What laptop should I get for school work and running advanced programs?

[enorbet]

Good choice and great, methodical way to go about it. The number one enemy of laptops, and frankly a more serious one for those like Apple that prefer aesthetics (compact, thin and light) is heat. Being able to properly clean or even modify for improved cooling improves performance (thermal throttling) and longevity. Even if you don't go that far the psychological aspect of truly owning your tech devices has great benefits. I'm looking forward to your adventure.

 

[_N3WTON_]

Good choice and great, methodical way to go about it. The number one enemy of laptops, and frankly a more serious one for those like Apple that prefer aesthetics (compact, thin and light) is heat. Being able to properly clean or even modify for improved cooling improves performance (thermal throttling) and longevity. Even if you don't go that far the psychological aspect of truly owning your tech devices has great benefits. I'm looking forward to your adventure.

Yeah to be honest I'm pretty excited about taking everything apart and actually gaining a better understanding of how the machine works. After watching some videos of people taking apart/cleaning Macbooks it looks to me like removing the backlight/keyboard is the most difficult (or perhaps tedious) task. Apparently there are a total of 56 screws securing the keyboard, and losing one of them will result in the keyboard having a very noticeable depression :)

 

[vela]

Did you ever take it into the Apple Store to see how much a repair might cost? When the logic board went out on my 4-year-old MBP, Apple charged a flat $300 fee to repair everything wrong with the computer.

 

[_N3WTON_]

Did you ever take it into the Apple Store to see how much a repair might cost? When the logic board went out on my 4-year-old MBP, Apple charged a flat $300 fee to repair everything wrong with the computer.

I never took it to the Apple Store, but I did take it to a store nearby that does work on Mac stuff and their estimate was $650. Possibly it would have been cheaper at the Apple Store, IDK, but I felt like it was a better deal just to get a brand new laptop for $400. I do miss that MBP though,..

 

[mafagafo]

I would use this advanced tool and retrieve the hard disk (supposing you are not an adept of the cloud yet). Not trying to revive the topic, just suggesting something you may want to do to restore (possibly) lost data.