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MAC or Windows laptop for MFE students?

Devdeep said:
True! ;)

I like the VPCF2190X CTO. but the VPCF2190X CTO with Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM quad-core processor (2.20GHz), 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M (1GB VRAM) dedicated graphics, 500GB Hard Drive (7200rpm), Blu-ray burner, and Large Capacity Battery is $2040.

The 17" MacBook Pro with almost the same configuration is $2300. So ~ $250 premium (not disturbingly horrid, right?) Plus you do get to work on Unix environment throughout and will not have to deal with Securities etc. for the W7 part... I am missing something?

@alain, If I have the 17" MacBook Pro, do I really need the windows boot?

Thanks!
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I have no idea what you're quoting, but 17" Macbook Pros start at $2500. That translates into roughly a 25% markup for the shiny aluminum over Sony products, which force you to pay for the shiny aluminum too anyhow (compared to a dell the markup would likely be even greater).

You can try to resist, but I'll crush your dreams now. You WILL need windows on your computer. There's really no way around it.

You're going into finance. Learn to love windows and excel now, otherwise you'll be in for a rude awakening later.
 
Alexei Smirnov said:
I have no idea what you're quoting, but 17" Macbook Pros start at $2500.
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I believe you are NOT using the Education Store... that's why you are seeing higher prices... 17" starts at $2299, 15" (which should suffice it looks like) start at $1699, with the 2.2 GHz one starting at $1999.

Alexei Smirnov said:
That translates into roughly a 25% markup for the shiny aluminum over Sony products, which force you to pay for the shiny aluminum too anyhow (compared to a dell the markup would likely be even greater).
Click to expand...

Even with the 17", (250/2040)*100 ~ 12% markup...

With the 2.2 GHz 15", it's actually LESS than the Sony laptop...

Alexei Smirnov said:
You can try to resist, but I'll crush your dreams now. You WILL need windows on your computer. There's really no way around it. You're going into finance. Learn to love windows and excel now, otherwise you'll be in for a rude awakening later.
Click to expand...

Ouch!!! :(

Anyway... Thanks @Alexei Smirnov for the good advice. My point is if I can do with MAC and virtual W7... that would be an ideal solution for me... I was hoping that I could use the Windows machines in the department that Amanda had mentioned to start *loving* windows...
 
StevenY said:
I just ordered a Lenovo laptop (x220t). I haven't taken delivery yet but it is small, versatile and has the latest cpu (sandy bridge i5) and awesome screen (IPS screen with multitouch and digitizer for note-taking). It is Win7 so not for Mac fans.
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Steven, did you receive your Thinkpad?
 
SYau said:
I haven't gotten it yet :( Seems like Lenovo has not shipped any of the x220 tablets yet. I ordered from Costcentral with this configuration. With no tax, it is actually much cheaper than ordering direct from Lenovo, even after a 20 or so percent discount.
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Any progress on the laptop yet? I'm thinking of getting the x220 from CostCentral in time for the C++ refresher.
 
drupollini said:
Any progress on the laptop yet? I'm thinking of getting the x220 from CostCentral in time for the C++ refresher.
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Nope, CC said they might get a shipment next week. They did shipped some of the other best seller models (i7), but the model I ordered was the most popular and Lenovo has been slow in delivering them. I don't think anyone who ordered directly from Lenovo has gotten an i5 tablet version either.
 
SYau said:
Nope, CC said they might get a shipment next week. They did shipped some of the other best seller models (i7), but the model I ordered was the most popular and Lenovo has been slow in delivering them. I don't think anyone who ordered directly from Lenovo has gotten an i5 tablet version either.
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Hey Syau, I was wondering why did you get the tablet instead of the regular x220. Do you think I should get the x220 as well? I am a fellow new MFE student at Baruch as well :)
 
andrewchang said:
Hey Syau, I was wondering why did you get the tablet instead of the regular x220. Do you think I should get the x220 as well? I am a fellow new MFE student at Baruch as well :)
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I am thinking of taking notes in class with the tablet. Not sure how useful that will end up.
 
SYau said:
I am thinking of taking notes in class with the tablet. Not sure how useful that will end up.
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I am unsure if I should buy an X220 tablet or an x220 at this point. The tablet is only a little more so I am a little indecisive.
 
x220t comes with IPS screen, whereas, x220 you would have to add the IPS as an option and the price difference decrease.

Also, tablet is just cooler! :D
 
haha. Thanks for the convincing. I guess I will just get the tablet. I think I am going to get it with an i7 and change the ram and stuff myself.
 
Andy Nguyen said:
How much was this little tablet coming out to? You probably can claim this on your tax as education expense or business expense.
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It is $1274 from CC, no tax/free shipping. It is the i5 configuration, the i7 cost $300 more I think.
 
Current situation: MacBook 13", 120 GB hard drive with ~2GB of space, 2 GB memory
Options: 1. Upgrade memory to 4 GB, ~$200 && (clear out hard drive space (doable), $0 || upgrade hard drive, ~$250 to at least double up to 250 GB)
2. Buy a new laptop

Opinions?
 
You can get a serviceable laptop for $500 (or less), so $200-450 for just memory/hdd seems rather expensive for just upgrades. I bought a 4GB ram upgrade for the lenovo (which I am still waiting for) for only $40, why is the MB ram so expensive?
 
Tom Maloney said:
Current situation: MacBook 13", 120 GB hard drive with ~2GB of space, 2 GB memory
Options: 1. Upgrade memory to 4 GB, ~$200 && (clear out hard drive space (doable), $0 || upgrade hard drive, ~$250 to at least double up to 250 GB)
2. Buy a new laptop

Opinions?
Click to expand...
Buy laptop w/ 17" screen, dedicated video card and 4 GB of memory. Not a mac. (hey, you asked for opinions...)

Probably your best option right now is Dell (if you can deal with a non-1080P resolution)
If you want 1080P, Sony F-series is your only reasonable choice (it's what I have and no competitors have emerged yet...)
 
Andy Nguyen said:
How much was this little tablet coming out to? You probably can claim this on your tax as education expense or business expense.
Click to expand...
Depends on which tax return. Federal, yes. NY-state - no. "educational expenses" in NY state only cover undergraduate expenses :(
 
just to chime in with something pro-mac...

my late 2007 15" mbpro (2.2ghz, upgraded to 4gb) held up amazingly well throughout my program (unlike the brand new windows pcs that a number of my friends burned through during the program). a few of us had macs. by the end of our program, two of my buddies had taken the plunge, while the other few were just about to hop on board.

on the mac right now. it's almost four years old and going strong. need to update the hd (that'll be next weekend's project), but it's otherwise a solid machine. i actually prefer matlab on a mac and fusion allows you to run any windows programs you might have to run.

never understood all the hatred. from a TCO perspective, macs may be, in fact, cheaper. also, some people (i'm one of them) have a preference for the operating system. it has nothing to do with this: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/30/39-apple-products/
 
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