<p>We got D a Macbook Pro which ran about $1500.00 but that’s what her college recommended. We bought it from the computer store on campus ,which had special pricing ,and we got a free printer/copier/scanner with it.</p>
<p>S’s laptop cost close to $2000. I don’t know the specs on it, but I know H was advising him to get a comfortably large screen and higher-end graphics, more memory, faster whatever, and he wouldn’t regret it. </p>
<p>I can understand a CS or engineering major needing more speed & power than others, and the school pays $1500 towards the laptop, so they could afford to be a little more lavish.</p>
<p>It will be great to get that old heat-producing doorstop of a computer out of his room! It really is warmer in there in the winter but in the summer that’s not so good…</p>
<p>Note: these are broad generalizations. You really need to adjust for your particular situation. One can go on forever about this and there will be those that completely disagree with me and will be right.</p>
<p>How will the computer be used?
- Humanities / Sciences : low to mid-range computer should be sufficient. Processor (i2+), Memory (2GB+), disk (250GB+). $1000-ish.
- Arts, Film, Music, etc. : at least mid-range with lots of Processor (i5+), memory (4GB+) disk space (500GB+) and good graphics card. $1500-ish.
- Math / Architecture / Engineering : high-end processor (fast i5 or i7), memory (4GB+), and good graphics card. $2000-ish.</p>
<p>The PC vs. Mac debate
- This is a matter of personal preference.
- If you get a Help! call in the middle of the night, with which are you more comfortable?
- You get more for your $ with a PC (vs. Mac), but you also potentially get more aggravation with viruses, etc.
- Mac is a stable platform with less software aggravation and is better supported now than even a couple of years ago.
- If buying a PC, go with Windows 7 as the operating system. Unfortunately, MS has managed to make that decision as difficult as possible with the many flavors of Windows 7. Personally, I went with Windows 7 Ultimate. You could go with a Linux distribution, but unless your student is already comfortable with it now is probably not the time to try it. I actually use a dual-boot Windows 7 and Linux system and only use Windows when I absolutely have to.</p>
<p>Things to consider
- Check your particular school’s requirements. Be sure to check for departmental specifics.
- Check your school’s deals on computers and software. You may find a great deal on a computer on-line, but be able to buy the software that you need much cheaper through the school.
- Check to see which manufacturers have educational discounts.
- I highly recommend getting a 3+ year warranty with on-site service. It is like insurance. Hopefully, you will never need it and will have wasted the money, but is invaluable if needed.
If your school is an authorized service center for a brand or brands, I’d go with one of them. For example, Princeton services Apple and Dell, so those are the brands that we shopped. - Regardless of the vendor, you will hear success and horror stories.
- For PC’s, the guts are all similar. HP, Lenovo, and Dell are all good makers. We have had good luck with Toshiba. I know people that have had problems with other vendors (Acer and esp. Gateway), but those may be aberrations.
- Once you buy something, don’t look back. You will find a better deal very soon thereafter.
- There’s no hurry now, but do not wait too late to purchase. Give your student time to get used to the new PC and transfer any data from the old one.
- Actually buy the software that you load and have the licenses for it. Do not let a friend-of-a-friend surreptitiously load software on the PC. Not only is it illegal, may invalidate you warranty, but is also a good way to get viruses.
- Make sure you have good virus protection (Norton, McAfee, etc.). Note: Many schools will provide this to you since it is in their best interest to not have virus on their network.
- In addition to virus protection, it is a good idea to have mal-ware protection, e.g. MalwareBytes, and run it periodically.
- Buy an external USB harddisk for back ups (320GB+). Also check to see if your school provides you with space for on-line back ups.
- Buy a thumb drive (2GB+) for ease of sharing files.
- Mobile Broadband is not necessary unless you already have it through you cellular provider. Do not buy a computer through a cellular provider regardless of how good the deal seems… they are trying to lock you into their service.
- Blue-tooth is also not necessary.
- Whatever you buy now will be obsolete by the time 4 years is up.</p>
<p>^^Absolutely spectacular contribution^^</p>
<p>Thanks! (even though S2 receives a laptop as part of his tuition deal).</p>
<p>Wireless capacity for the computer is a must. Many colleges will also recommend the purchase of an ethernet cable, for those spots where the wireless doesn’t work. Less than $20 will get you a decent length 20’ cable that should do the trick. Also get a USB hub, so additional ports can be available. There are all kinds of these. I got one with a short cable, so the wires can be tucked behind the laptop. So, when S needs to go, he can just unplug the hub connection. He’ll have a wireless mouse, so the other on laptop USB port is taken up with the tiny mouse receiver. His MacBook Pro also has firewire for faster connection to his external hard drive. I think the external hard drive (and a thumb drive) are a must. The computer can be replaced, the work stored on it cannot unless it’s backed up elsewhere.</p>
<p>:cool: 
</p>
<p>20’ cable SHOULD the trick, but we did have to buy a 50’ for one dorm set up. Hard to predict til you know which desk is yours. Save your receipts.</p>
<p>Thank you, thank you, thank you Gsharp!!!</p>
<p>another thing to keep in mind: tax free shopping weekends. I know that many states have tax free weekends right before school starts and usually computers up to a particular $ amount are exempt from sales tax. For a high sales tax area like TN (which has a 9.25% sales tax) that adds up! Ours in August 6-8.</p>
<p>GSharp - thank you - terrific post. Not only are you funny, but you offer good advice!</p>
<p>We’re struggling with the issue of what to buy as well. To make matters worse, I have NOT been happy with my last two laptop purchases, despite trying to do a reasonable amount of research. So I’m feeling a bit gunshy and am seriously considering having my D. purchase a Mac instead of a PC. </p>
<p>Dumb question: At school students will be sharing files between students with Macs and PC’s. How compatible are the systems now? Back in the dark ages I had to switch from my beloved Mac to a PC because of problems sharing documents with co-workers. Is it true that this is no longer a problem at all?</p>
<p>we are going with a mac …son already has one but time to upgrade for college. The leopard platform? lets you use pc documents etc. he has had no problem with that at his boarding school. he cant decide whether to get a new laptop or imac this time.
oldest son works for apple so getting input from him too</p>
<p>2girls4me-Go with a Mac…that’s what I’m getting. Honestly, all my friends with Macs at college are happy as clams, and all but 2 PC users are angry and want a Mac. At this point, the systems are VERY compatible. Besides, at most schools a large minority(or even a majority) of kids have Macs, so they have to be compatible with PCs</p>
<p>Make sure your kids have a plan for backing up their work.</p>
<p>S1’s laptop was free and came with a either a three or four year service warranty. He has had it in for service three times since leaving for college. The service plan is a good investment for a student who is going to be hauling a laptop to class, the library, etc. They get pretty beat up.</p>
<p>NOTE: Many colleges have an IT department for computer repairs. Make sure your student has a copy of the service agreement (we scanned a copy and S has it in gmail so he can reprint it as needed.) Even if your kid didn’t buy the computer from the school, the school’s IT folks may be able to repair the computer under warranty/service contract and then charge it back to the manufacturer if they have a copy of the contract. When S showed the IT folks his service contract, they were able to do the work on campus, which saved shipping the computer out, took only a couple of days to repair, and avoided S sitting around a dorm waiting for a service repair guy to show up.</p>
<p>Check with your college, but we were pretty happy with how this all worked out.</p>
<p>GSharp, I join the chorus of praise for your most helpful post. </p>
<p>Backup hygeine is going to become crucial once kids are off at school. Save docs online (Google or other online storage), external hard drive or both. Flash drives sometimes survive the laundry, but not reliably so. (Don’t ask how we know this at our house!)</p>
<p>As long as their productivity software can save in a rtf (rich text file) or pdf, it shouldn’t matter which type of laptop they go with. There is a microsoft office suite for mac (some professors still prefer things to be uploaded in a .doc format) but Google Docs is becoming much more popular, especially since students can collaborate that way, as well as access documents that aren’t stored on their hard drive.</p>
<p>D just got home from having her wisdom teeth out. So far, so good! </p>
<p>As for computers, she’ll be taking her 1 1/2 year-old Dell laptop with her. Her brother started college with an a 1 1/2 year old Toshiba, when it was 3+ years old we let him chose his replacement and he bought an HP Pavillion, he’s happy with it. He managed to get the last edition of Windows XP, D’s computer has Vista and she actually likes it (although none of the rest of us can stand trying to use Word or Excel on her computer). As for me, I’m on a Macbook (the little one, not the pro) I think it’s about 3 years old - I don’t even know - but I like it. There are a few quirks I don’t like about Mac, but overall I think I prefer it to a PC and I’d buy another one. iPhoto is awesome.</p>
<p>I am a relative idiot about computers, I have a pink Dell, because it came in pink. S just got a Mac, he’s wanted one forever. His BS gave them computers to use so he had a dell these last 4 years and also had one in middle school.</p>
<p>Hi, everybody! I’ll never be able to respond to everyone’s posts, but I’ve enjoyed reading all of them!</p>
<p>We bought DS a Lenovo laptop last summer, on the advice of our Computer Guy. He’s been very happy with it and it’s held up well. CG said that HP laptops tend to be a little fragile. An HP repairman was here last year and said that almost all of his calls are related to their laptops. A lot of engineering software is designed for PCs, so that’s why we didn’t get a Mac. I know you’re supposed to be able to make them compatible, but I didn’t want to take a chance on DS’s having problems so far from home.</p>
<p>I loved Three Cups of Tea! I would highly recommend it.</p>
<p>DS’s graduation went off without a hitch. He was late as usual, so I wasn’t able to save seats on the floor the gym. It was a blessing in disguise, because the bleacher seats I got were in the PERFECT location to see him seated on the stage and get great photos! My mom did fine getting up the bleacher steps, whew!</p>
<p>They announced scholarships during the ceremony and he got two!! One for a student with a passion for math and science, and a memorial one for someone who loved cross country running. What a wonderful surprise!</p>
<p>Afterwards, we got great photos of him with family members and teachers. Then I had to change FAST to get ready for Project Graduation. As well-organized as the operation was, it was still chaotic! It’s just hard to get 150 teenagers rounded up to do ANYTHING! We had a great bus trip down Main Street, with a police and fire department escort. INCREDIBLE noise level - several of the kids and I ended up with roaring headaches!</p>
<p>Our first venue was a "river boat"that cruises around a local lake. There were card games, a magician, dancing, and lots of food. DS actually acknowledged my existence and said that the boat was cool!</p>
<p>Then we went to a great YMCA in a neighboring community. Besides the normal Y activities, there was rock climbing, racquetball, mechanical bull riding, human foosball, massages, and lots more food. We were there from midnight to 4:30 am. The kids were dragging by the end, and a little whiny! The chaperones did pretty well, lol. We were giving the kids a hard time for acting like 80-year-olds!</p>
<p>Our final venue was a local restaurant right on the harbor. They put on a great breakfast buffet. We got back to the high school at 6:30 am. I slept from 7:30 am until 1 pm. I still feel as if a truck has run over me! But it was a wonderful night - no trips to the ER or obviously intoxicated kids - we frisked them and went through their bags ahead of time! If they snuck anything in, it was insignificant.</p>
<p>Now I have to get ready for taking him down to Austin on Thursday. Yikes! Lots to do in very little time.</p>
<p>I’m embarrassed to say we have 3 macs and 3 PCs in our house. They range from 4 months to 8 years old. (The macs are for H’s video business.) Wake Forest will issue a PC to Son so he doesn’t even have to take a home computer to school with him. </p>
<p>Good grief. That’s too many computers…but I can’t live without mine anymore. Bills, bank statements, photos, addresses…really I’d be SOL if “my” PC crashed without a recent back-up. :(</p>
<p>(I like PCs best.)</p>
<p>
That sounds so cool!</p>
<p>Mac vs PC debate is one that has gone on for ages. In our house, we are a mac family, going on 15 years now. We started down this road because I travel a great deal for work and did not want to have computer problems at home that I am trying to trouble shoot from Tokyo at 3 in the morning !!!</p>
<p>I have to say that I have only had 3 help me calls over the years - and all were related to printers rather than the mac.</p>
<p>I do use PCs for work - that’s what they issue us. Generally speaking, Dells are my favorite followed by Lenovo (they bought IBM’s PC business). I do have software problems on a regular basis with them but the hardware seems pretty solid. </p>
<p>DD will be getting a mac - and that is what I recommend to all friends who ask. Three reasons why:</p>
<p>1) Generally speaking they just work - and, unless you are a computer science major, the computer is a tool and should never get in the way of getting school work done</p>
<p>2) Apple Stores - if you have a problem - or just want to learn how to do something, the apple store offer great face to face support. No calls to India.</p>
<p>3) Time Machine - as others have indicated above, backing up the computer is key for any college student. Time machine does it painlessly and without any thought on the part of the user. Properly set up, it can save your student a great deal of pain when that file gets lost/overwritten.</p>