<p>Thanks, ekity4. Macbook Pro: “Buy only if you need it - Approaching the end of a cycle”</p>
<p>Going to make another cup of joe.</p>
<p>If kids don’t use laptops in the classroom, then I think the whole tablet pc thing is not a good idea.</p>
<p>D used her laptop to take notes in an art history class this semester. The professor put up the images he would discuss on his web site, and the students could create a file ahead of time and copy each image into it, then take notes under each picture as that artwork was being discussed in the lecture. </p>
<p>When we were visiting the college for family days in D’s freshman year, we sat in on an English class and saw a few students taking notes on laptops. But in a seminar setting with only 15 students around the table, the laptop seemed like a distraction.</p>
<p>To the OP: 13 inches is fine. I’m using a Dell 14 in. I would suggest sticking to a laptop/PC. Macs are WAY over priced, unless you willing to shell out over 1000$. If your D wants to take it to class then i would stick to the smaller size.</p>
<p>If you buy a Mac during the summer, you get an ipod with it, usually up to $229 or so, meaning the cheaper ipod touch. Plus of course a printer, but you should expect some sort of printer bundle / rebate thing.</p>
<p>We have one kiddo with an Apple and one with Dell. Both love their computers. </p>
<p>The Dell was bought through the Dell Outlet. We chose the Latitude because DH felt it was a better choice than the Inspiron model. DD has had it for four years and it’s great (hoping not to put a hex on it…). When DH found it on the outlet site, it came with the 3 year, in home extended warranty. Total cost in 2006 was $900…no kidding…The outlet has reconditioned, returns, and computers that were ordered but the orders were never used. DD’s was from a shipment of computers that had been ordered and not used. You do have to be patient and frequent the site to look for the “deals”. DH looked every day…several times a day for a couple of months before he landed this one…which also came with a case. Honestly it was a great deal. We did have to replace the battery after two years (just off warranty of course for the battery) but DH got an “after market” one that works just fine.</p>
<p>The Apple is not approaching four years old. DS loves it, but is thinking it’s almost time to upgrade. He uses Apple only and also has an Iphone. His computer is used for business and all of his colleagues have Apple as well. It’s more expensive, but it is worth it to him. </p>
<p>I have had both Apple and PC…and to be honest, I prefer the Apple products. I’m hoping that when the computer I’m typing on now goes belly up…an Apple will appear in its place, but I suppose I’ll survive with a PC.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a “perfect” laptop. So much personal preference involved. </p>
<p>In any event…check the system requirements for your kid’s school and make sure you match them…or exceed them.</p>
<p>My S takse his Netbook to class regularly–it was a replacement for his notebook & he also bought a desktop computer as well. He is pretty satisfied with the combo & finds it works for him as well or better than the notebook alone he used to have & was cheaper to get the two.</p>
<p>Again, I personally love buying at Costco and especially with my AmEx card for maximum free tech support & maximum warranty protection. We’ve used both quite a bit with the computers we’ve purchased.</p>
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<p>This was the computer we bought our freshman over the summer, after extensive research. He loves it. Our older college student felt that light weight, long battery life, and good speakers were important and this delivers on those factors. It also has some cool features he enjoys such as a backlit keyboard and face recognition security. We bought the external DVD drive and the laptop came with free upgrade to Windows 7 at the time of purchase. We specifically waited for that before buying. We have the Windows 7 CD and will make that change after Christmas. (He isn’t in any hurry to make the change because Vista is working fine.) </p>
<p>Both H and S1 have been given PC laptops by their companies that they use for everything (work and home). I’m sure a MAC would be fine as well but I don’t think I would want to go back and forth. Any change takes some time to get used to. I’m still struggling with the Microsoft Office 2007 changes–absolutely hate it compared to 2003.</p>
<p>I have an HP laptop at work, Like the actual machine, but HATE vista, and have always found PC’s to be troublesome. Too many viruses and glitches. I have had this laptop for about 9 months and about a month ago one of windows automatic updates ate the machine. I had to restore it all the way back to factory settings. Luckily I have learned my lesson and I back up everything on my computer religiously. </p>
<p>At home I have a mac G4 laptop. It is about eight years old and other then changing the battery and it running a little slower then a new machine I have never had a problem with it. H and both sons will only use Macs, they all are Powerbook users. </p>
<p>A word about meeting school requirements. Son 1 is in architecture and in checking out what his school wanted for tech requirements he was upset to discover that the website listed only PC’s as meeting the requirement, even indicating that a PC was required. He went to talk to the Dean of the Architecture School about the possiblity of using a Mac. the Dean said, “I don’t know why our website would suggest a PC. We all use Macs” Son bought the Mac and has never had any problems. So before taking the word of the schools website, you might check with your daughter’s program if she intends to major in something that would have special requirements.</p>
<p>He went to talk to the Dean of the Architecture School about the possiblity of using a Mac. the Dean said, “I don’t know why our website would suggest a PC. We all use Macs”</p>
<p>funny.
My D’s roommate- is in gradschool ( biochem) and recently gave his old macbook pro to his dad who has always had PCs.
Everyone in his family has been trying to get dad to make the switch so they can have iphones- he didn’t see the point.
After using the Macbook, he was like " ohoh, I see now" and they all got iphones
;)</p>
<p>Similar story: I have a good friend who hated everything Apple. She worked at a company that made parts for PCs, and refused to buy any Apple product on principle – she’d buy her kids MP3 players that weren’t Apple and they’d throw them in a drawer and use their allowance to buy iPods. </p>
<p>We were at her house recently and she took out her laptop and it was a Macbook pro. I was speechless. She recently switched jobs and her new company only uses Apples. She loves her new laptop. She totally gets it now.</p>
<p>DD is on her third MacBook – her first one was a PowerBook that she got in 5th grade. They are excellent machines. The first one died; the second one still works but she was upgraded as a graduation gift.</p>
<p>fireandrain - that reminds of a friend who worked for IBM and they weren’t allowed to drive Japanese cars. It was okay to have a Volvo so they had that. As soon as he switched jobs, he bought a Toyota - he was thrilled. </p>
<p>The Mac hatred is funny to me. I have a PC; D has a Mac. They are in the same room and they don’t fight or seem to hate each other. I always get a chuckle when I hear or read others go on an on about how overpriced a Mac is and how they got this and that for less and how silly people are for buying Macs. I have a friend who is a Mac hater and he protests so much, I have to think there is a little Mac envy there.</p>
<p>If they fly to college, anything over 13" is too big if they hope to ever use their laptops on the plane. </p>
<p>Stick with 13" and below.</p>
<p>Definitely recommend the macbooks. Nice size and great functionality. Apple customer service is top rated too.</p>
<p>RE: the forgotten chargers-they’re backwards compatible. You can plug in your macbook pro using ANY macbook pro charger and you can plug in your macbook using ANY macbook pro or macbook charger. Doesn’t have to be the one that came with your computer or one from the same iteration of macbook/macbook pro. Comes in handy in cases of plug shortage.</p>
<p>When my 15" macbook pro goes belly up, I’m “downgrading” (more like downSIZING and upgrading) to a 13" macbook pro with one of those cool solid state drives. I fly to school a lot and I expect the flights to get longer if my parents move out of the country when I start law school and my sister starts college.</p>
<p>Compatibility issues are largely a thing of the past.</p>
<p>My main point about a Mac, other than durability and freedom from viruses and spyware, is that you can run any OS on it. You can run Linux. You can run Windows. You can start up in Windows or you can run Windows under VMWare or Parallels, both of which allow file sharing and other goodies. In other words, you can have a Mac and a PC and a Linux machine for the price of the Mac plus the cost of a copy of Windows.</p>
<p>i’m typing this on a dell, and it’s definitely works for me - 9 hour battery life, even while running dual computers off of it (computer engineering major 
). The reason I went with dell is because i could get a four year all inclusive warranty (if i spill coffee on my comp, they replace it w.in 2 weeks, etc). But i also maxed out every internal capacity that it had, so it ended up costing around 2K. worth it? yes:) but because I’m doing a ton of CS classes for my major, a lot of the programs don’t run exactly right on a MAC. depends what you need to do!</p>
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<p>My son is a junior and also a CS major. His first two computing courses required him to do his assignments on Unix so I got him a MacBook Pro with Windows XP in Boot Camp. Some of his courses have been on Windows and some on Unix but there have been more in Unix than on Windows. Most of his professors use MacBook Pros too - maybe they have a special deal with Apple.</p>
<p>Do you have an example of a program that doesn’t run on a Mac?</p>
<p>I bought a Macbook Pro for my daughter. I think it won because I could go out to the store and bring it home. </p>
<p>I got a cheaper one, but I can supposedly upgrade the RAM from 2G to 3 or 4G online for about $150 (haven’t checked, but that is what I heard). I have little knowledge, of course, why that is important, but in my exhaustive search it became a feature I wanted. I think it means my DD can run more than one program at a time and the computer will not be sluggish. But do I really need to upgrade, or is 2G enough for a typical student’s activity?</p>
<p>Also, do any of you have that Lojack thing for your kids’ laptops? Advantages?</p>
<p>Both of my kids have MPBs and 2 GB has been fine for them. I upgraded mine to 4 GB but it didn’t make a difference in performance. It might help some applications like video editing. There are instructional videos on upgrading RAM on YouTube. I just followed the directions in one of the videos - it was pretty easy. I think that my RAM upgrade was around $100 but I’ve heard that component prices have been going up due to shortages.</p>
<p>BCEagle, there are plenty of scientific instrument makers who offer only Windows-based programs for running their instruments. These are very specific programs dedicated to control a particular instrument (HPLC, plate reader, etc.). Most people who buy such instruments get a dedicated PC that is “attached” to the instrument and is not used for much else. It would be too expensive to buy a Mac running Windows and try to control the instrument from that.</p>
<p>I did not buy a Garmin Forerunner 305 for my runner DD for Christmas because the software that comes with it is PC-only according to Amazon. She has a Mac. My other kiddo used PCs and does a lot of graphics design. I keep asking her whether she wants a Mac because they are supposed to be very graphics-design friendly, and she keeps telling me that her Adobe suite works just fine on her PC.</p>