Does step-son need Macbook for uni?

Gloomendoom

The move to pushing resources and course admin online has been going on a long time. The uni I work for caused a furore in 2001 when it announced that all students should have a laptop.

Tablets have made things a bit easier though. Lousy for coursework but ideal for viewing lecture notes, email and Tabula etc.

prowla

There are some grumpy sods on this thread.
If the young man wants a Mac, then it's up to him.
If the family don't want to buy him one, then so be it.
I would've thought that the hi-res display version would be appropriate for media work (eg. photos).
Whether or not the i7 processor is needed or is a luxury is open to debate, but if he is going to be editing movies, then perhaps that amount of grunt would be appropriate.

(As I mentioned earlier, it would be advisable to check what the uni has to offer, as my boy can get 50% off at his.)

tronator

prowla wrote: »

If the young man wants a Mac, then it's up to him.

The young man has been asked, what he needs, or in other words, what the requirements are. And that's what the whole discussion is about.

Ionkontrol

gjchester wrote: »

Sort of but getting less so. Mac only shops are becoming less common, as software pretty much all software is cross platform now.

Walk into any ad agency in London and it is all Macs, always has been.

Owain_Moneysaver

London ad agencies have more money to spend on pretty things than a student in Birmingham.

Of the list of (professional, paid for) video editing software only about 3 are Mac OS only.

The college should supply workstations for any high-end stuff required. Students should only 'need' a basic computer that will do web access and straightforward word processing. Nowadays a £99 Android tablet will do that with an external keyboard and monitor.

Gloomendoom

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

The college should supply workstations for any high-end stuff required. Students should only 'need' a basic computer that will do web access and straightforward word processing. Nowadays a £99 Android tablet will do that with an external keyboard and monitor.

A student who is forced to rely on a uni workstation is going to be at a distinct disadvantage to those that don't.

GwylimT

Media degrees generally require high powered machines, which is also why they often cannot simply use the library during fairl restricted hours.

I have a macbook, it is almost seven years old, in this time my wife is on laptop number four. I'm replacing my mac as the software I need for my job simply will not run on it which is quite annoying, a machine with the spec I need that runs on windows is more expensive than the mac equivalent, I also get a free three year warranty, an optional expensive extra on the windows machines I have looked at.

prowla

GwylimT wrote: »

Media degrees generally require high powered machines, which is also why they often cannot simply use the library during fairl restricted hours.

I have a macbook, it is almost seven years old, in this time my wife is on laptop number four. I'm replacing my mac as the software I need for my job simply will not run on it which is quite annoying, a machine with the spec I need that runs on windows is more expensive than the mac equivalent, I also get a free three year warranty, an optional expensive extra on the windows machines I have looked at.

See - told you:) macs were more expensive!

prowla

tronator wrote: »

The young man has been asked, what he needs, or in other words, what the requirements are. And that's what the whole discussion is about.

You are playing with words...

...by that token he doesn't need to go to uni at all, but he wants to.

What he "wants" is the most appropriate equipment for the work he will be doing.

tronator

GwylimT wrote: »

I have a macbook, it is almost seven years old, in this time my wife is on laptop number four.

Yeah, that's quite a representative sample

My 7 year old Dell Vostro still runs strongly. The only thing I upgraded was a SSD. It's not running Windows though...

prowla wrote: »

You are playing with words...

...by that token he doesn't need to go to uni at all, but he wants to.

What he "wants" is the most appropriate equipment for the work he will be doing.

I'm not playing with words. To explain it to you again, here's a car analogy.

I need a new car and want a Ferrari. My wife asks me, "what do you need it for"? I say, "for the weekly shopping". So, what is it gonna be, the Ferrari or a Vauxhall?