Macbook question

[elgerber]

Oh, she's a film student? I went to film school too, so this is something I know a LOT about. I really, strongly urge you to wait to buy the new Macbook. Graphics cards change constantly and prices will definitely be reduced as time goes forward. She is going to need the best of the best, ESPECIALLY if she gets into editing. I know it can be hard to wait for a new computer, but in the end, she will thank you. Going through 4 years of college with something subpar can feel really brutal.

Thanks for your opinions everyone!
When you say wait for the new one do you mean the one possibly being released this June or waiting until next June?
At this point, we have no idea how much film stuff she would actually do on her own computer. They have a large lab full of Mac Desktops in the film studies "basement" at the school.
I figured it might be better to wait, but I also thought it might be good for her to be able to play around some now, and have a functioning computer for other purporses. We do know the program they used, the name is escaping me at the moment though, I am braindead.

I was also just informed via phone that if she wants to take choir next year, she will have to take her AP Calc class via an online high school, UGH. I don't think her netbook would do that well.

 

[JRawkSteady]

Thanks for your opinions everyone!
When you say wait for the new one do you mean the one possibly being released this June or waiting until next June?

I meant wait until next June to buy your new computer. Even though the school has their own computers, she may end up doing (or wanting to work on) a lot of stuff at home. I know I did.

 

[Albort]

Thanks for your opinions everyone!
When you say wait for the new one do you mean the one possibly being released this June or waiting until next June?
I figured it might be better to wait, but I also thought it might be good for her to be able to play around some now, and have a functioning computer for other purporses. We do know the program they used, the name is escaping me at the moment though, I am braindead.

Should be the one coming out in June. The event should showcase the new Intel Haswell chip in a macbook. Haswell chip are the strongest chips to date + its rumored that it can run the entire day on 1 battery charge.

If shes running a lot of film editing programs, i suggest getting a macbook with as much ram as possible. Its gonna need it. I think macbook air are out of the picture... macbook pro or an actual mac computer.

 

[tvguy]

Macs are flexible, in that you can set them up to dual boot. In other words, you can choose at boot time whether you want to run the MacOS or Windows. My own iMac runs both Win 7 and MacOS 10.8, very nicely..

The Windows boot doesn't always work in my daughter's experience with all software.

But really, the best advice is to check with your daughter's school. Every college my kids applied to had a recommended type of computer and specifications. Macs have long been strong in graphics and video editing, although that is changing in the real world....not because they don't do it well, but because big corporations only look at price, and PC's almost always win that test.

 

[Jestocost]

You might want to check and see what her school offers before making your purchase. At my daughter's college, you can purchase a MacBook through the school and they set it up with the programs that are required for her major and provide tech support after the sale. She was even able to pick it up during the summer orienation weekend a few weeks before the start of school.

 

[Domo]

One of the bonuses to using Macs is that it is easy to "virtualise" other systems. In other words, whilst I am running Mac OS, I can also run Windows, Haiku, Linux and BSD at the SAME TIME with no slowup, giving full compatibility across the board

 

[elgerber]

So, for those of you who were talking about the new chip, was that part of todays announcement?? I tried to follow it, but got distracted by work (Apple is more fun). I saw some updates to the MacBook Air, but nothing specfically for the Pro?

Thanks!!