<p>My son will be a freshman this fall. He plans to study business. We have been a MAC family for many years. We use MAC’s mainly for their reliability. Since switching to Apple, I have never seen a blue screen. I should also mention that he already has an I-Phone-5. </p>
<p>My bias is to purchase a MAC laptop for his college years. Linking between his phone and laptop would be a plus. However, the business school website only mentions Dell laptops in its recommendations. </p>
<p>Is there any advantage, as a business student, to use a PC laptop? In other words, is there a downside to equipping him with a MAC?</p>
<p>Imo, for business, the power of a Mac isn’t necessary but as far as reliability a Mac can’t be beat. We are an Apple family, IPads, Mac books, IPhone 5’s and have a PC as well. My DS1 has a 6 yr old MacBook that he has never had any issues with or more importantly any viruses. A Mac can run windows so there isn’t any issue there. The major difference is cost. Mac are 3,4x more than even the best PC’s. We are getting our Bama bound DS a new MacBook soon to take with him to school since he has a desktop and not a laptop.</p>
<p>My D is a senior management major and has used a Mac the entire time with no problem!</p>
<p>My son is a senior marketing major and has used the Dell laptop given to him by UA as a freshman (part of their NMF scholarship package at the time) with no problems.</p>
<p>I would send him with whatever he is most comfortable with. My D is in the business school and said that almost everyone she knows uses a mac.</p>
<p>If you buy a Mac, don’t forget there is a $100 gift card offer going on if you buy from a school store (on top of the educational pricing)</p>
<p>Thank you for all the answers. For us, the MAC is the way to go.</p>
<p>OP, remember that with a Mac you can still run Windows-only programs by using Boot Camp or Fusion or Parallels. I’ve used Fusion for years to run my Bernina embroidery software as well as certain TurboTax software, neither of which run on Macs. I prefer Fusion to Boot Camp because you don’t have to reboot and you can run the software in another window.</p>
<p>By the way, the OP (etherdome) is my DH…</p>
<p>RTR!</p>
<p>^^Too cute! I sometimes wish my DH would get on CC to read some of the advice here on the UA forum HIMSELF.</p>