468 Questions on Comparing Macs

  • MacBook air 11inch 64gb good for me?

    I need a computer for school, I'm in year 11 and all I want is a Mac
    For internet searching , some YouTube watching and documents , is this a good MacBook for me , I'm just need something that's light and easy to carry around at school all day, and that I can bring home and do assignments :) thanks

    Answer

    If you don't want to play games but just use your mac for text editting and internet, macbook air with this features is the best choice!

  • I want to buy a family laptop...

    I want to buy a laptop for gaming storing music and photos and videos. And I want it to be a MacBook pro. Please help!

    Answer

    If its for gaming at all go with a 15 inch. If you've got the money go for the retina. However if you have a lot of storage needs (movies, music, pictures) then youll need to upgrade the jarddrive which is expensive on the retina because it uses flash storage. So just stick with the second configuration of the normal 15 for gaming and lots of storage.

  • Can't decide what Mac to invest in.

    Looking for a large capacity desktop mac with small size, high capacity, high performance, and high energy efficiently engineered. Plus I'd like to use it with my existing display, which is multi-source, and displays in 3D. What would you recommend?

  • macbook pro with dedicated video/graphics card for use with Final Cut Pro X & Motion 5

    I'm selling my MBP tomorrow evening and need one that will work better than the one I'm selling(MD313LL/A). I'd prefer to stay under $2000. Can anyone offer some suggestions please?

  • How do I find out about getting a refurbished MacBook pro?

    13-inch screen. What kind warranty comes with it? Must I buy as is, or can it be customized? Do you provide a list of what's available?

    Answer

    Go to the Store tab, and look along the left hand side as you scroll down. you will see a section called "Buy Refurbished Mac" select that, and you will see 13" Macbook pro along the left had side of the new page.

    You can't customize them (except from RAM and HDD after you receive it), but they have several models available.

    Hope that helps

  • High School student going into Junior College. Going to be studying Graphic Design and Videography. Macbook Pro 15" or 17"?

    I've discussed with my Audio/Video Production professor privately of recommendations for Macs I should consider taking with me to junior college and beyond. I'm going to be studying Videography (Most likely will be using Adobe Premiere CS6 and AVID for the class) and Graphic Design (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc). I'll probably end up purchasing an external monitor down the line to connect my laptop to at home. Would a 15" or an 17" be more efficiant than the other in any way? Certain specifications I should select? Any advice or opinion is welcome.

    Best Answer

    The 15 and 17 inch Macbook pro have the same hardware, besides the screen difference. If you will be buying a monitor then the 17 inch will be a waste. The baseline 15 inch is about $800 cheaper then the 17 inch. I do recommend the 15 inch since it is way more portable, and it will just be enough for what you do. The people who buy the 17 inch are getting paid to do what they do and have to travel at the same time. By the time you will be making a carrier out of Video and Audio production it will be time for new laptop anyway. They 15 inch will do the best job for you!

  • Macbook Pro or Air? What do you use it for?

    Not really concerned about the weight issue. I am only carrying it to and from work. Ill use it for lots of photos, some videos, some music, lots of internet surfing and applications, and word documents. Im just worried about the air not having enough storage space. I dont want to have to use an external hard drive. PLEASE state your opinions to help me decide. Going for 13" on both.

  • I am looking for a macbook for heavy photo editing. I want a laptop instead of a desktop because I travel so much, so which one should I get?

    I have an HP Pavilion that is just about dead, so I'm switching over, but when I built a macbook pro online, I was getting a very expensive computer. I was wondering what would be the most important parts of the car that I should get and which ones I shouldn't care as much about. (I have a 2 TB external hard drive).

  • HELP CHOOSING! Real Estate use - looking for best options to accomodate growth: MAC Pro Desktop, iPad, Macbook Pro??? All of them???

    I'm a Real Estate Broker about to significantly expand from a sole proprietor to a full service brokerage. Our initial focus is on Apartment & Single Family Home Rentals as a Locator Service, but quickly expanding to single family home sales (primarily investors) and commercial/multi-family sales.

    All agents coming aboard have their own laptops, mostly PCs. I've been a iBook G4 user for years, which is on its last legs. I have a chance to buy a MAC Pro desktop, 2 yrs old for $800 - only with standard MAC software. Was planning to use this and load it up with all the software that I need... and use this as our basic "in office" computer for my self and as we grow for all of our business, due to the expandability.

    However, I am transitioning from working at home to being in the office and I still like to work from home. I do and will continue to do much of our own basic design work such as flyers and website and of course real estate has many many documents and TONS of photos.

    I bought an iPad, and I LOVE how small it is and the apps and being able to read, pay bills, do emails, research and the thought of using it out in the field with rental customers is great... but I cant work on building our website on it or creating more complex documents - if I want to work at 3 AM.

    Long story short - what do I really need here? The desktop and the iPad? or the MAC Pro for growth potential? I thought initially the desktop at the office and the iPad for portability, but in using the iPad - I can see it wrking in the field w/customers but not for me at 3 AM wrking on the website.. Yet I need to know how it can/will work to maximize how my field agents may be able to use them.

    I confess - I want them all!! But, alas, being a new business expansion, I must be prudent, (even tho I DO anticipate phenomenal and rapid growth!). Would having all of these options be prudent or serious overkill??

    SUGGESTIONS?? PLEASE HELP!!

    Answer

    I think the MacBook pro would suit your needs really good because it has a lot of processing power to edit photos, documents and so much more! The MacBook pro looks very professional and is portable and slim so you can take it anywhere you want.

  • Answer

    Apple makes Ipod Touch, Ipad and iPhone which have touchscreens. No other devices have touchscreens

  • New respec Macbook Air vs New Macbook Pro for ios development

    I'm a beginning ios developer and im looking to go mobile with my projects. I just can decide what would be better: fully loaded MBA(8gb ram, upgraded processor, etc) or the new Macbook Pro w/ the Retina. The loaded mba is pretty much the same as the new base version mbp. My only concern is the graphics power. I dont plan on doing any 3D games any time soon, but at the same time should i be looking toward the future o this one? I love the slim factor/portability of the air, but will I be out performed by the end of the year on this one. Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

    Best Answer

    No questions asked, get the retina MBP. The processor still has a big difference, (dual to quad core, and 2.0 to 2.3). The biggest difference you will love is Xcode on the new screen. A 13" is really difficult to do development with Xcode. With the high resolution display, you can't go wrong. I just got my retina today, and I made the right choice.

  • I am a Landscape Architecture student and had my 2009 Macbook Pro 15" stolen. I need to now replace it. I was wondering which laptop to get?

    I know the solid-state disk is great so I have been looking into the Macbook Air (13") and the MBP with retina (15"), but neither have seemed correct. The air seems too small for designing and using large architecture programs on, but the retina screen is blurry on most websites and on my design programs, which would be quite irritating. Should I just get the older version MBP 15" again? Thank you!

  • Answer

    No, the Macbook Pro with the Retina Display is only available in 15.4".

  • Best Answer

    If you want a server, Mac is probably not your best option unless you have a specific need to run Mac programs. Mac is a desktop computer. Even the Apple website itself uses a Linux-based server. Good server operating systems include Linux (CentOS or Red Hat), OpenBSD, NetBSD, and FreeBSD.

  • A 13" or 15" Macbook Pro for law student that does A LOT of word processing and reading on the screen?

    I am a second year law student, and after a year of suffering with an old PC laptop I think it's about time to make the switch to Apple. Originally I was drawn to the 13" Macbook Pro due to its portability and reasonable price (with the education discount).

    However upon inspecting a 13" it seemed a bit small. For most university students it would probably be ok, but as I do a lot of word processing I thought perhaps the 15" would be more appropriate. (I take my laptop to lectures and seminars and type everything instead of handwriting.)

    If I did get the 15" would I be paying for more than I need? Will I adjust to a smaller screen?

    Best Answer

    Go with the 13 inch Macbook Pro. When you look at the diagonal screen measurements, it seems like a big difference, but it's really not. The 15 inch is only .88 inches (2.2cm) taller than the 13 inch screen, and height is really what matters when reading documents.

    You'd be paying $600 for an extra .88 inches of screen height. Don't waste your money :)

  • I want to do digital painting/digital illustration in photoshop. Which mac?

    Will the macbook pro13" with i7 CPU be sufficient? Or will digital painting/illustration require a dedicated graphics card? And if so, will the retina 15" model be the better choice?

  • 11" MacBook Air or 13" MacBook Pro?

    Through my school, I will either receive an 11" macbook air or pay $59 for a 13" macbook pro. I currently have an 2008 15" MB Pro w/ 250GB. I like the sound of a very portable laptop, but am concerned about being disappointed with the smaller hard drive and no disc drive.

    My typical use includes:
    = internet
    = video streaming
    = iPhoto
    = using PDFs

    What do you all recommend?

    Here are the specs on each laptop:

    11-inch Macbook Air
    = 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
    = 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 onboard memory
    = 128GB flash storage
    = Intel HD Graphics 4000
    = 11.6" high-resolution LED-backlit widescreen display
    = Thunderbolt Port
    = Illuminated keyboard
    = 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking
    = Bluetooth
    = Built-in FaceTime HD camera

    The 13-inch MacBook Pro. ($59 upgrade)
    = 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
    = 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Memory
    = 500GB Hard Drive
    = Intel HD Graphics 4000
    = SDXC card slot
    = 13.3"LED-Backlit glossy widescreen
    = illuminated keyboard, FaceTime HD Camera
    = Thunderbolt port
    = FireWire 800 port.

    Best Answer

    I am no expert, but i think that the macbook Air would be a better choice for you. Despite the lack of the disc drive and the limited space on it, you could use those 60 bucks for purchasing an external hdd. And i also believe apple has an external disc drive aswell. You would be better off using the fast flash storage/SSD for your most important documents that you need the most access to. And your couple extra not-that-important files in your external hdd. The specs in the MBA are much better for what you will use so here it is in my opinion, your best choice.

    Good luck :)

  • MacBook Pro 13 vs MacBook Pro 15 for high school

    I am looking to buy a Mac for high school and I'm stuck between the higher end 13 inch or the baseline 15 inch. Price is not an issue, I'm just concerned the screen real estate will be too small for light video/photo editing but the 15 inch will be too heavy to carry around. Another thing I'm concerned about is the screen resolution on the 13 inch won't be good. I listen to music a lot while I'm working on the computer so I would also appreciate a machine with good speakers. I would love to get the retina display Mac because of its weight but that is too much money since I need all the hard drive storage I can get.

    Your help is greatly appreciated!

    Best Answer

    if your going to do light video and photo editing the 15 inch is for you as it will optimise viewing i myself own two macbook pro's a higher end 13inch and a higher inch 15 inch with retina display.

    i also use my macbook for photo editing but i mainly use my 15inch for those kind of purposes
    when i travel for work purposes i would take my 13 inch as its easily transportable and i can do all my work on the plane and off the plane I'm not saying the 15 inch isn't transportable I'm just saying i wouldn't really take my macbook with retina display on planes or anything like that as it could get damaged easily