I don’t know how many of you out there know that I’m going back to school in September, well I am. Full-time too! Yup, I’m going to BCIT and taking their 2-year Full-time CST (Computer Systems Technology) program for a diploma. I will then have up to 7 years to complete the last 2 years for a Bachelors. Anyway, I’m fairly excited about it. The funny thing is, it’s the same program I wanted to take when I graduated high-school 13 years ago. Granted my marks weren’t high enough and I never really thought about the path of upgrading them to get into the program. Anywho, better late than never right?
So with this program, being heavily programming based, I wanted to get a notebook/laptop. One that will replace my desktop. One that will be hardy enough not only to compile code quickly, but to also speed up my work-flow for photography. Though if I have time to take photos here and there is a different story all together.
So what have I been looking at computer wise?
Apple’s Macbook Pro
Specifically the Intel Core i5 model. Though I would bump up the memory to 8GB and choose the higher resolution screen with the anti-glare coating. I really dislike the glossy screens laptops seem to have these days. The price for the one I configured is about $1850 (free shipping), which includes the 4GB not the 8GB (where I would buy that elsewhere).
I have ALWAYS loved the design of the Macbooks (Pros too), but they are always more expensive than their PC equivalent, and in this case almost $1000 more expensive.
Dell Studio 15
This one is hard for me not to choose. I even picked out a camera/photography based skin for it too! It’s details are: Intel Core i7, 8GB DDR3, 500GB SATA 7200RPM HDD, ATI Mobile Radeon 5470 1gb, 9-cell battery,15.6″ 1080p capable backlit LED panel, backlit keyboard etc etc. Currently priced out to be $1450 (free shipping) the only thing it lacks is the video card on the low-end side of the scale. Talking to Dell, they cannot put in a different video card for this particular model.
MSI GX740-079US
This is the first time I have ever looked at an MSI notebook, but the specs for this particular model are similar to that of the Dell. It offers the higher end ATI Mobile Radeon HD5870, a larger 17″ screen (capable of 1050p), though only comes with 4GB of memory opposed to the 8GB I would prefer. The price of this little guy is $1500 but with a $100US mail-in rebate (hopefully for which MSI would be good for!), it is quite hard to say no to.
I have even looked a similar spec’d out Asus Notebooks (thanks to the guys over at Futurelooks.com).
My Thoughts
Like I mentioned above, I have ALWAYS wanted and liked myself an Apple notebook, but they have always been just more expensive than their PC equivalents. I’ve had my heart set on the Intel Core i7 processor, though with the Core i5 being comparable to the Core i7, that doesn’t really put the Macbook Pro out of the races. Though the video card on the Macbook Pro is less than both that of the Dell Studio 15 and the MSI, I was hoping to get a slightly higher end card. The Macbook Pro also has the smaller screen out of the bunch I am looking at too.
I was looking for a smaller notebook, but with programming and web development the larger screens are a bit more welcoming. Portability is a bit of a thing for me, but the three notebooks are within a pound of each other, yup the 17″ MSI isn’t that much heavier than the Dell due to the similar battery sizes though it will have slightly larger dimensions. The keypad on the MSI is also a nice touch as I do like using a separate keypad for number entry.
Even at this point now, it’s not a MacOS versus MS Windows issue. I have Windows 7 Ultimate which I can dual boot on the MacOS, and I can even VMWare into Windows if I need to run a windows app. Mac’s have always done multimedia out of the box better than a Windows based PC.
Also being a Student of BCIT, I can get educational pricing on a Macbook Pro, granted only $100 off, but that allows me to get the higher resolution, anti-glare screen.
Though the other two notebooks are $500 LESS than the Macbook Pro. So really, the Macbook Pro to me, is more about style/design if I would to go that route.
Also there isn’t really anything I do on my Windows desktop that a Mac cannot do; Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, World of Warcraft, Web Design/Development. Though one thing that does worry me is the compatibility of running something like MS Visual Studio on a Mac, but then John was mentioning I could dual-boot, and boot into Windows 7 if I found that VMWare was sluggish.
If you’re reading this (I am as I write it) it almost sounds like I’m trying to convince myself to go for the Macbook Pro. Don’t they hold their resale value too?
What advice do you have for me? I understand some of you have already commented on something similar to this on Facebook and such, but I’m willing to hear what other people have to say was well!
Jon JenningsJul 14, 2010 at 14:04:08
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If you go with the Mac, don’t forget you’ll need the AppleCare warranty as well.
17″ will be far too big to cart around transit every day – it’s a desktop replacement.
The resolution is more important than the screen size really – my Asus AS1410 has an 11.6″ screen that’s got the same resolution as the 13″ Macbooks. I cart it around transit very comfortably but appreciate it’s probably too small for many people. But whenever I pickup a 13 or 15″ laptop my first thought is “Ohmygod why the hell would anybody carry this further than across the room”.
LED backlight is a must. Don’t even consider anything else.
You’ll need stacks of memory cos you’ll probably be running Apache, MySQL and multiple browsers simultaneously – if not at the start of the course then at least by the end.
Not sure I’d worry about the speed of the graphics card unless you’re going to play games on it. Even the built-in Intel graphics on the 1410 is adequate for fancy 3D desktop stuff so you’re not going to find yourself held back while programming.
TawcanJul 14, 2010 at 15:05:20
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17″ is way too big to carry around.
Have you look into the option of getting a smaller size laptop for portability and get an external screen when you’re at home? That’s what a good friend of mine does. He’s going through his PhD in ComSci.
I’m assuming you’ll probably do some photo editing stuff on the laptop? How are Dell and MSI’s screens? My MacBook Pro screen is excellent. The colour accuracy is pretty decent.
If you go with Mac you’ll need to get Mac Versions of photo editing software. Not sure if LR license is transferable or not.
Personally I wouldn’t bother with graphic card specs since you probably wouldn’t be running hardcore games on the laptop. You’re not doing any fancy 3D mechanical design either.
Tyler Ingram July 14th, 2010 at 15:58:22[Link]
@Jon – I have a stand-alone Linux server that runs Apache/MySQL for me so I don’t need to worry about that.
@Tawcan – I havent had any issues with Dell monitors. Haven’t read anything bad about MSI’s either. Though both would be the higher 1920×1080 sort of resolution. Robyn has a 15.6″ Dell Inspiron and the screen size is fine for me, I too find that 17″ notebooks are quite large.
When it comes to the Mac, it seems like I would just running Windows more than the MacOS anyway so I might as well just stick with a Windows based notebook.
I’m going to go look at the MSI notebook and the Macbook Pro tomorrow to size them up etc.
Jon JenningsJul 15, 2010 at 00:43:01
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Ha! How often is it you get advice from two different people and most of it says the same thing? Not often!
External monitor is a really good idea.
Don’t kid yourself that you won’t want an xAMP stack on your laptop – because you will. My server runs a full LAMP stack but if I’m away from home and writing code then I want to test my work. I’m sure some of the work you’ll be doing will be desktop apps but I suspect you’ll probably gravitate towards the web-based stuff.
By an interesting coincidence Lifehacker did a thing about college laptops today. Might be something interesting in there for you: http://lifehacker.com/5587074/preparing-for-college-tech-essentials-for-your-first-year
(although you’ll laugh at their suggestion that a decent resolution is “at least 1280×720″ – I’d call that an absolute minimum)
DavidOct 04, 2010 at 08:03:05
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Nice article!
Reading through these tips also helped me much to buy my first laptop: http://www.howtobuythings.com/computer