My daughter is using an older laptop with multiple hardware issues so it is time to upgrade. I am considering either the macbookair with 512gb ssd for 1600 or the newest iPad 128gb for 800 plus a zagg keyboard for 130.

My concerns about the iPad would be word processing and also music storage. Has anyone gone down this road and can give me some advice?

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

I just had to load a CD-ROM full of Instruction, videos, animations given to my daughter from her AP-Bio teacher onto my daughters MBA.

An iPad would not have been able to do that. This is just one example, but while you *can* create content on an iPad, a full laptop is much more flexible.

I'd skip the 512gb SSD and just get 256gb. Also get an external 1 TB for backups.

Thats a ton of music? How much? 128 vs 512 is huge?

We need more info? does she really need 512 GB? Would the new MBP make more sense?

How about putting all that music on a SD card? 64 GB for $35: [www.amazon.com]

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

This will be the machine for high school and college (Ins' Allah). Pick accordingly.

Or, IMHO, MBA or MBP. Mine all ended up with MB's.

Get her an 11inch 2013 (Haswell) Air refurb.

I think for a school-age student, an actual computer is a must. I can envision instances when an iPad won't work for what she needs to do.

I think the 11inch (vs 13inch) is a great size for a student. If she/you were considering an iPad (which is 9.7inches), then 11inch should be just fine.

I recommend the Haswell b/c battery life is killer. She will really appreciate not having to be tethered to a power cord, possibly going a full day without needing to charge up.

I'm on the fence regarding 4GB RAM vs. 8GB RAM. Mavericks has much better memory management than previous OS X versions. Couple the improved memory management with the PCI-based SSDs in the Haswell Airs and I doubt she'll be getting many pageouts, even with 4GB RAM. Of course, more is always better, so if you want to future proof, then go with 8GB.

For the SSD capacity, I would either go with 256GB or 512GB. Don't even consider 128GB. Not just b/c it's a smaller capacity of course, but also b/c it doesn't test as fast as the 256GB and 512GB versions (there's a technical reason for this that I don't remember but suffice it to say that she won't get read/write speeds in the 700s with the 128GB SSD).

If the main reason for the increased storage capacity is music, remember that she could alternatively subscribe to iTunes Match and get all her music loaded into Apple's cloud and then stream down to her laptop/device. I think the same idea would apply to photos.

However, if she has a lot of video/movies or works with that medium, then I would go for the 512GB (if money is no object).

The Haswell Airs get snatched up fairly quickly in the refurb store, especially any that have 8GB RAM and the 13inch versions, so set up alerts at [www.refurb.me] to get first dibs.

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My music blog: [www.auditorymusings.net]


The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Wow, that's a well thought out post, pinkoos.

Nice work.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Thanks for all the posts. Sounds like a laptop is the way to go. I had hoped to save a little money by going the iPad route and I'd also like to minimize maintenance but the laptop will have to do.

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

I see a lot of Harvard kids at WHRB, and all are toting laptops, not tablets, and almost all of them are Macs (mostly MBPs).

/Mr Lynn

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"Hillbilly at Harvard"
Honky-tonk Country and Bluegrass
Founded in 1948 by Pappy Ben Minnich
Saturdays 9am - 11am Eastern
WHRB-FM, Cambridge, MA
Streaming at [www.WHRB.org]
Be there!
The HAH weblog: [hillbillyatharvard.wordpress.com]

Topical weblog: [walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com]

On the river in Saxonville.

I had hoped to save a little money by going the iPad route and I'd also like to minimize maintenance but the laptop will have to do.

I think the iPad has a great deal of functionality in a school environment, but the school has to support the platform. A laptop is more autonomous, and at some point a file system becomes mandatory.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I think college is a mixed environment, with a laptop required and an iPad becoming a replacement for textbooks.

I spent $500 last semester for my son's hard copy books. At some point, those will cost $100 - making an iPad a no-brainer investment.

Refurb store has stock of the 11" i7/8GB/512GB for $1489 + tax:

[store.apple.com]

13" for $1569 + tax:

[store.apple.com]

Quote
pinkoos
I think for a school-age student, an actual computer is a must.

A thousand times THIS!

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It is what it is.