Computer suggestions?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Doctor2be17

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2012
Messages
107
Reaction score
0
Hope you all had a merry christmas! I need a little help. I'm planning in buying a new laptop for medical school but don't know much about computers. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think macs would be more useful or is there not much of a difference?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Hope you all had a merry christmas! I need a little help. I'm planning in buying a new laptop for medical school but don't know much about computers. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think macs would be more useful or is there not much of a difference?

It all comes down to what you are comfortable using. Personally, I like Macs as that's what I've been using since undergrad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
No. I will be getting an iPad through my school though. Would a Mac work better with an iPad? Or does it not really matter?
 
Don't waste your money and buy something right now. Xmas sales aren't any better than back to school sales for PC's. Macs are never discounted enough to make it a "sale price." Bottom line - just wait until the summer for new hardware to come out. You will get a better bang for your buck then.

As far as iPad goes, macs will have tighter integration with iPads than PCs. YMMV.
 
No. I will be getting an iPad through my school though. Would a Mac work better with an iPad? Or does it not really matter?

Hey!

I'm a Mac/Windows/Linux user. Here's what I can tell you.

If you want everything to be synced up easily with your iPad, and you want to feel the familiarity of the interface (how things look and behave) as you transition from device to device, you should go Mac. Don't get me wrong, a Windows PC will also be able to sync with your iPad, but there is the caveat that things look and feel drastically differently from the iPad to the Windows PC. Also, I think there may be one or two extra hoops you need to jump through in order to get your windows machine fully synced with your iPad. For example, if I make a note through iCal on my Mac, it automatically and quickly makes the same change on my iPhone. You may have some configuring to do on a PC, but it won't be a lot.

I think you can approach this differently. How much do you want/have to spend, and what are you going to be using it for. Also, how long do you want this laptop to last? Will there be a potential for gaming/video/photo editing sort of thing? How much do you want to customize your computer? How portable do you want it (will you mainly take your iPad to school and leave your laptop at home, or will you bring your laptop everywhere)? Battery life, and the lifespan of the AC adapter/battery charger and battery also matter. Finally the last question is, how well or poorly do you take care of your electronics?

This seems like a lot, but before I recommend a computer to anyone, I ask all of these, and generally I can narrow the list down substantially!

PM me if you need more information!!
 
Hey!

I'm a Mac/Windows/Linux user. Here's what I can tell you.

If you want everything to be synced up easily with your iPad, and you want to feel the familiarity of the interface (how things look and behave) as you transition from device to device, you should go Mac. Don't get me wrong, a Windows PC will also be able to sync with your iPad, but there is the caveat that things look and feel drastically differently from the iPad to the Windows PC. Also, I think there may be one or two extra hoops you need to jump through in order to get your windows machine fully synced with your iPad. For example, if I make a note through iCal on my Mac, it automatically and quickly makes the same change on my iPhone. You may have some configuring to do on a PC, but it won't be a lot.

I think you can approach this differently. How much do you want/have to spend, and what are you going to be using it for. Also, how long do you want this laptop to last? Will there be a potential for gaming/video/photo editing sort of thing? How much do you want to customize your computer? How portable do you want it (will you mainly take your iPad to school and leave your laptop at home, or will you bring your laptop everywhere)? Battery life, and the lifespan of the AC adapter/battery charger and battery also matter. Finally the last question is, how well or poorly do you take care of your electronics?

This seems like a lot, but before I recommend a computer to anyone, I ask all of these, and generally I can narrow the list down substantially!

PM me if you need more information!!

Thanks for the response! I don't mind spending a little extra if it will last. Usually my computers last about four or five years. I am looking for something portable that will last long though and it will be mostly for school. I don't play games note computer or anything but I will be using my laptop far more at school than my iPad so portability and battery lifespan is something I would want to consider.
 
Thanks for the response! I don't mind spending a little extra if it will last. Usually my computers last about four or five years. I am looking for something portable that will last long though and it will be mostly for school. I don't play games note computer or anything but I will be using my laptop far more at school than my iPad so portability and battery lifespan is something I would want to consider.

In this case, if computing power is not a necessity, and you want near seamless integration with your iPad and decent customer support, Macbook Air, 13". It's pricey, extremely portable and has a solid battery life. Retails for $1199. http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

If you want something a little more untested, with a new operating system (Windows 8), that you're willing to play around with until you get your configuration/settings for your iPad integration and whatever else you need ready, I would suggest this: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/ASUS-VivoBook-X202E-Touchscreen/productID.257339400/parentCategoryID.44066900/categoryID.50787200/list.true

It's about $500, is half the price, 3 USB ports, both HDMI and VGA outputs for connecting to projectors or TVs, and has a touchscreen. It is Windows 8, the newest windows operating system so it will take some time getting used to, and there most likely will be bugs and kinks that need to be worked out. Also, because this is an early model, you run the risk of the touchscreen failing, or some other hardware oversight that may have occurred in production and design. I rarely recommend buying extended warranties, but since the line seems so young, I would seriously consider it. Battery life is reported to be around 5 hours, whereas the 13 inch Macbook Air gets about 7.

If you want something a little tougher, and can take some more abuse, look into a Lenovo Thinkpad. I'm not as well versed on Lenovo models as I haven't kept up with them for a while, but visit their website and play around until you get what you think you want. Also look for online coupons at sites like deals2buy.com.

PM me if you need more help!

EDIT: the models I have suggested do NOT have CD/DVD drives, I believe. I'm certain the Air doesn't. That's also something to take into consideration!
 
Last edited:
Had an IBM thinkpad which got me through medical school. Switched to Macbook Pro PGY2 year which was donated to my fiancee when I got a Macbook Air PGY4 year. I would NEVER consider switching back to a windows based PC.

With that said, the Thinkpad was a tank. I can't speak for the quality after it became Lenovo.
 
I had think pads as well and so did my family for close to 10 years. They were built like tanks and nothing in that era came close. Since their sale to Lenovo, their build quality and QC has taken a noticeable dive. I would still pick them over other pc manufacturer as I can't find a simple black laptop with no external bells or whistles anywhere else but that's me.

Apple has typically charged a lot more for their hardware than pcs have but the market bears the cost to support brand recognition. But their quality has gone up as well. Their support is better than any company I would wager having a dell, an hp, a think pad (Lenovo) and a MacBook Air in the household that I have to support.

I have had a MacBook Air for a year now and have yet to find need for a cd drive.
 
I picked up a 13 inch retina MacBook. Real small and nice ssd
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Here's my question, any reason not to get a MacBook Air? I mean any reason to choose a MacBook Pro or MacBook over the air?
 
Here's my question, any reason not to get a MacBook Air? I mean any reason to choose a MacBook Pro or MacBook over the air?

Retina display is glorious and I don't think air comes as retina

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile
 
Here's my question, any reason not to get a MacBook Air? I mean any reason to choose a MacBook Pro or MacBook over the air?

I think its too light. I like to feel my laptop, I feel like if the wing blows too hard, the MacBook Air (no pun intended) will get blown away.
 
My response was to the post above mine who claimed that wind would blow it away and that he likes to "feel" his laptop.
 
Last edited:
Obviously. I also got a heavier case for my phone because I couldn't even feel it in my point. Point being, you will be studying 24/7. The air just feels more flimsy and it has a smaller drive I believe.
 
"Smaller drive" - Thanks for answering my question.

The air is far from flimsy.

I think I'm being trolled. So I will stop.
 
I recently got a MBP for school and I love it. I've always been a PC guy, but the switch was relatively painless. I still have my PC laptop, but now I use that more for research so I can communicate between others without stuff getting fudged up in formatting.
 
For someone who is supposedly looking at textbooks (PDFs, docs, mobi, ePub), web pages (YouTube videos on anatomy, lectures from school) and perhaps listening to music on iTunes in the background 24/7, how is the lower voltage processor that actually gets you longer battery life a bad thing compared to the MacBook Pro?

The 1.7ghz i5 processor in the pro is the same just run at a higher voltage.

As for other tasks, I can edit videos and photos in Vegas and Lightroom on my air without any issues. If you are waiting for something to render just leave it be overnight. I don't project having enough time to do any of those things in med school anyways so that becomes even less of an issue.

Find me something only a pro can do that the air doesn't that you will need to do in medical school.
 
For someone who is supposedly looking at textbooks (PDFs, docs, mobi, ePub), web pages (YouTube videos on anatomy, lectures from school) and perhaps listening to music on iTunes in the background 24/7, how is the lower voltage processor that actually gets you longer battery life a bad thing compared to the MacBook Pro?

The 1.7ghz i5 processor in the pro is the same just run at a higher voltage.

As for other tasks, I can edit videos and photos in Vegas and Lightroom on my air without any issues. If you are waiting for something to render just leave it be overnight. I don't project having enough time to do any of those things in med school anyways so that becomes even less of an issue.

Find me something only a pro can do that the air doesn't that you will need to do in medical school.
Our Histology lab uses digital slides which can take some heavy processing power, not saying that an Air can't do it. I simply pointed out a difference, I think either MacBook will be sufficient (I use a MBP)
 
Ok when you say processing power do you mean processor speed (ghz) or power(thermal rating in W which has nothing to do with anything) or the voltage (V) the motherboard is running the processor at?

What format are these slides in? What size is each file?

For instance, given the same processor but 2gb of ram vs 8gb of ram, a 40mb image will get rotated in photoshop a lot faster on the computer with more ram. Older systems came with less ram but processors that weren't any slower so if you were to compare older computers having trouble manipulating slides or switching between them quickly, then I'd wager it would have an issue with ram or the hard drive being the bottleneck, not the processor. The pros still come with 5400 rpm regular old platter drives as an option and are cheaper than the pros with solid state drives. The air doesn't have a traditional hard drive or a solid state drive but has memory banks soldered directly to the motherboard. Which is why you can't put in a bigger hard drive. However you could purchase a portable drive of any size and use that as your primary storage.
 
Our Histology lab uses digital slides which can take some heavy processing power, not saying that an Air can't do it. I simply pointed out a difference, I think either MacBook will be sufficient (I use a MBP)

Is NSU ever going digital for those?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile
 
Is NSU ever going digital for those?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile

dntke doesn't go to NSU. But you know that I do. We have slides and microscopes for Histo lab. Many students join a club which issues Histo lab DVDs with digital reviews of everything.
 
I'm definitely thinking of keeping my PC I've had for the past few years and getting an iPad or iPad Mini. My PC works fine, I may get it upgraded, but I can't justify spending a thousand dollars for a mac when my PC does everything I need it to do. I broke the screen a few years ago and replaced it myself for 100 bucks. That plus all of my virus software and renewals is still less than I would spend on a mac.
 
"Smaller drive" - Thanks for answering my question.

The air is far from flimsy.

I think I'm being trolled. So I will stop.


You are trolling yourself.

MacBook Air: 13-inch : 128GB
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 400
$1200

MacBook Pro: 13-inch: 2.5GHz
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
$1200


In summary, the MBP has a faster processor, high performance ram, and 3 times bigger hard drive.
 
You are an idiot if you think that MacBook Pro with the 5400rpm drive will do anything better than the MacBook Air.
 
Oh no not another Mac vs. PC---

Uhh Mac vs. Mac?!
 
If they make air detachable so that the screen can be used as a tablet, I will switch.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile
 
If they make air detachable so that the screen can be used as a tablet, I will switch.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile

Thats about an iPad+bluetooth keyboard.
 
doesn't air have a bigger screen?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile
 
doesn't air have a bigger screen?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile

I believe the air comes in 11" and 13", MacBook Pro starts in a "13 and has a "15. I may be missing some bigger sizes too...
 
doesn't air have a bigger screen?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using SDN Mobile

Same size or smaller depending on which MBP you are comparing. Never bigger.

I believe the air comes in 11" and 13", MacBook Pro starts in a "13 and has a "15. I may be missing some bigger sizes too...

Yup. The MBP retina display comes in 13 or 15 inches, and the MBP version prior to retina display comes in 13, 15, or 17 inches.
 
You are trolling yourself.

MacBook Air: 13-inch : 128GB
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 400
$1200

MacBook Pro: 13-inch: 2.5GHz
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
$1200


In summary, the MBP has a faster processor, high performance ram, and 3 times bigger hard drive.

Yes there is a faster processor. But what you fail to notice is that the MBA has a solid state harddrive, aka flash storage. Let's put this in perspective:

Sequential read speed of an SSD: 540 MB/s
Sequential write speed of an SSD: 250 MB/s

Note: This is the one I have, a Samsung 840 SSD. In any case, it won't matter, as the SATAII connecter has an upward limit of 300 MB/s for read or write.

Sequential read speed of a 5400 RPM Standard Drive: 77.7 MB/s
Sequential write speed of a 5400 RPM Standard Drive: 76.7 MB/s

Source: http://www.ehow.com/info_12085368_5400-rpm-vs-7200-rpm-hard-disk.html

Notice the difference? The 5400 RPM drive is literally a spinning platter, on which a needle rests, reading data. This is the main reason behind a slower read and write speed.

So what does all of this mean? Basically, at the speeds processors are operating at (GHz), you're primarily limited by two factors as far as my understanding goes, and these aren't the speeds of your processors. They are: 1) The speed of your FSB, or front side bus, which basically tells you how fast your processor can talk with your RAM (a definite oversimplification, but run with it), and 2) the read and write speeds of your harddrives, which tells you how fast you can locate and add data on your hard drive. So even with the faster processor, and perhaps faster memory (I don't know if the MBA uses 1600 MHz memory or 1333 MHz memory), the MBA can keep relatively good pace with the MBP.

Now you might argue "but Defiant Doctor, 2.5 GHz >> 1.8 GHz", but in reality, it's not. The difference is 700 MHz. That's negligible; in fact, you probably won't notice it unless you're running extremely processor intensive applications, or applications that require a lot of computations, such as in bioinformatics work, or proteomics, or gaming ;) Also, even if you say it has faster memory, you have to look at the limits of the FSB speed, and notice that the difference will at most be 300 - 600 MHz, aka pretty negligible.

If you want additional data, I've been retooling my Late 2011 MBP as much as I can (depending on how much money I have) for over a year. Recently, my girlfriend bought me a 250 GB Samsung 840 SSD. My boot time (and I count boot time as power on to successfully surfing the web using Google Chrome as in normal use) was about 1:30 with the stock 5400 RPM drive that came with the MBP. With the SSD? 17.3 seconds, on average. And yes, I ran multiple trials. I couldn't believe the improvement.

EDIT: I just want to say no one is an "idiot." For the longest time, computer manufacturers touted their processor speeds and RAM as the secret to a computer's speed. Heck, remember all the Intel commercials? And don't get me wrong, have a good processor helps. But recently, especially due to the MBA, the hard drives have been more critically analzyed, to the point where when you order a CTO PC from any major manufacturer, they will offer at least one model with a 7200 RPM drive, which will be faster than a 5400 RPM drive for high end users. And also, due to the MBA, ultrabooks have been more popular. The main reason ultrabooks boot up so fast even with low voltage, "low speed" processors? You guessed it: the SSD. SSDs are becoming more and more popular, but they're a relatively recent development in terms of becoming mainstream. SSDs used to have a limited number of write cycles before sectors of the flash memory storage went bad, effectively reducing available disk space and potentially corrupting data, and for this reason were relatively unpopular. Now, most SSDs will outlive the rest of the computer by a significant amount: think tens of thousands of usage hours.
 
Last edited:
Yes there is a faster processor. But what you fail to notice is that the MBA has a solid state harddrive, aka flash storage. Let's put this in perspective:

Sequential read speed of an SSD: 540 MB/s
Sequential write speed of an SSD: 250 MB/s

Note: This is the one I have, a Samsung 840 SSD. In any case, it won't matter, as the SATAII connecter has an upward limit of 300 MB/s for read or write.

Sequential read speed of a 5400 RPM Standard Drive: 77.7 MB/s
Sequential write speed of a 5400 RPM Standard Drive: 76.7 MB/s

Source: http://www.ehow.com/info_12085368_5400-rpm-vs-7200-rpm-hard-disk.html

Notice the difference? The 5400 RPM drive is literally a spinning platter, on which a needle rests, reading data. This is the main reason behind a slower read and write speed.

So what does all of this mean? Basically, at the speeds processors are operating at (GHz), you're primarily limited by two factors as far as my understanding goes, and these aren't the speeds of your processors. They are: 1) The speed of your FSB, or front side bus, which basically tells you how fast your processor can talk with your RAM (a definite oversimplification, but run with it), and 2) the read and write speeds of your harddrives, which tells you how fast you can locate and add data on your hard drive. So even with the faster processor, and perhaps faster memory (I don't know if the MBA uses 1600 MHz memory or 1333 MHz memory), the MBA can keep relatively good pace with the MBP.

Now you might argue "but Defiant Doctor, 2.5 GHz >> 1.8 GHz", but in reality, it's not. The difference is 700 MHz. That's negligible; in fact, you probably won't notice it unless you're running extremely processor intensive applications, or applications that require a lot of computations, such as in bioinformatics work, or proteomics, or gaming ;) Also, even if you say it has faster memory, you have to look at the limits of the FSB speed, and notice that the difference will at most be 300 - 600 MHz, aka pretty negligible.

If you want additional data, I've been retooling my Late 2011 MBP as much as I can (depending on how much money I have) for over a year. Recently, my girlfriend bought me a 250 GB Samsung 840 SSD. My boot time (and I count boot time as power on to successfully surfing the web using Google Chrome as in normal use) was about 1:30 with the stock 5400 RPM drive that came with the MBP. With the SSD? 17.3 seconds, on average. And yes, I ran multiple trials. I couldn't believe the improvement.

But, longevity wise, SSDs are going see tremendous loss in memory space/speed as time goes on. Even with the recent addition of the TRIM command to some SSD manufacturers, you are still going to hit the problem of a ~2 year lifespan before detrimental effects happen.

MBA's do seem to use a TRIM SSD but you have to use Apple SSD in order to have TRIM work with the most recent release of the Mac OS.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but this is how I've always understood a SSD. And you only use SSD's to hold OS's and things that don't get modified that much.

I think for the average user, a HDD will be just fine, especially for someone who doesn't want to replace a HD in the future due to slow down. I think you would be hard pressed to get a SSD to run a optimal speed for 4 years
 
You are trolling yourself.

MacBook Air: 13-inch : 128GB
1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory
128GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 400
$1200

MacBook Pro: 13-inch: 2.5GHz
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Built-in battery (7 hours)2
$1200


In summary, the MBP has a faster processor, high performance ram, and 3 times bigger hard drive.

But, longevity wise, SSDs are going see tremendous loss in memory space/speed as time goes on. Even with the recent addition of the TRIM command to some SSD manufacturers, you are still going to hit the problem of a ~2 year lifespan before detrimental effects happen.

MBA's do seem to use a TRIM SSD but you have to use Apple SSD in order to have TRIM work with the most recent release of the Mac OS.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but this is how I've always understood a SSD. And you only use SSD's to hold OS's and things that don't get modified that much.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/hdd-vs-ssd-lifespan-642689.html

I'll pull up the post here in case you don't want to wade through it all:

Here were the asked questions:

I've been planning on building a computer and I'm curious about SSD's, so I have a few question in my mind before deciding to buy one.

What is the maximum rpm of an HDD? Can it reach SSD's in terms of speed?
They say that SSD's have a limited number of writes. Is it true?
Does filling the whole drive reduce its speed?
Can you compare SSD's and HDD's in terms of their lifespan? Are their differences too much?
When it failed, is it easier to retrieve its data than an HDD?


Here are the answers:

*Most desktop hdds spin at around 7200 rpm. Notebooks are often 5400 rpm or slower. SSDs beat hard drives because they have NO moving parts. They don't have to physically search for data, like hard drives do. Additionally, they have zero down time waiting for the drvice to "turn on" like hard drives.

*Yes, this is true. Newer SSDs are optimized in such a way that you aren't going to burn through your SSD before you either decide to buy a new one, or you stop using computers. Modern SSDs have around 1,000,000 power on hours or so.
Take for example, my desktop HDD. I got it since 2005, and I only have about 700 hours on it.

*Not sure. I've read some reviews on a few low-end SSDs and it seems like that is true. But I have a 60gb Intel ssd, with only about 5gb free on it. r/w are still as high as if it were new.

*They are very similar, if not the same. SSDs might actually have a higher lifespan. Most wear and tear for hard drives come with spinning up/spinning down. As SSDs do not spin, or move, they last longer. Additionally SSDs are not prone to physical failure. You can drop one, and it'll be fine. Unlike a hard drive, where dropping it while it is running would often kill it.

*SSDs don't "fail" like hard drives. As you use it (heavily), sectors start to be unable to write data. The SSD knows this, and starts forgetting about those sectors. So after a long time of heavy writing, the disk size will slowly "shrink". You'll still be able to get data off it, only you won't be able to write to it.
Unlike HDDs, where one of many failures can make it impossible to read OR write data from it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In any case, you're right, an average user should be just fine with an HDD. Keep in mind the likelihood of HDD for failure is generally higher due to more moving parts (as mentioned above), but once again, hard drive manufacturers are good at what they do for the most part :). I was mainly addressing the misconception that processor and RAM are the only things that have to do with speed, and explaining why a MBA can in many cases keep pace with an MBP at most general applications. And as a general rule of thumb, SSD or HDD, most important files should have one, preferably two backups: a physical copy on a flash drive or external harddrive, and a backup in cloud through iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Me being paranoid about some of my research have multiple backups of my work, and other important files like pictures and the like.
 
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/hdd-vs-ssd-lifespan-642689.html

I'll pull up the post here in case you don't want to wade through it all:

Here were the asked questions:

I've been planning on building a computer and I'm curious about SSD's, so I have a few question in my mind before deciding to buy one.

What is the maximum rpm of an HDD? Can it reach SSD's in terms of speed?
They say that SSD's have a limited number of writes. Is it true?
Does filling the whole drive reduce its speed?
Can you compare SSD's and HDD's in terms of their lifespan? Are their differences too much?
When it failed, is it easier to retrieve its data than an HDD?


Here are the answers:

*Most desktop hdds spin at around 7200 rpm. Notebooks are often 5400 rpm or slower. SSDs beat hard drives because they have NO moving parts. They don't have to physically search for data, like hard drives do. Additionally, they have zero down time waiting for the drvice to "turn on" like hard drives.

*Yes, this is true. Newer SSDs are optimized in such a way that you aren't going to burn through your SSD before you either decide to buy a new one, or you stop using computers. Modern SSDs have around 1,000,000 power on hours or so.
Take for example, my desktop HDD. I got it since 2005, and I only have about 700 hours on it.

*Not sure. I've read some reviews on a few low-end SSDs and it seems like that is true. But I have a 60gb Intel ssd, with only about 5gb free on it. r/w are still as high as if it were new.

*They are very similar, if not the same. SSDs might actually have a higher lifespan. Most wear and tear for hard drives come with spinning up/spinning down. As SSDs do not spin, or move, they last longer. Additionally SSDs are not prone to physical failure. You can drop one, and it'll be fine. Unlike a hard drive, where dropping it while it is running would often kill it.

*SSDs don't "fail" like hard drives. As you use it (heavily), sectors start to be unable to write data. The SSD knows this, and starts forgetting about those sectors. So after a long time of heavy writing, the disk size will slowly "shrink". You'll still be able to get data off it, only you won't be able to write to it.
Unlike HDDs, where one of many failures can make it impossible to read OR write data from it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In any case, you're right, an average user should be just fine with an HDD. Keep in mind the likelihood of HDD for failure is generally higher due to more moving parts (as mentioned above), but once again, hard drive manufacturers are good at what they do for the most part :). I was mainly addressing the misconception that processor and RAM are the only things that have to do with speed, and explaining why a MBA can in many cases keep pace with an MBP at most general applications. And as a general rule of thumb, SSD or HDD, most important files should have one, preferably two backups: a physical copy on a flash drive or external harddrive, and a backup in cloud through iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Me being paranoid about some of my research have multiple backups of my work, and other important files like pictures and the like.

It appears my knowledge about SSDs was a little out-dated. Thanks!

I guess now the only limitation of the SSD is really overall storage. 128GB is not a lot, but for people that have PC at home I suppose 128GB is enough for a laptop. Or for a main computer I guess, if you're not a PC gamer :cool:

But looking at what you posted and reading some more about SSD on the internet, I guess I'm looking at a MBA for next year instead of the MBP, its light and with a PC at home I don't need large amount of storage.
 
It appears my knowledge about SSDs was a little out-dated. Thanks!

I guess now the only limitation of the SSD is really overall storage. 128GB is not a lot, but for people that have PC at home I suppose 128GB is enough for a laptop. Or for a main computer I guess, if you're not a PC gamer :cool:

But looking at what you posted and reading some more about SSD on the internet, I guess I'm looking at a MBA for next year instead of the MBP, its light and with a PC at home I don't need large amount of storage.

No problem! Of course, take what I (or any other tech support guy) says with a grain of salt. SSDs are new on the market in terms of mainstream acceptance, so there have been no real consumer studies of longevity. Always back up! One trick I use is to carry an 8 GB flash drive on my key chain to immediately back up any important file so in case something happens to my laptop (an accident, or the SSD says screw this and quits on me), my most recent work is still not lost. + the cloud storage I use that automatically syncs with a server when I do change or add an important file.

Best of luck in your computer hunt!
 
No problem! Of course, take what I (or any other tech support guy) says with a grain of salt. SSDs are new on the market in terms of mainstream acceptance, so there have been no real consumer studies of longevity. Always back up! One trick I use is to carry an 8 GB flash drive on my key chain to immediately back up any important file so in case something happens to my laptop (an accident, or the SSD says screw this and quits on me), my most recent work is still not lost. + the cloud storage I use that automatically syncs with a server when I do change or add an important file.

Best of luck in your computer hunt!

Ugh.
Backing up data is very sound advice. I lost half a terabyte of pictures, videos, and music when my hard drive crashed. You guessed it, it wasn't backed up.
 
I have both (Pro and Air). I have used both during residency. I would say that for my purposes eg presentations, PDFs, writing articles etc, I have encountered no difference. Well one, the MBP is faster to wake from sleep even with its spinner hard drive.

Otherwise, in my hands, they are the same. The air is just that much easier to cart around daily, but I was able to do that with the Pro as well. The Pro has since been donated to my podiatrist fiancee.
 
Dont buy a laptop until you find out what your school offers. A lot of common software isn't compatible with Macs, despite being the most popular laptop. You will be wasting money if your laptop does not meet school standards.

Also, in the next couple of weeks, manufacturers release new technology. Apple is usually behind by 5-6 months or so; you wouldn't want to buy a laptop until the new generations are released. At this point, it may be more practical to buy the old technology, since the current generation of Intel processors are extremely well built.

SSDs are top-notch. Don't listen to the advice of anyone telling you not to get one. Take an SSD over minor processor enhancements. 128GB or larger (128 is the best price point at this time) I have a 64GB boot drive in my desktop, and its just not enough, but I bought it several years ago.

Also, get something with a high resolution screen. Its generally agreed that Samsung has the best quality screens. Some people don't put a lot of value with this, and end up getting burned.

As for syncing with your iPad, you probably won't need to all that often if you're not putting lectures on it, so its a minor perk. I would put a couple weeks lectures on mine at a time, so I only had to sync it every couple of weeks.
 
My only question is, what school is handing out iPads? :D
 
Top