@cobrat - so, so true. We actually have a policy for faculty and staff where I work that we’ll look at nonsupported PC hardware but may not be able to do anything with it. Our computer store sells HP desktop and Dell laptops - the Dell laptops are about the same price as a comparable Mac. The Dell laptops that our store sells are business grade laptops. Fortunately, most of my faculty do order through the computer store so it’s not been a huge issue. When faced with an off the shelf computer from Best Buy, let’s say I haven’t been impressed!
Wait til you know what and if anything the school requires. Son’s school had some big discounts for Microsoft when he started as a school special.
If any school REQUIRES any particular kind of computer, the school will have to supply it (preconfigured) and then include the cost in the first year’s bill.
That would make buying one on our own kind of redundant.
We’re still waiting on a bunch of decisions, of course, but I don’t think any of them have any strict requirements. I think most have the standard apple “education” discount, which you can also get directly from apple anyway. I know that at least some of them have recommended configurations for specific colleges within the university.
- Of the Macs, my choice for a student would be the Air unless the kid has some special need for more power or a larger screen. Why? It has plenty of ports (2 USB3 and a Thunderbolt) and lasts a really long time. My experience with schools is a) they have a lot of wireless now with dead areas being eliminated, b) they have ethernet in lots of places but kids often prefer not to carry cables and connect and c) they work in places like cafés or lawns where they may not plug in. You need an adaptor to connect an Air to ethernet but otherwise it lasts extremely long and that matches how kids use their computers. I'd get the larger one and I'd spend the extra $100 to double the RAM. I wouldn't worry as much about the storage amount (128 versus 256) because external drives are dirt cheap and so much has shifted to the cloud (and that is easy at school). In this, I'm assuming they have a retina display Air by then. If not, then you should consider the value of that and whether to buy a MacBook Pro with one. I love the concept of the new "MacBook" but I haven't seen one and don't know how I'd like the keyboard with shorter travel or the single port (which means an adaptor of course).
- Some schools used to require Windows computers. I never heard of one requiring Macs. There was a business school which stupidly said they were requiring all new students to have a windows laptop so they could "parachute into" any corporation. Dumb not only as history but if you actually work you need to learn how to overcome non-standard issues, so they'd have been better off issuing random makes and models and having the students figure out how to get them to work together efficiently and how to upgrade rationally.
S1 had Mac Air with the Microsoft Office Suite (seemed to work better for turning in homework) and loved it. His two complaints were lack of an internal disc drive and that it there was a problem he had to travel a great distance to an Apple site.
S2 is an electrical engineering major and was told to avoid a mac because of some programs he would need to run. He got a super light weight, higher processing power Samsung and has been quite pleased with it.
Just don’t forget to sign up for the CSI insurance www.collegestudentinsurance.com to cover loss or coffee spills.
My kids both started college with big heavy laptops but when their laptops broke, they switched to netbooks and extra monitors that they used with a desktop. They fond it much easier and it worked better for them. Their netbooks plus desktop plus extra monitors were cheaper than the original heavy laptops they had and because of the Costco AmEx extended warranty, the refund for the broken laptops paid for all of the new equipment.
I agree that it’s very sweet of you to want to gift your kid a laptop, but I think it’s much more practical to offer to buy them a laptop or similar and let them pick out what they want.
I wonder what the % divide is at a typical college between PC’s and Macs - Macs sure seem to get the nod here on CC as the desired product (which I agree with).
My oldest got a mac for college and had all kinds of problems, both on and off warranty. He bought a windows-based laptop to replace it.
My second kid also bought a windows based laptop which worked great, until he spilled a lot of water on it and didn’t notice! The machine actually worked again, but not the keyboard. He built himself a desktop recently.
We are getting ready to buy one for the youngest. I think the market for laptops/notebooks is so different now than in 2007 when oldest was looking, that I don’t know what he will pick but he doesn’t want a mac. I will let him pick one within our budget. We did look at what the college offered in terms of discount.
My kids and their friends generally much prefer PCs, though have had iPhones and D used a MacBook for one semester. They like that PCs are less proprietal and can use a wider range of software and you can get more for a lower price.
Lots of kids did have access to Macs in HS, so some are initially more comfortable with it, but it depends on what they’re most comfortable with. I think most of the engineers used PCs at S’s U. Art uses more Macs, I believe.
It comes down to personal preference and also cost range, Macs are still very, very expensive compared to a comparable PC laptop. I use both PC’s and and I have a Macbook Air, and I have to tell you the biggest thing I love about the Mac is the OS is bulletproof, and when I get updates for the Mac OS, including major versions, it takes like 20 minutes, on the PC with windows it is constant updates, and when they have major ones I pray the machine will recover, it is that bad. There is a lot more software available for the PC/Windows, and it is usually a lot easier to upgrade PC laptops then Macs (the Air has one major issue, you cannot upgrade its memory, so if you buy one, get the most memory you can) and it is usually cheaper to do so.
One recommendation, if you get a laptop, get one with an SSD (solid state drive) as its primary drive, your kid will thank you. SSD’s boot in no time, and they don’t have the failure rate that hard drives do, and when you for example install new software, the speed is night and day. SSD drives have come way down in price, and it is worth the premium you pay, though it will be cheaper with a PC then with a mac laptop (Apple’s differential for SSD drives and storage size is a lot higher then a laptop).
My son has an Ipad that he uses A LOT. He has a real keybord attachment so that it really is a mini computer and he can type up a paper or whatever on it, send it on a cloud or whatever, and then if anything is needed at a full blown computer he can access the stuff there. He goes to a high school that gives generous access to computer so it’s not big deal. And he also has an older laptop at home as well as the family computer he could use. At most colleges I have seen, access to computers is very good, and they will outright say that a personal computer is not needed.
My son at college doesn’t even want the ipad. He does just fine, he says with his smart phone and even has a full sized keyboard attachment for it as well as a smaller one, as does my one son who is in tech. Of course as BunsenBurner says, sometime the choice of majors or interests might make a computer very useful.
I’m very low tech, but am finding that I am using my new iphone more than ever, and hardly use my ipad these days. If I ever upgrade, I’ll get a bigger iphone. I even read books on it.