<p>I have a 15" MBP that I bought the summer right before MIT - it’s approaching it’s 4th birthday now and it is getting to the point where I will get another laptop this summer, but I’m very happy with its performance over the last 4 years. (still functional, but it does have issues like the keyboard and trackpad don’t work anymore)</p>
<p>I understand why a lot of the computer people hate Macs (because it’s for “computer idiots who have too much money to burn”), but this computer has been excellent, and has been with me to several dozen different cities without ever giving me significant issues on the road. Apple has great customer service, so get the AppleCare warranty when you buy the computer - it’s worth its money several times over. Basically, Apple’s customer service philosophy is that if something is broken and you’re covered by AppleCare, they don’t try to fix the problem - they just give you a new part. I’ve gotten $1400 worth of new parts through AppleCare (the logic board on this computer needed to be replaced 1.5 years ago - that part alone cost almost $1000). I couldn’t fix the keyboard and trackpad issue because AppleCare expired right before these problems happened : ( (AppleCare is for 3 years).</p>
<p>Also, if you wait a month or so for the Macbook+iPod promotion to start, you get a free iPod touch with your Macbook, which helps offset some of the cost if you think Macs are too expensive.</p>
<p>I don’t do coding or anything, but I do use a lot of Photoshop and a decent amount iMovie - this computer is fantastic for media-related stuff. I don’t play games though, so it’s not really a problem that games don’t exist for Mac OS - you can also just dual-boot Windows using BootCamp if you really need Windows for something, though.</p>
<p>(I don’t know the broad breakdown of computer choices across campus, but I suspect it differs significantly by living group and choice of major - for example, 80% of the people in my living group (of 22) have Macs, but I’m quite sure this is not the norm, hahaha (we also don’t have any course 6 majors =p))</p>