Macbook or Surface tablet?

C4C

C4C

Well-Known Member
NO NEED TO RUSH TO AN ANSWER.

THIS IS ABOUT MY GRADUATION/COLLEGE CHOICE FOR JUNE-AUGUST 2015

So prior to be beginning college next year my dad said he wanted me to trade in some old stuff I don't use, he said he'd buy my laptop from me for $350 (goes to my little bro) and then send me on a quest to get a (refurbished) Macbook.

My neighbor however recommends the Surface Pro 3 tablets from Microsoft.

Which one would last better in the long run and/or be better for taking to class and such. Obviously the tablet is portable, but I'm still iffy on the programs it runs.

Once again I'm in no rush. I'll continue research as the time frame comes closer.
 
Unless you get a surface pro, it's not worth it. I'd personally get a MacBook. You can get nice refurbished macbooks directly through apple that include a warranty. They make Microsoft Office for Mac so that wouldn't be an issue.
 
Given that MS is redoing their Surface project, do you think there'll be any major updates by next summer. Given technology progresses quite quickly, so you think it'll be justifiable spending nearly $2000 on a 500GB Surface Pro?

In my opinion I've been a fan of Apple laptops for their longevity (can't say the same for the desktops.. Doh!) and I think that at that point it'll be better to get a refurbished MacBook Pro like this: http://store.apple.com/us/product/F...-22GHz-Quad-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display
 
I am using an early 2011 MacBook pro. If yours is anything like mine it will get you through college. It has just started to slow down and even now still runs as fast as most laptops I have purchased new.
 
The MacBook Pro line gets refreshed in the fall, they just had a recent refresh so it will be almost a year before those get updated again. The Surface Pro 3 gets updated over the summer at some point, but is still relatively new right now.

I purchased a Surface Pro 2 last year, but after a week I returned it and bought a 13" MacBook Pro Retina. The difference was night and day for me, the SP2 was not really a laptop replacement, it promised to replace your tablet and laptop, and while it could do those two things, it was mediocre at best. The type cover was nowhere near as nice to type on as an actual laptop keyboard, and you could not use it on your lap, it had to be on a flat hard surface. The MacBook Pro has been great though, 8+ hours of battery life, excellent specs, thin, light, good looking, etc.

Most of these issues though were fixed with the Surface Pro 3. It got a larger display, much better stand, improved type cover and trackpad, better specs, etc., while the MacBook Pro remained the same minus a slight spec bump. The cons to the MacBook Pro is that while they look and perform nice now, they get slower with each new OS. If you do get a MacBook Pro, it NEEDS to have an SSD. I don't mean it should have one, it needs to have one if you run 10.9 or later, otherwise you will have incredible lag at times such as when logging in, first opening a program, etc. It seems OS X has been designed for SSDs since 10.9, and they are using it as a way to push people over to newer hardware as their older hardware starts to get slow.

Having said all that, it's a much more difficult choice now. As Travis said, you have to get the Surface Pro, otherwise it's basically useless. If you get a MacBook, get the Retina Pro or Air. Personally, I would go with the Surface Pro 3 (or 4 if you wait until the end of summer), I've been thinking about selling my 2013 MacBook Pro and getting a SP3 too.
 
WOW. I'm always impressed by these forums. Lots of information.

This is good, I'll be staying tuned to see what happens with the Surface.. MacBook's can always be purchased as a refurbished product so I'm not worried there..
 
My dad has a Surface Pro 3, and I have to say, its amazing.

Great specs, quick loading times, looks nice.

I disagree with the fact that you can't use it on your lap, its actually quite comfortable

The stylus is great, because you can click it, and it automatically goes to the notes app

Probably really good for college
 
ninjabubbles3 said:
My dad has a Surface Pro 3, and I have to say, its amazing.

Great specs, quick loading times, looks nice.

I disagree with the fact that you can't use it on your lap, its actually quite comfortable

The stylus is great, because you can click it, and it automatically goes to the notes app

Probably really good for college
Click to expand...

How does it work with 3rd party programs such as photoshop?

My other main concern was storage space. On the less expensive 64GB model, only 23GB of space is left for user files. Not the best.

I'll keep researching but I think I'm set on the Macbook Air (maybe pro) for next year.
 
ninjabubbles3 said:
My dad has a Surface Pro 3, and I have to say, its amazing.

Great specs, quick loading times, looks nice.

I disagree with the fact that you can't use it on your lap, its actually quite comfortable

The stylus is great, because you can click it, and it automatically goes to the notes app

Probably really good for college
Click to expand...
My entire post was talking about my experience with the Surface Pro 2, not the 3. I said the 3 fixes most of those issues.
 
WRXGuy1 said:
if you run 10.9 or later, otherwise you will have incredible lag at times such as when logging in, first opening a program, etc. It seems OS X has been designed for SSDs since 10.9, and they are using it as a way to push people over to newer hardware as their older hardware starts to get slow.
Click to expand...

Prime example is my dad's iMac (mid 2009) but he won't listen to be and upgraded to Mavericks when it came out. We experience issues ALL THE TIME. Logging in the desktop morphs and stuff. I had no issues running Mountain Lion lol (even Snow Leopard was nice).
 
Digxt said:
How does it work with 3rd party programs such as photoshop?

My other main concern was storage space. On the less expensive 64GB model, only 23GB of space is left for user files. Not the best.

I'll keep researching but I think I'm set on the Macbook Air (maybe pro) for next year.
Click to expand...

He has the fully specced out version, and it handles stuff like Photoshop and AutoCAD pretty well, not bad for Intel integrated graphics
 
My 2009 Macbook has no issue running Mavericks. Granted I did also throw an SSD in there as soon as I bought it last year.
 
Digxt said:
Prime example is my dad's iMac (mid 2009) but he won't listen to be and upgraded to Mavericks when it came out. We experience issues ALL THE TIME. Logging in the desktop morphs and stuff. I had no issues running Mountain Lion lol (even Snow Leopard was nice).
Click to expand...

voyagerfan99 said:
My 2009 Macbook has no issue running Mavericks. Granted I did also throw an SSD in there as soon as I bought it last year.
Click to expand...
The SSD makes all the difference. I upgraded my work computer and Mavericks and Yosemite are actually usable. Before that, when I logged in it would take a good 30 seconds before I could actually click on anything, otherwise it would just stay at the spinning wheel. Then when trying to open or save something, you click on a folder and it sometimes took 10 seconds to display the contents of that folder.
 
Digxt said:
How does it work with 3rd party programs such as photoshop?

My other main concern was storage space. On the less expensive 64GB model, only 23GB of space is left for user files. Not the best.

I'll keep researching but I think I'm set on the Macbook Air (maybe pro) for next year.
Click to expand...
The Surface Pro 3 is pretty much like any other Windows computer so it should run any Windows software that any other Windows computer will run.

That being said, there are limitations. For instance, the SP3 has integrated video so, just like any other Windows computer with integrated video, it's not the best at gaming.

I am talking about the Surface Pro 3 which runs the full version of Win 8.1 not the Surface 3 which runs Win 8.1 RT.

I personally have an SP3 with the Core i5 cpu, 128GB ssd and 4G of RAM. It has handled everything I have thrown at it. In addition to the 128GB ssd, I have a 128GB microSD card installed which, combined with the built-in storage, gives me enough for my needs.
 
WRXGuy1 said:
The SSD makes all the difference. I upgraded my work computer and Mavericks and Yosemite are actually usable. Before that, when I logged in it would take a good 30 seconds before I could actually click on anything, otherwise it would just stay at the spinning wheel. Then when trying to open or save something, you click on a folder and it sometimes took 10 seconds to display the contents of that folder.
Click to expand...

I put a solid state in mine and it was considerably faster, although it started overheating. In the end I just put back the hard drive. I don't mind the spinning wheel for a few moments. Once the program is opened all seems to go over well.

I see the newer refurbished models have the solid state drives so this shouldn't be an issue for the OP.
 
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voyagerfan99 said:
That's the only version we've been talking about. RT has not even been discussed because we all know it's crap.
Click to expand...
He's just making it clear, some may not realize the difference.

zeppelin04 said:
I put a solid state in mine and it was considerably faster, although it started overheating. In the end I just put back the hard drive. I don't mind the spinning wheel for a few moments. Once the program is opened all seems to go over well.

I see the newer refurbished models have the solid state drives so this shouldn't be an issue for the OP.
Click to expand...
That's strange... SSDs run cooler.
 
WRXGuy1 said:
He's just making it clear, some may not realize the difference.


That's strange... SSDs run cooler.
Click to expand...

I've read some stuff saying that Flash doesn't agree with mac too well and for some reason or another causes overheating. Every solution I found meant to remove features or run the fans on their highest setting continually.
 
zeppelin04 said:
I've read some stuff saying that Flash doesn't agree with mac too well and for some reason or another causes overheating. Every solution I found meant to remove features or run the fans on their highest setting continually.
Click to expand...
I put a Samsung 840 Pro into my '09 MBP with no issues, interesting.
 
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