laptop suggestion?

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

gotmilk1234

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
May 13, 2016
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Points
4,551
  1. Medical Student (Accepted)
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I currently own a 2011 Macbook Pro. It runs slower than it used to. Should I purchase a new Mac or is the laptop I have now sufficient for med school?

Edit: I'm mostly worried that my laptop will die in the middle of the school year since its 5+ years old...
 
I would wait to buy a laptop until you decide which school you're going to attend. Some schools provide laptops as part of its tuition. I made the mistake of buying a laptop when the school provided one!
 
mathnerd88 said:
I would wait to buy a laptop until you decide which school you're going to attend. Some schools provide laptops as part of its tuition. I made the mistake of buying a laptop when the school provided one!
Click to expand...

My school is not providing me with one
 
bon22 said:
I agree 100%. Upgrading to an SSD is easily the best way to boost performance. It'll feel brand new.
Click to expand...

Is this like a DIY thing? I'm so not tech savvy like that.
 
toutou said:
Is this like a DIY thing? I'm so not tech savvy like that.
Click to expand...
If you have any kind of computer repair store nearby, they could do it for you easily. It's about $180 for a good 500 GB ssd then probably $10 to install it. Much better than buying a new computer.
 
No idea how difficult macs are to work on, but I was able to install an SSD on my dell laptop. I definitely am not tech savvy either. Used a youtube video to walkthrough.. just pick a reputable brand.

Will agree my laptop was stupid faster. Timed a restart before at around 2 minutes. < 15 seconds now. How much RAM do you currently have?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile
 
Crucial MX200 is a great drive.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I've had sooooooo many bad experiences with PC that I'm sorry but I refused to buy another.
 
toutou said:
I've had sooooooo many bad experiences with PC that I'm sorry but I refused to buy another.
Click to expand...

There's tons of PC manufacturers. Maybe you picked bad ones. Macs are inherently more expensive for worse parts that break equally often with more expensive support options. If you take care of your PC, there is literally no reason to ever buy a Mac. There is literally nothing that makes them better other than a shinier UI. (I work in IT currently, can you sense my hatred?)
 
I agree with the switch to an SSD if you are able to or have a nearby store that could do it. Hardware-wise that laptop should still be fine for med school as long as it can run a web browser, email client, some sort of office/presentation suite and stream videos.

If you really need one then the new thin macbooks are pretty nice. I made the switch a few years ago to Mac and won't go back to windows.

That said, those Microsoft surface laptops/tablets are pretty cool. One of my co-fellows has one and uses it for notes and such. He's had some issues with the hardware itself but I like the concept. Kinda wish macbook had a touchscreen sometimes but I guess an iPad Pro would serve that purpose.
 
kelminak said:
There's tons of PC manufacturers. Maybe you picked bad ones. Macs are inherently more expensive for worse parts that break equally often with more expensive support options. If you take care of your PC, there is literally no reason to ever buy a Mac. There is literally nothing that makes them better other than a shinier UI. (I work in IT currently, can you sense my hatred?)
Click to expand...

I went from Dell, Toshiba, HP and that was it. No more. They all broke within like less than a year. My mac has been pretty good to me (knock on wood) and I've had it since 2011
 
The new touch screen HP's are really nice
 
Not to hijack this thread, but Is there any harm in going ahead right now to buy a MacBook Pro?

I wanted to wait until the new model is released in the fall, but my classes start early Aug and tax free day is next weekend...
 
toutou said:
I went from Dell, Toshiba, HP and that was it. No more. They all broke within like less than a year. My mac has been pretty good to me (knock on wood) and I've had it since 2011
Click to expand...

Wow... You chose like the worst 3 pc laptop brands to buy.. I bought a Sony vaio and it has been fine for last 5 years.
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Not to hijack this thread, but Is there any harm in going ahead right now to buy a MacBook Pro?

I wanted to wait until the new model is released in the fall, but my classes start early Aug and tax free day is next weekend...
Click to expand...
I've got the early 2015 13" retina and I've had absolutely no problems.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
bon22 said:
I've got the early 2015 13" retina and I've had absolutely no problems.
Click to expand...

Cool. I've read nothing nut great things about the 2015 retina. So I'm Just wondering if the new fall model will be a big leap worth enough to pay the difference I would save by getting the 2015 model
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Cool. I've read nothing nut great things about the 2015 retina. So I'm Just wondering if the new fall model will be a big leap worth enough to pay the difference I would save by getting the 2015 model
Click to expand...
Meh... Hype is never real


Unless it's for Halflife 3
 
MajorUnderDog said:
Cool. I've read nothing nut great things about the 2015 retina. So I'm Just wondering if the new fall model will be a big leap worth enough to pay the difference I would save by getting the 2015 model
Click to expand...

I'm kind of in the same dilemma. School is providing us with Surface Books but I've had my eye on an iMac... Current prices are reasonable with late 2015 specs. Plus if you get a Mac before Sept, you get a pair of Beats. (not my cup of tea, but eBay!)
 
mediator1 said:
Wow... You chose like the worst 3 pc laptop brands to buy.. I bought a Sony vaio and it has been fine for last 5 years.
Click to expand...

Yeah my cousin has Sony and it shat the bed too. I think I'll stick with mac. Plus it looks so clean and minimal too.
 
toutou said:
Yeah my cousin has Sony and it shat the bed too. I think I'll stick with mac. Plus it looks so clean and minimal too.
Click to expand...

I hear you, I like Mac as well and may get one soon.
 
anyone know when the new MacBooks are coming out? There are only rumors of it online...
 
Keep in mind that some software only works with Windows and not Mac. In my school, the exam taking software is only exclusively for PC.

IMO, contact the school and ask what they recommend for computer.
 
toutou said:
Yeah my cousin has Sony and it shat the bed too. I think I'll stick with mac. Plus it looks so clean and minimal too.
Click to expand...

Just curious about all your bad experiences with Windows PCs. How much did you spend on them?

Are you comparing a $400 PC with a $1200 Mac? The $400 PCs will break within a few years.

I use a $1700 Windows laptop and it has given me a much better experience than any $1700 Mac would.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
All of this Mac talk is making me cringe so hard. There is literally no upside to Macs. If you have excess cash that you're looking to lose, sure, buy a Mac with garbage components compared to a PC you could get with an equivalent price. Let's do a quick plug-in of what you could get at the same prices:

Cheapest available Macbook (source)
Price: $1299
12-inch display
1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor (0.90 GHz clock speed, 2 core, 4 MB cache, 16 max supported memory) (source)
8GB DDR3 RAM
256GB Storage

ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX) (source)
Price: $1049 (regularly $1299, 19% off)
17.3-inch display
Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.6 GHz (2.6 GHz clock speed, 4 core, 6 MB cache, 32 GB max supported memory) (source)
16GB DDR3 RAM
1 TB Storage

I mean just at a glance you go from looking absolutely terrible hardware to a super-high end gaming PC which is likely well beyond the usage of an average consumer. There is objectively no argument to be made for Macs other than they're "shiny".
 
kelminak said:
All of this Mac talk is making me cringe so hard. There is literally no upside to Macs. If you have excess cash that you're looking to lose, sure, buy a Mac with garbage components compared to a PC you could get with an equivalent price. Let's do a quick plug-in of what you could get at the same prices:

Cheapest available Macbook (source)
Price: $1299
12-inch display
1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor (0.90 GHz clock speed, 2 core, 4 MB cache, 16 max supported memory) (source)
8GB DDR3 RAM
256GB Storage

ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX) (source)
Price: $1049 (regularly $1299, 19% off)
17.3-inch display
Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.6 GHz (2.6 GHz clock speed, 4 core, 6 MB cache, 32 GB max supported memory) (source)
16GB DDR3 RAM
1 TB Storage

I mean just at a glance you go from looking absolutely terrible hardware to a super-high end gaming PC which is likely well beyond the usage of an average consumer. There is objectively no argument to be made for Macs other than they're "shiny".
Click to expand...
As a home PC builder, I love the customizability and power of my beautiful machine.
That being said though, I bought a used MacBook Pro for Med school and I don't regret anything about it.
If performance was solely based on specs, an FX-6300 should easily beat an i5-6600k. But it doesn't.
 
If you want to get a new computer, I would recommend a PC. Some people at my schools with macs are having more problems than those of us who are using PCs. Especially when it comes to files with specific formats or softwares for testing, videos, etc

A lot of my classmates are using the surface pro 4. it works like a charm
 
bon22 said:
As a home PC builder, I love the customizability and power of my beautiful machine.
That being said though, I bought a used MacBook Pro for Med school and I don't regret anything about it.
If performance was solely based on specs, an FX-6300 should easily beat an i5-6600k. But it doesn't.
Click to expand...
Actually if performance was solely based on specs, a i5-6600k would still blow the FX-6300 out of the water.
 
LuluLovesMe said:
Actually if performance was solely based on specs, a i5-6600k would still blow the FX-6300 out of the water.
Click to expand...
But from what the consumer sees:
FX-6300 has 6 threads at 3.5
i5-6600k has 4 cores at 3.5
Now obviously the i5 kills in real performance, but most people would assume the FX wins based on these specs.
 
kelminak said:
All of this Mac talk is making me cringe so hard. There is literally no upside to Macs. If you have excess cash that you're looking to lose, sure, buy a Mac with garbage components compared to a PC you could get with an equivalent price. Let's do a quick plug-in of what you could get at the same prices:

Cheapest available Macbook (source)
Price: $1299
12-inch display
1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor (0.90 GHz clock speed, 2 core, 4 MB cache, 16 max supported memory) (source)
8GB DDR3 RAM
256GB Storage

ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX) (source)
Price: $1049 (regularly $1299, 19% off)
17.3-inch display
Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.6 GHz (2.6 GHz clock speed, 4 core, 6 MB cache, 32 GB max supported memory) (source)
16GB DDR3 RAM
1 TB Storage

I mean just at a glance you go from looking absolutely terrible hardware to a super-high end gaming PC which is likely well beyond the usage of an average consumer. There is objectively no argument to be made for Macs other than they're "shiny".
Click to expand...

Well, these two laptops are meant for entirely two different purposes with hardware geared toward different use cases. Also, I think it's a little naive to say that there is literally no upside to Macs.

I have both windows computers/laptops and a mac laptop. I've used windows all my life up until a couple years ago when I got a macbook pro that's my daily laptop. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Yea, if purely going on price-per-spec metric then yea, you can get a loaded out Windows laptop generally for less than a similarly equipped Mac.

If you want a large screen gaming laptop then certainly that one you linked to would work fine. If you want a laptop that's easy to tote around with good battery life that would be similar to something like the current Macbooks then you would be looking at say the new HP spectre which starts at around $1,100 or one of the Dell XPS ones.

Moving beyond hardware, Windows and OS X each have their advantages and disadvantages as well. I've really grown to enjoy OS X and in general it has been more stable than any of my prior Windows computers, only caveat being is that I have not used Windows 10 all that much.

I am also involved music, playing in a local band and do a fair bit of multitrack recording with software and hardware interfaces that historically work pretty seamlessly on the Mac OS which has been less stable on previous Windows platforms for me (again, I don't have much experience in this area on Windows 10). My laptop is now close to 2 years old and can easily still mix/record multitrack audio without a hiccup.

So I think both have their place and use cases. Windows certainly has a lot more variety in terms of hardware choices. Just depends on what all you are planning to do with it and which features are more important to you.
 
kelminak said:
All of this Mac talk is making me cringe so hard. There is literally no upside to Macs. If you have excess cash that you're looking to lose, sure, buy a Mac with garbage components compared to a PC you could get with an equivalent price. Let's do a quick plug-in of what you could get at the same prices:

Cheapest available Macbook (source)
Price: $1299
12-inch display
1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor (0.90 GHz clock speed, 2 core, 4 MB cache, 16 max supported memory) (source)
8GB DDR3 RAM
256GB Storage

ASUS ROG G751JT-WH71(WX) (source)
Price: $1049 (regularly $1299, 19% off)
17.3-inch display
Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.6 GHz (2.6 GHz clock speed, 4 core, 6 MB cache, 32 GB max supported memory) (source)
16GB DDR3 RAM
1 TB Storage

I mean just at a glance you go from looking absolutely terrible hardware to a super-high end gaming PC which is likely well beyond the usage of an average consumer. There is objectively no argument to be made for Macs other than they're "shiny".
Click to expand...

To be fair, you can get the mac air for $899 and that's the cheapest.
 
I'm really loving my Surface Pro 4! The stylus is very helpful. It's not the best or the most powerful but it's a great machine that I've had zero issues with and it's very light.
 
If your mac isn't giving you any problems atm. I'd suggest just go from hdd to ssd if you haven't done so. Best investment you can do. If it does crap out then you can reuse that ssd for the new one as well. From the way i see it i can't justify buying a new mac if it works fine still since performance wise you won't see much of a difference in normal tasks Though you will see more of an improvement with hard drive change.
 
cyang55 said:
If you want to get a new computer, I would recommend a PC. Some people at my schools with macs are having more problems than those of us who are using PCs. Especially when it comes to files with specific formats or softwares for testing, videos, etc

A lot of my classmates are using the surface pro 4. it works like a charm
Click to expand...

I hope the surface pro 4 is better than the original. They issued us those at the start of first year and not a single one still works, one literally caught on fire in the lecture hall during second year. They were notorious for crashing and they would get so hot after a couple of hours that you couldn't touch it to use the tablet features for notes. I will say the writing interface and pen are the best I've ever used though.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Coprolaliarrhea said:
I hope the surface pro 4 is better than the original. They issued us those at the start of first year and not a single one still works, one literally caught on fire in the lecture hall during second year. They were notorious for crashing and they would get so hot after a couple of hours that you couldn't touch it to use the tablet features for notes. I will say the writing interface and pen are the best I've ever used though.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
haha wow, sounds like you guys had an exciting year with those original surface pros. I've never used anything other than the 4, so idk how it compares with the previous versions, but the 4 is awesome! 🙂 I'd say 30% of the class is using that instead of a computer. And since we use microsoft's softwares for pretty much everything, it's been syncing pretty well and works great overall!
 
Could you imagine if the writing functionality of the surface was present on the Mac? AHHHHHH<3 🙂
 
Coprolaliarrhea said:
I hope the surface pro 4 is better than the original. They issued us those at the start of first year and not a single one still works, one literally caught on fire in the lecture hall during second year. They were notorious for crashing and they would get so hot after a couple of hours that you couldn't touch it to use the tablet features for notes. I will say the writing interface and pen are the best I've ever used though.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Oh wow lol Mine has never crashed and I've had it since the beginning of the year and has worked splendidly. It doesn't get hot and the fan doesn't even run unless playing games or the like.
 
toutou said:
To be fair, you can get the mac air for $899 and that's the cheapest.
Click to expand...

That doesn't change the point I'm making. No matter how you scale the price, you will find a significantly better PC at the same price. Apple just scams people without technical knowledge of how computers work by dumping massive money into branding. It's really scummy business practice.
 
nlax30 said:
Well, these two laptops are meant for entirely two different purposes with hardware geared toward different use cases. Also, I think it's a little naive to say that there is literally no upside to Macs.

I have both windows computers/laptops and a mac laptop. I've used windows all my life up until a couple years ago when I got a macbook pro that's my daily laptop. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Yea, if purely going on price-per-spec metric then yea, you can get a loaded out Windows laptop generally for less than a similarly equipped Mac.

If you want a large screen gaming laptop then certainly that one you linked to would work fine. If you want a laptop that's easy to tote around with good battery life that would be similar to something like the current Macbooks then you would be looking at say the new HP spectre which starts at around $1,100 or one of the Dell XPS ones.

Moving beyond hardware, Windows and OS X each have their advantages and disadvantages as well. I've really grown to enjoy OS X and in general it has been more stable than any of my prior Windows computers, only caveat being is that I have not used Windows 10 all that much.

I am also involved music, playing in a local band and do a fair bit of multitrack recording with software and hardware interfaces that historically work pretty seamlessly on the Mac OS which has been less stable on previous Windows platforms for me (again, I don't have much experience in this area on Windows 10). My laptop is now close to 2 years old and can easily still mix/record multitrack audio without a hiccup.

So I think both have their place and use cases. Windows certainly has a lot more variety in terms of hardware choices. Just depends on what all you are planning to do with it and which features are more important to you.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's that naive. My overall point was at the price you'd spend on a Mac, you would be getting an ultra-crazy gaming laptop at the same price. If you're needing a computer for casual use (documents, presentations, etc.) you can get a very good one to handle these tasks for a fraction of the price. I'm not sure about the OS advantage. A majority of users I work with claim it's more "user-friendly" but end up coming to me for the most basic of issues they can't figure out. Don't forget the software incompatibilities as many companies are still not making software friendly to both (especially career-specific software).

Windows 10 fixes a ton of things that I absolutely hated with 8. The only thing I dislike is all of the privacy options you have to change so you're not sending data to Microsoft.

If you're using a Mac for Garageband, I can't fault you there. That program is really good for a basic use without overcomplicated software. Other than that, you could save a significant amount of money for a laptop good enough for casual use.
 
kelminak said:
That doesn't change the point I'm making. No matter how you scale the price, you will find a significantly better PC at the same price. Apple just scams people without technical knowledge of how computers work by dumping massive money into branding. It's really scummy business practice.
Click to expand...
Okay we get it, you despise Apple. Some people prefer to pay the extra couple hundred dollars for an Apple device. Most bad experiences people have with laptops are with cheap PC's, so paying extra for a MacBook is worth it to them.

Example: I've personally had some bad experiences with tech support with the different PC brands I have owned. I have nothing but good things to say about tech support from Apple. You are paying the Apple company extra in MacBook prices to offer other things not directly in the components of a MacBook. I have a secondhand 15" 2008 MacBook that is still going strong that has never had problems. It's very rare to find another student with a PC laptop that old. You calling MacBooks scummy doesn't do diligence to people who are looking for advice on what laptop to purchase.
 
Just keep your current laptop and buy an external hard drive, and back it up every night or every few nights. That way you can see for yourself the demands of medical school and what kind of laptop would best suit your specific needs/preferences and if it craps out halfway through the year you can get a new one and still have all your files.
 
CoomassieBlue57 said:
Okay we get it, you despise Apple. Some people prefer to pay the extra couple hundred dollars for an Apple device. Most bad experiences people have with laptops are with cheap PC's, so paying extra for a MacBook is worth it to them.

Example: I've personally had some bad experiences with tech support with the different PC brands I have owned. I have nothing but good things to say about tech support from Apple. You are paying the Apple company extra in MacBook prices to offer other things not directly in the components of a MacBook. I have a secondhand 15" 2008 MacBook that is still going strong that has never had problems. It's very rare to find another student with a PC laptop that old. You calling MacBooks scummy doesn't do diligence to people who are looking for advice on what laptop to purchase.
Click to expand...

Except that they *do* break down and have issues with equal frequency. All of these n=1 scenarios make it sound like they're some wonder-device that never breaks, but I fix them at an equal percentage (relative to percentage of Mac owners vs. Windows users). I equally have users of both that have had their laptops for almost 10 years still going strong. It almost always comes down to how well the owner takes care of the device. If you're willing to pay that much, why not do some research, find a good PC from a brand that has good customer service too. I don't know, I just can't wrap my head around it. There is literally nothing unique to them other than extra $$$ spent.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
LECOM - Laptop
Replies
22
Views
4K
lolomghelp
lolomghelp
L
If the med school tuition includes the laptop fee, should I get a new one?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Chibucks15
Chibucks15
S
Laptop/ tablet combo recommendation for LMU-DCOM
Replies
0
Views
875
smol9877
S
P
What laptop?
Replies
34
Views
4K
brotherbanjo
brotherbanjo
W
Low Undergrad GPA- Any Suggestion Please
Replies
7
Views
2K
Wowendy
W
Top Bottom