Questions about the Mac? Get them answered here.

Hey Ben, to answer your question about the debate between the Ipad and the Macbook air it is quite simple. If you are primarily going to be doing school work on the device i would suggest the macbook air. The ipad is great for doing quick emails, playing games, and browsing the internet. But if you want to do a lot of typing, the small screen can be a disadvantage. Also there is no way to hook up a pointing device to the Ipad, so you cannot use a mouse or touchpad. The macbook air will have support for Microsoft office, a physical keyboard, and a pointing device so it will be much easier to accomplish work on it. Now what you can do if you really want to get the ipad as it is better for gaming and a lot cheaper, is grab an external keyboard and an apple tv allowing you to wirelessly hook up your ipad to your TV or HD monitor to type up your homework. This is great for gaming and work alike and it provides a bunch of extra features too. On the printer aspect you will need to purchase a wireless printer that support airprint or you can do it the old fashioned way and email it to yourself and print from a computer. Both are great ways to accomplish what you want. Best of luck.


Frank

• Answered by Frank S from Pittsburgh
• 03 27, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

It depends on how you intend to use it.

Generally speaking, if you need something on the go for office, school or travel and will use it for word processing and internet connectivity with minimal technical work such such as video, audio and graphics editing, the macbook air is best for you especially the upgraded 11". Its small enough to fit anywhere and powerful enough to run most applications.

If you intend to use your computer for video, audio and graphics editing or if you require engineering and medical applications, or in any case requires you to handle large memory space, then perhaps the 13" retina is for you. It doesn't have the DVD slot though but when was the last time you popped a cd into your computer? you can always use a USB dongle as alternative or you can get the slim DVD USB device.

The good thing about the 13" retina is that its slim enough to be on the go and powerful enough to handle most technical applications. The classic 13" with dvd is quite heavy and monstrous when it comes to being mobile. However, its a lot cheaper.

• Answered by Sherwin S from Quezon City
• 12 10, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

The main advantage of the 256 GB flash drive, sometimes called a SSD drive, is it's super fast. Applications will open with barely one bounce in the Dock. It's also smaller and lighter. This is important to some power users that have disk intensive programs like some video editing software or if someone wants peak performance from their computer. For the typical user, it's not that much better for everyday use to justify triple the cost of a regular hard drive. If you have several movies and a big iTunes music collection and a bunch of games, you'll quickly fill up a 256 GB drive, where the 500 GB gives you more breathing room. You'll be able to have a couple of seasons of your favorite TV shows, a some HD movies and a lot of music and still have room for games.

As far as the difference between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro., the Air is smaller, thinner, and lighter, but this comes at a cost. The processor is slower and you won't have a SuperDrive to load CDs and DVDs. The low end MacBook Pro has a faster processor, more hard drive space, a SuperDrive (except for the new Retina model), with double the USB slots, a SDXC slot, and a better video card, and it's cheaper than the comparable MacBook Air.

For the everyday student user, look seriously at the 13" MacBook Pro. It will give you the power and flexibility to use for years to come. This model is the best selling of all Apple computers for a reason.

• Answered by William W from Hesperus
• 10 31, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

mac book pro is a little fatter but the air is thinner but the pro has a disk drive and air does not

• Answered by Leonid B from Staten Island
• 05 18, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

The new iMac does NOT contain a DVD drive, many people nowadays never use them. If you really want a disk drive just buy a superdrive then sit it on the foot of the iMac.

• Answered by Sally-ann P
• 11 22, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

Hi Connor,

You say that:

"The only things that I will use my laptop for is writing papers, editing photos, downloading music/apps, and surfing the web (YouTube, Facebook, etc.). "

In which case you probably do not need a high performance laptop like the Macbook Pro.

The MacBook Pro does have a lot more storage space than the Air. However, that's because it uses a much slower spinning hard drive. The Air uses a more modern type of storage instead that is quieter, has no moving parts (making it harder to damage), and is much faster. But it is a lot smaller.

You can configure the MacBook Air to have quite a lot of data storage (up to 512 GB), but to be honest, you may be better off buying a default configuration. You may find that 128 or 256 GB is plenty.

If it turns out that the storage space is too small, you can always buy an external hard drive, which are available cheaply at most electronics stores. In fact, I suggest you buy one anyway and use it to set up a backup using Time Machine, especially if you're using your mac for assignments. Time Machine is very easy to use and it will protect your schoolwork from being lost if your computer were to break down.

The other notable difference difference is that the MacBook Pro has a CD/DVD drive while the Air does not. If you use your computer to play DVDs or music CDs this may be a problem. But when you buy an Air you can also buy an external "SuperDrive" that plugs into a USB port. It's not an ideal solution, but it works.

In summary: the choice basically comes down to the size and speed of your hard drive. The air is small and fast, while the pro is slow but large. But whichever one you choose, I suggest you buy a large external hard drive anyway.


I hope this helps!

- Liam

• Answered by Liam H
• 06 14, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

No, It does not. Apple does offer a CD Drive in the Regular 15 inch Macbook Pro.

• Answered by Nikhil S P from Poway
• 10 7, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

You can't! The ram is soldered to the board. I wanted to get this laptop as well, but this is a deal breaker for me. If the ram ever goes bad on you, it would have to be serviced by apple so make sure to get apple care if you get it to at least extend the warranty by 2 years

• Answered by Radoslav R from Toronto
• 06 14, 12
• Flag as inappropriate

No. You have to purchase the Apple SuperDrive USB disc drive seperately if you wish to operate anything involving CD's or DVD's.

• Answered by Benjamin C from Jackson
• 03 14, 13
• Flag as inappropriate

yes you can,

with the mac super drive which costs £65.00

• Answered by Michelle S from Manchester
• 05 14, 13
• Flag as inappropriate