<p>My son will get a new laptop for freshman year. Do people usually get the one recommended by the school that comes customized with that school’s “package” (or whatever the term is)? My husband believes this is the way to go, but son is not so sure. Is it best to get it now or in August? Any guidance appreciated.</p>
<p>I would go with one that met the schools basic specs, and I would be inclined to get one that can be repaired on or near campus. Some schools offer specials that are reasonable. Sorry I can’t help more.</p>
<p>We opted to buy from the school computer store because of the included service plan. If we bought it ourselves, even if we had the same make, model and software installed, their tech support wouldn’t touch it if it wasn’t purchased through the school. It might have a couple of hundred dollars more, but 4 years worth of peace of mind made that seem cheap.</p>
<p>We purchased an Apple Powerbook G4 throught our D’s school last year. If I could do it again, I would not. It may have been just our
personal situation, but it took weeks longer to get than promised, it was a “lemon” (very unusual for a mac, by the way), and made the beginning of her semester stressful when her computer wasn’t working.
Plus she was far away from home and it was difficult for us to help her get the Tech center to resolve quickly. They were overwhelmed with requests from all their new students on campus.</p>
<p>My S just graduated from high school and we will be buying his in the next couple of weeks so he has time to work with it and we have time to resolve any issues before he’s hundreds of miles away with it.</p>
<p>PC magazine has a good guide to buying a laptop (articles are available online.) Take the time to read through their tips. There are many considerations, especially how the laptop will be used.</p>
<p>These responses are helpful. My son will be at a rural school so service issues are important. I had assumed it would be better to get it later in the summer, but hadn’t thought about the possiblity of late delivery or the campus tech center overload in September. </p>
<p>Actually, despite my maternal worrying about everything related to freshman year, I hadn’t thought for a second about computer problems!! I’ll add that to the list…</p>
<p>We’re giving her the laptop as her graduation gift, so the timing works out well. She’ll have the summer to get used to the computer, find any bugs in the system or whatever, before she really needs to.</p>
<p>We got a mac, ibookg4 and a G5, both are great. My mom got one as well, from the mac store, it had a problem, after spending way to much time on the phone with very nice tech people, she took it in and they replaced whatever was not working</p>
<p>My D is traveling to a camp this summer and needs a laptop, we are getting a Dell, as our Mac aint leaving home. SHe can use it at HS when she returns. We got the basics, as our macs have everything we need</p>
<p>Thank goodness she is not a game player…</p>
<p>Now, to figure out the printer situation</p>
<p>I bought a Dell laptop recommended by DS’s college through the school’s website. Although I choked at the cost, I do know it was a good deal since it included a few small upgrades and a great 3 year warantee and 3 year in-home service contract. The only thing I added was theft protection (4 years for $85). It seemed like a small price to pay for peace of mind with a forgetful son living in a dorm. I do believe that theft is the most frequent crime on college campuses. :mad:</p>
<p>Also, I saved about $50 by buying the printer and other accessories directly through Dell’s website. They were offering specials and free shipping not available through the college site.</p>
<p>By getting the computer now DS will have the summer to learn the proper care and feeding of his computer since mom won’t be around to bail him out come September. ;)</p>
<p>I was really surprised by curiouser’s post, as it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of difficulties with a Mac. My own experience has been that they’re wonderful: It’s true that they don’t offer unlimited free tech support, but in 15 years of owning various Macs, including two laptops, we’ve never needed any support at all. (Macs seem far less likely to crash than PCs.)</p>
<p>Unless your son is in a very technical field, the school’s specific package probably isn’t necessary. Often you can get a discount through the school; in my daughter’s case last year, the school simply provided links to sites like Dell and Apple, which offered special prices for college students. Apple shipped the computer to us directly, and it arrived in a couple of days.</p>
<p>There’s probably no reason to wait until August; I had the idea there might be newer models or cheaper prices on old ones by then, but it didn’t happen. And the advantage of buying it now is that your son can be thoroughly familiar with the system by the time classes start in the fall.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about service on a Mac, you can sign up for an extended warranty, which is pricey–but includes fast turnarounds on mail-in service. But the one time we did buy one of these warranties, we never had to use it because the computer worked fine the whole time.</p>
<p>I’d get one now - that way you can make sure it’s working properly - with electronics, if it’s going to crap out, it will crap out quickly. Also, getting it now gives your son time to get used to the keyboard and the mouse pad or stick. I would stay away from Toshiba - my business Toshiba is great but I suspect the quality controls on the business models are much higher. I bought both my daughters Toshibas Satellites - they are junk - they overheat, the fans make too much noise, they are slow, etc. If you have the money, get an IBM Thinkpad - I’ve never heard anyone complain about them. And see if you can get one that dual boots into Windows or Linux. There’s free software called OpenOffice, which can be downloaded off the internet at openoffice.org that does everything that MS Office does - except it’s totally free and interoperates with MS Office. Also, buy the extended warranty that includes dropping it or spilling coffee on it. Costs about $300 for three years but worth it.</p>
<p>Babboo, which Dell did you buy? We can get a Dell discount at college, and were considering this brand. </p>
<p>Anybody own an IBM Thinkpad? Does it have any shortcomings?</p>
<p>everything I’ve read on the CClaptop threads seems to point to the IBM, but they also see more expensive than the other choices…</p>
<p>lkf725,</p>
<p>This was the package recommended by the college. I tried “building” this computer through the regular Dell site and the price was several hundred dollars more.</p>
<p>Latitude D610 </p>
<p>Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2.00GHz) 14.1 XGA, Intel GMA 900
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP2, with media
512MB DDR2 400MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM
60GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11b/g WLAN miniPCI Card
24X CD-RW/DVD Combination Drive
Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case
Promo 3 Yr Limited Warranty plus 3 Yr NBD On-site Service and CompleteCare</p>
<p>helicoptermom,
you’re right that Macs are typically very sound–but my daughter DID get one of those rare lemons. Once she finally was able to get the computer center to completely replace the computer with a new one,
she’s been absolutely thrilled with it. No viruses, never crashes. She’s in love with her Mac. We did purchase the extra warranty with it for the proverbial peace of mind. </p>
<p>I think our major lesson was that IF your student has problems, especially early in the semester, she may not get help as quick as she’d need it since the computer support departments are so overloaded with requests from other students as well as faculty and others. </p>
<p>My son will probably decide on a Mac in spite of his sister’s unusual scenario and I completely support that choice–it’s just that he’ll buy it from a local retailer, and very soon!</p>
<p>Thanks so much Babboo, I will take a look at the Dell D610. I’m not sure what the school wants or my son wants, but it’s a place to start! The onsite service would be a valuable feature.</p>
<p>FWIW, Apple customer service CONSISTENTLY gets much better ratings in Consumer Reports over all of the others. That combined with Apples’ reputation of reliability and resistance to the glitches and viruses that PC’s seem to be very prone to has led me to encourage my son to consider a PowerBook for his college laptop. I realize that, like all other computer hardware, sometimes things go wrong. That is why customer service is important to me.</p>
<p>The laptop will be a HS graduation gift for my son. He will have all summer to get familiar with and work out any bugs on the computer.</p>
<p>There is another thread in the Cafe discussing issues that several have had with Toshiba laptops, which I had previously thought were reliable;</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=65311[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=65311</a></p>
<p>Does anybody know of reliable published reports evaluating laptops? I have checked consumer reports and pc magazine.</p>
<p>lkf725, I have owned nothing but IBM Thinkpads (except for that one complete klunker of a Toshiba that we use as a doorstop now…). They are sleek, reliable, very well made, and my absolute favorites. They are somewhat more expensive, but they are worth every extra penny, IMO. Warranty repairs are fast and easy, if needed: they will send you a box via Airborne the next day and it’ll be back fast the same way.</p>
<p>Please feel free to PM me if you are interested in more info (or are considering buying one).</p>
<p>lfk - Walter Mossberg of the Wall St. Journal reviews all things technical, is relatively even-handed re mac vs. PC, so covers both platforms. Not sure if you have to be an on-line subscriber.
<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,columnists,00.html?page=columnists[/url]”>http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,columnists,00.html?page=columnists</a> Scroll down to his name and then you can search his various columns.</p>