Laptop? Tablet? Whatcha gonna get?

DATBooster | The Ultimate DAT Resource
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
@techyguy Oops. I moved the repo to a GitHub organization. Will update the Page later today.
Members don't see this ad.
 
@techyguy Oops. I moved the repo to a GitHub organization. Will update the Page later today.

Accidental double post.
 
Lenovo yoga 11s + Xbone (for titanfall before school starts) Lol. Less than most macs!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
bumping this as i just scooped up a 13" macbook pro with retina display.

sure hope i didn't goof.
 
Illfavor said:
I'm torn between this and the 13" Air. I want the lightness, but it also feels like a damn frisbee.
Click to expand...

For as much as I'll be reading on it, I thought the Retina display might make a difference (for my eyes' sake) over time. I highly considered an Air, though...

However, have you gone to the store and actually lifted the Air in one hand and the 13'' Pro in the other? The weight difference is only half a pound--barely noticeable! I expected there to be more of a difference.
 
Glimmer1991 said:
For as much as I'll be reading on it, I thought the Retina display might make a difference (for my eyes' sake) over time. I highly considered an Air, though...

However, have you gone to the store and actually lifted the Air in one hand and the 13'' Pro in the other? The weight difference is only half a pound--barely noticeable! I expected there to be more of a difference.
Click to expand...
Hmm. I believe I compared the 13" MBP to the 13" Air and it felt significantly heavier. I did not realize the retina display was that much lighter than the traditional MBP. Will have to check that out...part of me just wants to go as small as possible to keep things easy. I'll be studying on a train a considerable amount of time.

That's an interesting point about the display difference and reading. I have been using older generation (non-retina) MBPs/iPads for a few years exclusively for my studying so I'm not exactly worried about sudden eye strain...and I'm cheap.
 
waiting for my husband to give me a major discount.
he works in the industry...:)
 
Illfavor said:
Hmm. I believe I compared the 13" MBP to the 13" Air and it felt significantly heavier.
Click to expand...

in my opinion, it's a brick compared to the air. but i can't unsee the side-by-side comparo of the retina screen vs. non-retina. also, i feel like i'd break the air in half if i sneezed the wrong direction.

to me, it was worth it paying two benjies more for the pro
 
Illfavor said:
Hmm. I believe I compared the 13" MBP to the 13" Air and it felt significantly heavier. I did not realize the retina display was that much lighter than the traditional MBP. Will have to check that out...part of me just wants to go as small as possible to keep things easy. I'll be studying on a train a considerable amount of time.

That's an interesting point about the display difference and reading. I have been using older generation (non-retina) MBPs/iPads for a few years exclusively for my studying so I'm not exactly worried about sudden eye strain...and I'm cheap.
Click to expand...

I have a 15'' MB Pro (non-retina) and it is a brick compared to the Air. The non-retina 13'' is, too--there's a pound and a half difference.

Like you, I haven't had any problems with my non-retina Pro, when it comes to studying... I've also used it exclusively throughout all of undergrad, and the screen res is great. But hey, it can't hurt to have a better one. :)

The Pro I want is $2,199... The maxed-out Air is $1749. (Both of these figures are without the student discount figured in or the cashback I'll be getting from using my Discover card.) To me, the extra $450 is worth the better display, 16GB of memory, and better processor. :)

The only thing that will probably suffer on the Pro is battery life.

You seriously can't go wrong with either, though!
 
Last edited:
Ferneezy said:
in my opinion, it's a brick compared to the air. but i can't unsee the side-by-side comparo of the retina screen vs. non-retina. also, i feel like i'd break the air in half if i sneezed the wrong direction.

to me, it was worth it paying two benjies more for the pro
Click to expand...

I know what you mean about the air. I think the display stuff just means nothing to me. I can understand though.

Glimmer1991 said:
I have a 15'' MB Pro (non-retina) and it is a brick compared to the Air. The non-retina 13'' is, too--there's a pound and a half difference.

Like you, I haven't had any problems with my non-retina Pro, when it comes to studying... I've also used it exclusively throughout all of undergrad, and the screen res is great. But hey, it can't hurt to have a better one. :)

The Pro I want is $2,199... The maxed-out Air is $1749. (Both of these figures are without the student discount figured in or the cashback I'll be getting from using my Discover card.) To me, the extra $450 is worth the better display, 16GB of memory, and better processor. :)

The only thing that will probably suffer on the Pro is battery life.

You seriously can't go wrong with either, though!
Click to expand...

Haha, I can't even imagine dropping 2k on a computer...
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Illfavor said:
I know what you mean about the air. I think the display stuff just means nothing to me. I can understand though.
Click to expand...

If screen resolution is not an issue, then go with the 13'' Air, you won't regret it. However, if you can wait, there will likely be a new Air refresh in the fall with a higher resolution screen.
 
Last edited:
sjv said:
If screen resolution is not an issue, then go with the 13'' Air, you won't regret it. However, if you can wait, there will likely be a new Air refresh in the fall a higher resolution screen.
Click to expand...
They just had a refresh like a few weeks ago
 
sjv said:
That was a slight processor bump (still Haswell) from 1.3 to 1.4 but otherwise the same, I meant actual total refresh.
Click to expand...
2% chance they will do another refresh in fall. Doesn't seen likely
 
WastedTime said:
2% chance they will do another refresh in fall. Doesn't seen likely
Click to expand...

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/09/12-retina-macbook-air-low-price-imac/
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...ina-macbook-air-still-on-track-for-2014-debut

It has been in the news lately on nearly every tech website. Yes, it is a "rumor" but the rumors are essentially always true (4.7 in. iPhone 6) and Ming-Chi Kuo has an excellent track record concerning the forecast of upcoming Apple products.
 
sjv said:
If screen resolution is not an issue, then go with the 13'' Air, you won't regret it. However, if you can wait, there will likely be a new Air refresh in the fall with a higher resolution screen.
Click to expand...
Oooooooooo
 
sjv said:
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/09/12-retina-macbook-air-low-price-imac/
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...ina-macbook-air-still-on-track-for-2014-debut

It has been in the news lately on nearly every tech website. Yes, it is a "rumor" but the rumors are essentially always true (4.7 in. iPhone 6) and Ming-Chi Kuo has an excellent track record concerning the forecast of upcoming Apple products.
Click to expand...
That doesn't say anything about a refresh it just says a NEW 12 inch will be released
 
WastedTime said:
That doesn't say anything about a refresh it just says a NEW 12 inch will be released
Click to expand...

You can use the word refresh in two ways, refresh to the internal components which was the most recent one (minor processor bump and actually decreased hard drive performance) OR refresh to the Air line in the form of a completely new body. The 12 in Air should replace the current 11/13 in Air.
 
I was also torn between the air and pro with retina display, went with the pro. It really is a lot heavier. After 6 months of dental school I got an iPad air as a lighter alternative. Wish I would have gotten the Mac Air to begin with honestly!
 
InspiredDDS said:
I was also torn between the air and pro with retina display, went with the pro. It really is a lot heavier. After 6 months of dental school I got an iPad air as a lighter alternative. Wish I would have gotten the Mac Air to begin with honestly!
Click to expand...

You have the 13" that weighs 3.46 pounds? Or an older version that is heavier?
 
InspiredDDS said:
I got it new last August..I belive it weighs 3.46 pounds. It's the 13 in with retina.
Click to expand...

Ah! Well, that's good to know!

If they *do* release an Air with a Retina display before school starts back, then I will have some rethinking to do... :)

*fingers crossed for June 2nd*
 
Last edited:
Glimmer1991 said:
Ah! Well, that's good to know!

If they *do* release an Air with a Retina display before school starts back, then I will have some rethinking to do... :)

*fingers crossed for June 2nd*
Click to expand...
They really should Why must we choose? :D
 
The brand new Surface 3 that MS announced earlier this week looks like a very capable laptop replacement tablet. I wish we had more students and/or faculty on here who could speak to the utility of a tablet in the classroom.

I don't personally have any use for it, since I need something closer to a desktop replacement for a laptop, but I like where they're going.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
While it would be nice to buy a new gadget, i think I'll continue using my trusty, old iPad 2. It looks enormous and funny compared to the new stuff, but I've been using it with Notability to annotate PDF slides, write notes and record lectures. Hopefully I'll be able to keep doing that thru dental school.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
So, I was able to hold out for the WWDC yesterday... No talk of a new MB Pro or Air, and it looks like that won't be happening until late October at the earliest.

So... I just bought a 13" Pro with Retina Display. :hardy:
  • 2.8GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7
  • 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
  • 512GB Flash Storage
Woo hoo! I also got Apple Care, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, an extra power cord, and a VGA adapter.

Anyone else planning on running Windows on their Mac? I'm going to wait and see if it's necessary... but if it is, I will be.

OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 look sweet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
What tablet are ya'll using for those who are using one? Thanks in advance!
 
If you all with the Surface Pro 3's could report back in a year or so, I bet we would all appreciate it.
 
I decided not to get the surface pro 3 since they switched from wacom to ntrig digitizer. I settled with Samsung ATIV 700t for 500 and I couldn't be happier. Wacom stylus (very responsive) on a 12in tablet pc hybrid seems like the sweet spot between portability and power (i5 3rd gen). I already have a pretty powerful laptop for gaming so I didn't feel like dishing out 2k for a portable device. But I guess if it will be your only computer, I can see myself spending slightly more than 1k to get the most powerful but still portable rig.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Right now Im still running my discount rig I built last year with FX4700, 16GB RAM, 2 TB HDD, and Radeon 5670 all in a big shiny full tower.

My question is, is portable technology kind of a necessity in DS? If so, would tablets be enough since I have a desktop for all my other needs?
 
DentalDoge said:
Right now Im still running my discount rig I built last year with FX4700, 16GB RAM, 2 TB HDD, and Radeon 5670 all in a big shiny full tower.

My question is, is portable technology kind of a necessity in DS? If so, would tablets be enough since I have a desktop for all my other needs?
Click to expand...

As someone who attempted to study with a tablet in undergrad and QUICKLY dismissed that idea, I'd say portability is a huge deal. I can't imagine not having my laptop.
 
Glimmer1991 said:
As someone who attempted to study with a tablet in undergrad and QUICKLY dismissed that idea, I'd say portability is a huge deal. I can't imagine not having my laptop.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Any particular reason for not using the tablet? Not enough versatility? I've been eyes those beautiful Ultrabooks for awhile now, this is a perfect excuse to get them haha.
 
I saw some stuff online where people were planning on using the old wacom digitizer. They'll probably be open-source drivers to fix everything. Anything is possible when you have a full OS :D
 
Glimmer1991 said:
Anyone else planning on running Windows on their Mac? I'm going to wait and see if it's necessary... but if it is, I will be.
Click to expand...

You can run both MAC and Windows with the option to switch by using Bootcamp right?
 
I've been using the 2013 13' MBP w/ retina and have been loving it. As someone who considered the air, I definitely think I made the right call with the pro. The retina display is gorgeous and I like the fact that the bezel around the screen is black rather than the silver.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
dbd said:
You can run both MAC and Windows with the option to switch by using Bootcamp right?
Click to expand...

Yep! And you can run them both at the same time if you use Parallels, VMWare Fusion, or VirtualBox.

If I find myself having to use Windows often, I'll buy Parallels later on. However, I suspect that all I'll really need is Bootcamp.

I'll probably only make my partition 55 gigs or so. That seems to be the minimum suggested, and I just don't think I'll need it much. I've heard we only have to have a "few" programs through the school.
 
DogeDDS said:
I've been using the 2013 13' MBP w/ retina and have been loving it. As someone who considered the air, I definitely think I made the right call with the pro. The retina display is gorgeous and I like the fact that the bezel around the screen is black rather than the silver.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah! With as much studying as I do on my computer, I knew the Retina display was a huge deal. :)

My boyfriend just purchased the same MB Pro and is switching over from a Lenovo... He is FLOORED by the screen. It is literally night and day compared to his old computer!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

predentalhope
Laptops/Tablets for Dental School?
Replies
7
Views
2K
predentalhope
predentalhope
dentaldawg123
New laptop for dental school
Replies
4
Views
1K
LeagueofLigTies
LeagueofLigTies
D
Best computer/tablet for dental school?
Replies
6
Views
4K
2jz
2jz
T
I feel like I'm never gonna get any A's
Replies
12
Views
2K
deleted767916
D
5
Which laptop should I buy?
Replies
43
Views
3K
Stroganoff
Stroganoff
Top