Best Laptop to get/Recommended Laptop???

<p>I am still hoping for a reply to the question I asked on May 15. </p>

<p>Does anyone know if NU has a plan where if you buy your computer through them, there is a "repair and loan" service (made that name up myself ;) if a kid's computer breaks down?</p>

<p>And now a second question has arisen with no reply and I'm interested in feedback on that one, too:</p>

<p>What about an "Apple" brand? They get a lot of positive reviews from people I know because I'm told they are user friendly (admittedly, mostly other middle aged mothers who aren't exactly savvy).</p>

<p>Question: Is an Apple a viable option for a student at NU?</p>

<p>I'd appreciate it if someone could answer these two questions or tell me who to contact at NU so I can find out on my own.</p>

<p>Thank you for your help.</p>

<p>From NU's website:</p>

<p>"As a Northwestern undergraduate, you are not required to own a personal computer; however, if you wish to purchase one, wait until you receive information during the summer about computers that may be ordered through Northwestern at an educational discount. Computer labs are available also in several locations on campus."</p>

<p>Also, this may be the extent of their tech support services (but I'm not sure):</p>

<p><a href="http://www.it.northwestern.edu/student-support/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.it.northwestern.edu/student-support/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>butterfly1015:
to answer your first question, NU has LaptopER which is where some students/technicians will help students fix their computers. i'm not sure how good they are, but they can help some as well as people in the dorm you live with. or find some comp. eng friends that may be able to help you. In terms of the computer physically breaking, i dont know anything baout that other than if you get the computer under warrantee, and then they typically dont give you a replacement. i think.</p>

<p>your second question, apple is a very viable option, just look into what sorts of stuff you will be doing on the computer. engineers, for instance, if you get an intel based macbook, you have to get windows xp as well to be able to run matlab, your primary programming tool/program. THis is not to say that engineers can't have macs, but it may be easier for some to just use a pc.</p>

<p>Do most students bring printers to NU?</p>

<p>in my dorm (slivka) i think abotu half of the students have printers. some people share with thei rroommates, a lot of people in sngles have their own and others use the dorm's printer. I personally have a printer and use the dorm printer for color.</p>

<p>it really depends on how often you expect to use it. humanities majors i assume would need more printing capabilities, though as a freshman so far i've had to use my printer a bunch of times for EDC and to print out programming hw</p>

<p>Wait until Black friday (thanksgiving)</p>

<p>And get a dell, or if you can't wait, camp these forums: <a href="http://www.slickdeals.net%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.slickdeals.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>a dell? really, the majority of opinions ive heard is that they pale in comparison to lenovo or macbooks. can you compare dell with these two? thanks.</p>

<p>

They make Matlab for Macs too, though...</p>

<p>I talked to my parents about getting me a laptop. My dad wants to wait for NU to send out their school sponsored purchase program in "the summer." Does anyone know when that is? I'd like to start personalizing it, getting familiar with how it works and don't want that to be on September 1st, for example.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any experience with this school sponsored purchase program?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>