Apple laptop or IPad ?
- Thread starter wacko
- Start date
JensenHealey
pfm Member
I would say for Uni, neither Ipad nor Apple Laptop. Unless the study is Music or other arty stuff. If not then lugging an Apple Laptop around is more about 'showing off' than real usage - unless you really really want to argue that a good Apple Laptop can last a long time, which is not case with current keyboards. And most Unis are far better set up to use and support Microsoft.
I kitted both my youngest daughters out with with low power Asus Zenbooks - just as light/portable as Apple things, less flashy and far far less expensive. First term reports back are that they love them. Older daughter preferred a Yoga style laptop so she could watch Youtube in bed - but it is about to die after 4 years of use - will just about get her to the finish line.
The latest Zenbooks have a 14" screen packed into a frame the same size as the 13" Zenbook I use at home.
I kitted both my youngest daughters out with with low power Asus Zenbooks - just as light/portable as Apple things, less flashy and far far less expensive. First term reports back are that they love them. Older daughter preferred a Yoga style laptop so she could watch Youtube in bed - but it is about to die after 4 years of use - will just about get her to the finish line.
The latest Zenbooks have a 14" screen packed into a frame the same size as the 13" Zenbook I use at home.
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
They never made a “MacBook” with a RISC/PowerPC CPU, the first plastic MacBooks were introduced in 2006 with intel CoreDuo CPUs and can run any 32bit x86 based OS (meaning it can run an up to date Microsoft OS whilst the latest compatible version of OSX is Snow Leopard) plastic MacBooks from 2007 to 2008 use a Core2Duo CPU so are 64bit, they can take any “modern” version of Windows but only support up to Lion, early 2009 models can go up to El Capitan, whilst mid 2009 and 2010 (plastic unibody) models go up to High Sierra and again, any modern version of Windows, these late plastic MacBooks were actually really nice machines and very close internally to their aluminium counterparts.
Now if mjw’s MacBook was actually an iBook, then nope, no windows support, you could get some RISC based Linux distros on them if you knew how but there’s little point in actually doing that.
Hook
Blackbeard's former bo'sun.
Late last year I killed old mid-2011 MacBook Pro by spilling a full cup of coffee on it. I replaced it (swapping in my old memory and SSD) with one in much better shape for $200. It won't run Catalina, but does well with High Sierra (10.13.6). I think it would be a good dorm room system for doing work, but perhaps a little heavy for lugging around to class. For mobile use, a companion iPad could be ideal and, again, really nice used ones are available here for around $2-300. My recommendation is to get both, and add an iPhone (e.g., an 8). All three can communicate, especially when using a free (or inexpensive) Dropbox account, giving your student a lot of flexibility and choice.
Tony L
Administrator
You are right, I was forgetting the name-change from iBook to MacBook. I had a white G4 iBook and liked it a lot. That’s what I was thinking of!
mjw
pfm Member
It was and very much still is a 2009 white polycarbonate MacBook. Now successfully running Mavericks and Ammara 3.0.
The Dell was a piece of crap (to quote Neil Young).
Ali T
pfm Member
My 2017 Pro had to go back twice as it wouldn’t charge and ended up having a new logic board fitted- been flawless since. Having read all the stories about the keyboard, I bought a clear keyboard cover for a couple of quid from eBay, has a couple of sticky strips so has stayed in place since, I forget it’s there and I’ve not had any issues thus far.
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
They’re a nice machine and represented very good VFM when new. It’s also totally capable of running Windows 10 if you ever felt the need. You don’t have to use the bootcamp utility to install windows on a Mac, you can just partition the drive using the disk utility in MacOS and then boot from your chosen installation media, formatting your new partition to NTFS as you would with a regular PC before commencing with the installation. You can then download the driver/utility pack for your machine from Apple, save it to a USB stick and install it on your windows partition. That’s how I got Windows 10 onto my 2008 iMac 24”, which runs it like a champ.
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
I did similar with my 2010 Mac Mini but didn't need to download any drivers from Apple as it just worked. You can also run Linux in a third partition (space willing) and Volumio from a USB stick/external drive.
Cheers,
DV
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
You can indeed, it’s extremely easy to do. I find bootcamp to be a pain in the arse a lot of the time and its limited to which operating systems it’ll allow you to install. This method just works, for any x86/x64 operating system.
To be honest, there wasn’t much I needed to download for my iMac, I think it pretty much worked straight off. The same couldn’t be said about my ASUS laptop that I’d just fitted an SSD following a HDD failure and was reinstalling windows on at the exact same time (I’d done SSD installations on both machines), that was an absolute nightmare to get working properly again... and then the trackpad and keyboard failed a week later.
claire.foxx
-⃝⃤
I have a black 2009 MacBook with a removable ssd that runs kali. It’s been through two motherboards one keyboard and a couple of batteries. Many MagSafe power supplies. Apple stopped supporting it years ago and it has no trade in value for a new MacBook Pro yet it refuses to be unviable as parts for it are cheap.
tuga
Legal Alien
Is that one of those toilet-seat models?
tuga
Legal Alien
Roger Adams
pfm Member
I own a 2014 MacBook Pro along with a 11.5" iPad Pro from last year.
The iPad is hardly used to date. It's a toy. I did not purchase the keyboard cover but I did get the pen. Great for doing squiggles when bored out of my mind.
If your daughter needs something aimed at productivity and flexibility, the laptop wins everyday in my opinion. iOS was never designed to replace the laptop but to augment it. It does that remarkably well. One last point though would be that I am becoming increasingly offended by Apple's pricing. With regards to that, I bit the bullet and moved to a Samsung Android phone last year. I simply refused to pay Apple for a technically inferior product. I decided to try to learn a new OS.
The iPad is hardly used to date. It's a toy. I did not purchase the keyboard cover but I did get the pen. Great for doing squiggles when bored out of my mind.
If your daughter needs something aimed at productivity and flexibility, the laptop wins everyday in my opinion. iOS was never designed to replace the laptop but to augment it. It does that remarkably well. One last point though would be that I am becoming increasingly offended by Apple's pricing. With regards to that, I bit the bullet and moved to a Samsung Android phone last year. I simply refused to pay Apple for a technically inferior product. I decided to try to learn a new OS.
