Should I buy a Mac or a PC?

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Tanis

If you're going to dual boot, I would go with a windows machine. If you buy a mac, then add on a windows OS, you stuck with one of mac users' biggest downfalls- a total inability to upgrade your hardware.

I suppose the expansion slots on the Mac Pro don't count. I suppose the fact that we're discussing laptops is also moot--Mac or PC, hardly anybody does upgrades to a laptop beyond perhaps RAM or a hard drive. Also note that Apple's EULA for Mac OS X only allows it to run on Apple-branded hardware.

Additionally, you can find the same mac specs on a PC for buttloads cheaper. The only advantage to buying mac in this case would be that you get the sleeker design.

Wanna bet? A Dell Latitude E6500 with education discounts actually costs MORE than a 15" MacBook Pro with similar equipment and discounts ($1633.08 vs. $1599). The price gap has closed for most scenarios short of "What's the cheapest computer a manufacturer makes?"

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Billfred

The price gap has closed for most scenarios short of "What's the cheapest computer a manufacturer makes?"

I guess if you want a $300 mac netbook, you get an iphone? too bad it involves paying ATT every month....

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by squirrel

I guess if you want a $300 mac netbook, you get an iphone? too bad it involves paying ATT every month....

Or a Dell Mini 9

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Or a Dell Mini 9

I can personally vouch for the Mini 9, though I also like the Eee PC 901 and 1000. If you just need a way to go online and do some typing these are awesome machines.

[MrForbes]

We have an Acer Aspire One, the older version with a 120g hard drive. The newer one with the 160g drive is only $300 at walmart, and looks like they fixed the unusable (for me) touchpad problem.

Best thing is it comes with XP

[Molten]

Something New
How about instead of throwing out individual setups and arguing points that can be found anywhere on the net, why not give some college experience?

For instance, a fourth of my campus is run on mac. At any given time 90% of these are unused. I won't judge why, I'm just making the point that the computers the school has, does not say what computers the school uses.

A second note, some schools give out software for free. If you'd like to see the software available for free(at my school) please go to http://iuware.iu.edu/

Your school may do something similar, and the software they provide might have an impact on your decision.

Lastly, you do not need a computer for the first day of college. I didn't have one my first year, and did not need one. Freshmen courses are generally low tech and pretty laid back so you have time to use a computer lab for the few instances it is needed. If you haven't decided for sure, wait. This advice may be bad, if you go to a school such as Rose Hulman where all the students are expected to have a laptop. I am just stating from mine.

If there are any other college students out there, please continue my line of thought with your experiences(both agree and disagree with mine). As a previous searcher of advice(can't find my old laptop thread), this type of advice just seems more easy to process.(not to mention a bit less biased)

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Molten

A second note, some schools give out software for free. If you'd like to see the software available for free(at my school) please go to http://iuware.iu.edu/

Lastly, you do not need a computer for the first day of college. I didn't have one my first year, and did not need one. Freshmen courses are generally low tech and pretty laid back so you have time to use a computer lab for the few instances it is needed. If you haven't decided for sure, wait. This advice may be bad, if you go to a school such as Rose Hulman where all the students are expected to have a laptop. I am just stating from mine.

If there are any other college students out there, please continue my line of thought with your experiences(both agree and disagree with mine). As a previous searcher of advice(can't find my old laptop thread), this type of advice just seems more easy to process.(not to mention a bit less biased)

OK! I'm in colllege too! My comments still stand, but to add on what you said....

My college has a free software site with XP, Vista, Vista 64bit, and OSX software, for free, for download. Including OS's, Word, AutoCad, etc. http://software.udayton.edu (pw protected, just want to link it)

I can upgrade my MacBook Pro easier than any PC laptop. RAM, HD, battery (yes I have the new one) can be replaced. The idea Macs are hard to service are from the late 90's early 2000's. The origional 96 iMac you had to remove the logic board to replace both sticks of RAM.

You need a laptop freshman year, and I started freshman year 4 years ago this fall. I wrote, and turned in papers, online, did research, and did model building and created and presented presentations. Yes, you can do this in a lab, but neary ALL of our labs have been removed and replaced with laptop stations (monitors w/ keyboards and mice with an ethernet hook up) or turned into more classrooms.

Finally, Macs are just as good of a value, if not more so than a PC. Notice how I didn't say cheap? They don't participate in the thick, plastic-y, low end laptops. And when you upgrade the higher end Dell, HP, or Lenovo machines to match the Mac's specs and battery life you match or exceed the price of the Mac.

Plus, if you buy a new Mac with eduational discount (between $50-$200 depending on the machine) you get a free iPod touch with the purchase. Which adds another $229 to the value of the machine. So when I got my 13" MBP I got $329 in rebates.

Oh, and to shut up anyone who will bring up the SATA 1.5Gb transfer...

http://support.apple.com/downloads/M...re_Update_1_7_

BOOM. Roasted.