp, but the ID, rugged design, and overall performance is worth it in my opinion (as long as you're not gaming). Every single laptop I've owned has had broken hinges, or cracks in the body near hinges from repetitive closing and opening after a while. I've yet to see this on MBPs due to the hinge design.

 

My two cents:

If you need an good productivity laptop with excellent battery life, then MBP takes it in my book.  If you want gaming, then go for something else.

+1. Also every software runs smoother on macbook and doesnt crash as ofen.

I cannot work on my pc and maya (two 980, i7 5790k) because it crashes all the time, but with macbook no problem. just be sure to render on the one pc with the two gtx 980s or you will have a bad time ;D

[ionbasa]

52 minutes ago, iTzPrime said:

+1. Also every software runs smoother on macbook and doesnt crash as ofen.

I cannot work on my pc and maya (two 980, i7 5790k) because it crashes all the time, but with macbook no problem. just be sure to render on the one pc with the two gtx 980s or you will have a bad time ;D

Are your 980s in SLI? Try disabling SLI in the Nvidia control panel and see if it makes an difference when launching Maya. Also, make sure you're using the latest WHQL driver. I know there was a hotfix a while back in late 2015 for Maya crashing with a particular set of Nvidia drivers.

[Sauron]

On 5/10/2016 at 7:43 AM, neonfirefox said:

should I buy a mac or PC for college. Compsci major, video editing, gaming? $2500 max

If you plan on any sort of gaming a mac is not for you... a dell xps 13 or 15 would serve you much better in those regards, and frankly it doesn't have any downsides compared to a macbook unless you really want mac os (but again, if you plan on gaming you don't want that).

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, iTzPrime said:

+1. Also every software runs smoother on macbook and doesnt crash as ofen.

I cannot work on my pc and maya (two 980, i7 5790k) because it crashes all the time, but with macbook no problem. just be sure to render on the one pc with the two gtx 980s or you will have a bad time ;D

If you're going to make a statement like this you should bother looking for proof of some kind, because as much as I'm not a fan of windows it also does NOT crash nearly as often as you make it seem - unless you're doing something wrong.

1 hour ago, ionbasa said:

I'd disagree. Find me one comparable alternative to the macbook pro that has the same battery life. I triple boot Windows 10 + Ubuntu + OSX, and the Macbook Pro gets me though a good solid 6-7 hours running Solidworks, Matlab, and AutoCAD. Any MAC is just as powerful as a PC if you know how to use it.

 

Yes, the EFI s a little tricky to setup if you don't want to use bootcamp, but the ID, rugged design, and overall performance is worth it in my opinion (as long as you're not gaming). Every single laptop I've owned has had broken hinges, or cracks in the body near hinges from repetitive closing and opening after a while. I've yet to see this on MBPs due to the hinge design.

 

My two cents:

If you need an good productivity laptop with excellent battery life, then MBP takes it in my book.  If you want gaming, then go for something else.

Most laptops of similar kind cover your battery life concerns, as long as the specs and workload match. A macbook is as powerful as a similarly spec'd pc, not as ANY pc. I wouldn't call it rugged design by any stretch, it's simply a relatively well built laptop. If your hinges break you should try a thinkpad laptop, they make the most solid hinges by far (and macbook hinges are actually not that well implemented, just better than others).

 

Aside from all this, I'm not saying the mbp is a bad product, but I'd give it a second thought before dumping 2500$ on it, especially if any amount of gaming is involved.

[iTzPrime]

2 hours ago, ionbasa said:

Are your 980s in SLI? Try disabling SLI in the Nvidia control panel and see if it makes an difference when launching Maya. Also, make sure you're using the latest WHQL driver. I know there was a hotfix a while back in late 2015 for Maya crashing with a particular set of Nvidia drivers.

tried it, didnt work either, dont know what is the problem

[Kimmers]

I recommend waiting till after WWDC 2016 to make your decision.