@philbegas The OP stated that the student doesn’t need to do heavy lifting AND most importantly said he wants a Mac. “If” he has an Android Phone…he wants a Mac. For a few hundred dollars more he can get a laptop that does everything he wants, weighs 60% less than the monsters you offered (2 lbs for a MacBook vs. 4.8 and 5.1 pounds)…AND…is what he asked for.
If he needed to run more programs or had any idea how to run a virtual machine, he would have given better instructions. When you consider he’ll have the laptop for 3 to 5 years most likely (before his employer gives him a computer)…Give him what he wants. Upgrade the RAM to 16GB and it’s all he’ll need for a reasonable price.
Added benefit…Macs still run better and have less problems. If they’re worried about breakage or needing help…Applecare adds nice piece of mind. It’s the same cost as other insurance, and they provide great service / replacements with any hassle.
A degree from St. Michael’s costs around $250k for an incoming freshman. Unless it’s a budget buster…why not spend a few hundred dollars more and give him what he wants?
So you pay 1000$ ( not a few hundred dollars) more for a computer that’s a couple pounds lighter? Also, for the record, my hp has been more reliable than either of the MacBook my gf had. There’s no factual basis for saying apple is more reliable.
Just because to their kid wants something doesn’t mean they should have it.
I told to my son, you want an apple or a pc, he choose pc, I’m not buy yet.
But normally in the College website, you can be find information about brand discounts and free software, like office.
And this advice is in apple website…
Shop at the Apple Store for Education and save on a new Mac and a new iPad. Education pricing is available to college students, students accepted to college, parents buying for college students, faculty, homeschool teachers, and staff at all grade levels.*
My company (Graphic) utilizes Macs, all varieties and found them to be the most reliable and the best computer for the job. My daughter is on her second computer, the latest is a Air and both were very reliable with very heavy use both for college and photo/graphic manipulation. We had a PC for a home computer but have since switched to the Pro and love it. Yes, it is more expensive but I prefer the operating system and ease of use when dealing with software. I am not a expert and anything that makes my life easier has my vote.
I called the tech geeks that help students with computer problems at my daughter’s school. I figured the people who will be there to fix it…should help pick it out.
They suggested a particular PC. Something about the school apps being written for open source platforms and the Mac adaptations being glichy.
Made sense to me. Anything written for Mac gives Apple a cut of foreseeable profits. Schools would probably choose open source platforms so no one would own their work but themselves.
Who knows, though…maybe your kid’s school’s particular tech department loves Macs and hates PCs?
My best advice? Call the computer geeks at the college for a recommendation. And buy the university geek squad service plan. My kiddo has gotten a ton of use out of it for her laptop and her phone.
Having your school apps running well is important. Bus apps. Laundry scheduling, dining hall menus, class work…etc.
Several of my CCards provide extended warranties. It is worthwhile to check and use such a card to purchase the computer. It saved our family the price of two laptops that died. AmEx Costco had the best extended warranty customer service (no longer in existence).
So far, I’m not impressed with the Claims benefit folks at Chase Sapphire, but it appears they will be paying our submitted claim so I’m not TOO unhappy.
I also have had challenges with Citi.
S has had good experiences with Discover and Wells Fargo, so far.
For a kid attending a liberal arts college and not studying engineering, CS, or architecture, let him get what he wants within your budget constraints. If it were me I’d buy the MacBook without thinking twice (cost $1000-1500).
Two kids in college. The older one has a windows laptop for engineering. She’s had some durability problems (hinge) even though she’s careful with it. The other has a MacBook. No problems yet. Both computers get the job done.
We got my daughter an apple Air, which she used heavily for both essays (at U Cambridge, 2-3x per week) and some statistical work. It was absolutely great, light with all the apple user ease. Just got one for our son, too, who is starting in biology at uni. Never had any maintenance problems.
Younger son (CS major) has a Mac Book Pro. Works for him but any heavy programming projects are done in the utilizing the school computer system.
Older son has an older HP envy which has lasted from Senior year HS to Senior year college. The college campus bookstores usually have good deals on many types of computers so I would look there first.
As someone who not only has used and worked on a variety of notebooks as an IT person in corporate and non-corporate settings, the Apple on average is far more reliable than HP.
Lost count of how many HPs came in with issues due to design defects such as overheating from inadequate cooling solutions, hinges so flimsy they broke even when users babied their HPs, or HP machines which were rendered dead/unusable because the casing was so flimsy it allowed the internal motherboard/logic board to flex to the point the solder joints broke.
Similarly, the same could be said for many of Dell’s low-end-budget line Inspiron and Vostro lines.
And FYI, batteries bulging/almost exploding/actually exploding isn’t limited to Apple computers.
Especially considering batteries are often subcontracted out by Apple and other OEMs to corporations which specialize in manufacturing laptop/electronic batteries.
This was a reason why when there were a rash of exploding/smoking laptop/electronic batteries in the mid-late 00’s, it was an industry-wide phenomenon and the cause was traced to contamination of the lithium-ion cells in Sony’s factories during the manufacturing process.
Son (CS) major chose a laptop with a separate graphics processor (accelerates some AI routines). He eventually got rid of Windows and has installed Linux configured exactly like the school’s system.
The perfect mac for a student is a 13" macbook pro with 16Gb ram and 512Gb of SSD. Buy the lower cost 2.0Ghz model without a touch bar, which is $300 cheaper and has an extra hour or two of battery life. Also buy applecare through the education store. If you pay with an Amex or similar CC, you will get 3yrs+1 from CC = 4 years of warranty, enough to last through undergrad. The screen is sharp and very bright and can even be used in a sunlit classroom, and it only weights a bit over 3 lbs. Total cost is around $2K. If you are in driving distance to one of the tax-free states (NH, Delaware, Oregon, etc) you can pick it up at the apple store there and save a bit.
You can add an inexpensive 4K monitor if for more intensive work. I bought a Samsung 4K 40" TV for $300.
Don’t buy any software, your child can get everything at the University store. Many universities sell educational versions of Parallels (or VMWare Fusion) and Windows 10 OS, which will let your student run both operating systems simultaneously.
You need the extra memory and SSD space for virtual machines.
For notetaking an IPad pro w pen or a MS Surface is a good choice.
@OHMomof2 --like Eyeveee says, MS Office is free. Nothing against Open Office, but I’ve had some glitches from students using that. Since MS is making Office available, might as well take advantage.
@EyeVeee: St. Mikes gave him $110,000 towards his 4 years assuming he keeps his grades up. So yeah, that made his $216,750 price tag go down by 1/2. We told him once you fall below that grade bar, you can kiss the mountains of vermont good bye and go to state u or CC if it comes to that. But he’s a smart kid, so I think he’ll do okay. With regard to that $ they offered. There’s no strings attached, no payback, nothing. Can you hear me fist pumping all the way from Massachusetts? Thanks for your info. I really don’t feel like investigating this backwards and forwards. I will say there’s a ton of good info on this thread though. Especially being able to get free software? I will offer that his school offers us the ability to buy it from them. I could investigate, probably will. But never have I ever found any savings with an offer like that. I will sign up for any discounts Best Buy or Apple offer though.
@TooOld4School, so you think the 13 is enough surface? I did read somewhere the the 13 typepad was a little cramped. And the touch bar? Not really sure what it does. What makes you think it’s not that important.
I don’t have any kids in college yet, but I think the 13" is perfect. Almost a year ago, I bought a 15" MacBook Pro for my photography kid (512 GB, 16 gb ram, $1800, directly from Apple, refurbished 2015 model), but if it weren’t for the photo editing, I’d have bought the 13 for sure. I’m typing on my 13" right now.