13inch VS 15inch For College

Ok guys so I am going to college soon and I dont know what Mac I should get... This is going to be my first mac. This is my preference:
Macbook Pro 13inch: 2280$ after tax and student discount
dual core i7
512GB hard drive
16GB RAM
Macbook Pro 15inch: 2350$ after tax and student discount
quad core i7
512GB hard drive
8GB RAM
I am going to the Mechanical Engg stream, so I am going to be using AUTOCAD 2D and Creo software. I will also be playing Counter Strike 1.6 and some other Steam games. Is 8GB RAM enough or should I go with 16 GB? I heard about lagging issues with the Mac so I am edging towards the 15 inch quads... What are your thought?

gunzzcannon wrote:
Well from what I read, after using the laptop for sometime it gets really hot and starts to lag... I have noticed reading this only with Air's and 13inch Pros.
"from what I read" is not a valid source, please back up your claim. Please provide links to such.
Also, I have run my Macbook pro to the max and got it very hot, there is no lag... The only time it performed sluggishly is when I accidentally filled up the main SSD drive.
Neither SSD nor 16GB of RAM is overkill, its better to have too much than not enough.
AutoCAD loves RAM, so do Steam games, and Virtual Machines.
The doubled read/write speed means your mac will boot/shutdown faster and install/load programs faster.
Whether or not you need 256/512GB of storage is up to you, I recommend 256 if you're wanting to save on money.

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Have you played on both? Which do you like better?
As others have said, the question really comes down to screen size (while away from that external monitor) and battery life. If you don't mind the smaller screen, and you can do with 5 hours (relatively speaking) compared to 7 hours battery (relatively spreaking) then don't be afraid to go with the 11". Not only is it incredibly light--which means less weighing you down as you haul that bookbag from class to class, not only is it incredibly small--which means it can fit on very small desktops in class rooms, and give you more room on a tabletop for your books and papers--but it that lightness/slimness also translates to being able to slip it in and out of bags faster; you save time packing and unpacking, and have more room in the bag for other things.
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web surfing, itunes and doing homework.
For doing that and being mobile a lot at school, I would go with the 13", or you may even consider a MacBook Air lighter weight.
They all heat up depending upon what you are doing, but just surfing (except watching video) and doing your homework (word processing), any of them should run quite cool.
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For college/grad school should i get ipad 3 or mac book air?

for college/grad school should i get ipad 3 or mac book air?

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IMac iPad MacBook Pro for college?

As title says do you think an iMac in combination with a iPad I already be a good combination for college? I will be an IT major. Or do you think that a MacBook Pro trumps the combination?

I'd like to add to what bold_seagull and Michael Duquette1 said. I purchased a refurbished iMac 21.5 and was delivered just a few days ago. I can't find a single scratch on it and it works perfectly. Would definitely recommend you consider a refurbished Mac from the online Apple store and alongside purchasing AppleCare, you'll not be paying much more than for a new Mac without the extended AppleCare.
If you're allowed to take your laptop into the class (believe it or not, the department head of the IT dept. last year banned the use of laptops in the class room, until recently where we're allowed to use laptops in the class room now), then I'd recommend you opt for a MacBook Pro. They're pretty powerful and can do most demanding tasks. If you're looking for portability, get a 13" MacBook Pro. I've never owned nor do I know how heavy the 15" MacBook Pros are, but if you're looking for more screen space while having portability nonetheless, then opt for a 15" MacBook Pro (though the 15" MacBook Pros are obviously a bit expensive; but there probably are 15" models available to buy on the Refurbished Macs section of the Apple website often).
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I was wondering if a Mac or pc would be a better investment for college. I will be having a few online classes that require working with windows but I know macs can run windows now. Also if you have windows on the Mac do you still need to get Microsoft office for word etc? What's the better choice?

In all honesty... I am a windows fan.
When you are going through college you will be interacting with quite a bit of different software throughout your years which will usually NOT be useable on a mac.
MACs are restricted on the software they support, but that is also a main reason they are "more reliable". But it will also limit your knowledge of a computer in my opinion.
You can still run windows within the MAC through other software you have to purchase, such as boot camp. You will also need to purchase a fresh copy of windows as well, which really just ADDS to the cost of the already overpriced MAC machines.
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A windows based PC can do everything a MAC can... and more, but because of that there may be a few future head aches such as software problems.
Window based PCs are extremely flexible and changeable and thats why you hear a lot of problems and people complain because they change things without even realizing it and it sometimes does not like what you changed as it conflicts with another setting/change.
MACs are bit restricted and thats why you do not hear about the problems nearly as much.
Summary: Grab a Windows based computer for college. You are there to learn, might as well learn a bit about a compute aswell. They are everywhere.
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13inch VS 15inch For College

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