<p>Although they are more expensive, Macs are very popular on college campuses for many reasons. Apple makes the hardware, many software applications, and the operating system. A single company is responsible for design, manufacturing, sales, service and support. This means you get a very well integrated system. There are Apple stores all over the place these days. If you have a problem, just drop your laptop off at one and they can have it back to you very quickly (in my experience, within a few days). </p>
<p>If you are majoring in a natural science, technical, or social science field, Macs have advantages due to the Unix-like operating system. For art & graphic design, Macs have been a preferred platform for decades. Windows is the preferred platform for business applications and for games, but not so much for academic work … though of course either platform can be serviceable for many uses.</p>