<p>They come with appleworks, which is easy to use, but definitely inferior to microsoft office programs. It shoudl be fine for plain word processing, but appleworks' graph features and other things are awful</p>
<p>There is a great microsoft program for apple- about $150 - works great</p>
<p>We have an Ibook and a G4, now D needs something for a summer college program, but for three weeks, do we buy another Mac or suck it up and get a Dell or something just to get through</p>
<p>From now until June 25th.
<a href="http://education.apple.com/students/go/save/%5B/url%5D">http://education.apple.com/students/go/save/</a></p>
<p>citygirlsmom: definately do not suck it up and get a dell (they make crappy laptops, if you want a PC go with IBM or at least toshiba).</p>
<p>Buy another ibook or prefferably a powerbook (15inch). If this is only a summer program and she isnt going off to school next year, maybe you can treat yourself to a new computer and send her with the ibook and then sell it and buy her a new computer when she actually goes to college (mac's retain resale value quite well).</p>
<p>I've been a PC user all my life but I'm seriously considering switching to a Mac for college. Is the transition hard? I'm worried about the no-right-click thing :p</p>
<p>zante: the transition is not hard and right-click is fully supported in the OS. its either cmd-click (I think) or just right click with a real mouse (first thing I would do if I bought a mac desktop would be to ebay the craptacular mouse and buy a nice one with lots of buttons and a wheel...you can even get ones that match macs now).</p>
<p>On the laptops, its not a huge deal because the key is right next to the button but I would probobly use a real mouse more than the built in one.</p>
<p>I like Logitech MX-500 series</p>
<p>Oh I didn't know that. Thanks.</p>
<p>i've got a pretty cool optical mouse that's gray, same color as my powerbook. 2 buttons and a scroll wheel, that's all I wanted. I don't like those ones that have like 6 buttons and a huge ball thing.</p>
<p>You can definitely get a multi button mouse w/o any problem.</p>
<p>all apple computers now come with their new word processing app, called Pages, it works great. I use microsoft word on this older mac, its just the same as on a PC, and carries with it the same pricetag, so if you want Microsoft office, theres notihng lost in swithcing to a mac.</p>
<p>with that said, im really considering switching from Mac to PC whe i buy my computer for college. Its mostly a price issue.. macs are so damned expensive, and slower processors and such... and i figure the rest of the world runs on PC, i might as well get used to that as well.
Im probably going to be bringing this old 450mhz g4 with me to college (it still works great)... but im looking for a new PC Laptop. Anybody have any idea what i can get for under or around 1400 bucks? whens the best time to buy (im anticipating that prices will drop on the current models over summer as new models come out).. do they have back-to-school discounts?</p>
<p>well, mac's processors aren't necessarily slower, but the reported clock speed is due to differences in how it is presented.</p>
<p>yeah, while their clock speed is technically slower, they can do more in one cycle than an intel chip.</p>
<p>actually, intel seems to be the only manufacturer that still tries to sell you on clock speed alone. AMD gives all of their chips ratings like 3200+ when its really only 2ghz. The only time you can compare clock speeds are when the chips are exactly the same, otherwise its like comparing the energy in a battery to the energy in a bullet...both can be measured in the same unit but they are released in very different ways.</p>
<p>I'm a CS major... is there a disadvantage to having a Mac if I'm in CS? What about if I also drag along my desktop that is windows (and not very crashy! <em>gasp</em>)?</p>
<p>The only people defending Macs are those few with an actual reason, like artists, etc, and those who were duped into buying one.</p>
<p>Go with a 14" ibook, then upgrade. Ifyou go to the apple website, then education, you can click on your college and find out your college's preferred configuration. Make sure you upgrade with a wireless card, bluetooth (if you'd like) more ram and memory. Usually you can buy Microsoft word from the apple education site for $100. Plus buy a wireless keyboard for those long termpapers, and a lock to lock the laptop to your desk. The ibook will still be a lot cheaper than a powerbook and just as good. A 12" ibook has too small a screen if you are using it as your primary computer - so a 14" is better and just as portable. IMHO and my daughter's.</p>
<p>i had an ibook for all four years of high school. my school was like apple's garden of eden (no pun intended... OKAY FINE, verymuchintended)-- there might've been one or two PCs in the back of an old lab, but that was about it; we even had our own "apple tech center" with apple employees to fix any tech issues that came up. ahhh, those were the days.</p>
<p>another poster mentioned that ibooks are more durable-- i second that. you really can just throw the ibook in your backpack and go without worrying that it'll break, but at the same time, i've seen many broken latches as a result. you have to treat any laptop well, but the ibooks can definitely take a beating.</p>
<p>the iLife suite is amazing as well-- i didn't think i'd use iphoto or itunes, but they're quite handy and work very well in harmony with imovie (although i'm not sure how many imovies one would need to make at college). similarly, all of the MS office programs are the same-- if not easier to use and more pleasing visually-- on a mac. i much preferred word processing on the ibook than the PC.</p>
<p>and about the no right clicking-- it's not a big deal. you'll get used to it. i took a class over the summer that only used G4s for video production, and only two kids (including myself) had ever really used a mac on a regular basis. i'd say that in about 4 days everyone was accustomed to the mac interface (so much prettier than windows!), programs, AND the no-right-clicking. i can't say enough good things about macs, save the pricetags.</p>
<p>that said (ha), does anyone know about back-to-school sales, the educational discount, or where the cheapest place to buy a mac (or heck, even a PC) laptop for school next year would be? that coupon expires mid-june, but i was kind of banking on moore's law and planning on waiting until august to do anything...</p>
<p>suggestions on how/when to buy?</p>
<p>People who defend Windows most strongly are generally gamers.</p>
<p>as a gamer I resent that ;) its true though (the clueless gamers).</p>
<p>Many windows games run just fine on linux but windows is a necessary evil and not really somethign worth defending.</p>
<p>I wouldnt say anyone has been duped into buying mac (maybe the other way around). They are great computers and are more functional and reliable out of the box than wintel stuff.</p>
<p>I just got a 12" powerbook from the UCD Bookstore last month, for 1399.00 which came to 1500 after taxes. In response to HelloKiki, the 12" do have the Motion Sensor. I know this for a fact because I have a program that incorporates it, the window changes direction as I tilt the powerbook. I haven't had any real problems with the Powerbook, I bought a mouse and the double click works and the scrollwheel is excellent, you can even click the scrollwheel and use Expose. There are a few programs from textbooks I have that require Mac OS 9.x but that came in the box, so its not really a problem. You can also find a copy of Virtual PC, and install Windows XP or something and you'll also have Windows and install programs that u might need there. The Powerbook also has 2-finger scrolling which is excellent and when you close the lid the thing goes into sleep mode, but when you open it back up it doesn't have to reload Mac OSX, it just goes back to whatever window you had open and everything, I haven't turned off my powerbook for the last week because there really is not a need to. I go to sleep at 89% battery, and wake up open the lid and its at 86%, it barely uses battery life and it goes completely silent. There are some really cool visualizations for iTunes including Milkdrop from Winamp. You will have to install Windows Media Player if you want to watch a large portion of the streaming videos, but the 12" Powerbook comes with 60 gigs, and I've only used 20 so far. There are basically no games to play which is good because then you can focus on your college work. There is also Photoshop CS and Microsoft Office for Mac, both of which are really good, Office looks a lot cooler on Mac. There is also iPhoto so you can save photos and create quicktime slideshows, and lots of other cool software. I bought mine before Tiger came out so I don't have that but it looks pretty cool with the things that come on the screen. The keyboard is NOT backlit. The CD drive is really cool, it plays DVD ands CDs and Burns CDs. But it messes up if you tilt the Powerbook while its burning and comes out with error "Burning too fast, try a slower speed" something like that. I have wireless internet at home, and its very easy to set up with Airport, took like 20 minutes, 15 of which were for the hub since I just bought it. I use 2 AIM accounts to transfer files to my PC, and it goes at like 1.2mb per second, so no need to email yourself stuff. The keyboard keys are still very visible, none of them have come off, but the button used to open the lid has had a few small piece of shiny paint disappear. Also, this thing gets HELLA hot when you're burning cds, especially at the front left side where there's a little mic, but its okay to use on your lap as long as you're wearing clothing. And iChat is really cool and looks a heckofalot better than AIM, and it even speaks when a buddy logs on. Anyway, I've had a very good experience so far, my Powerbook has been 50000% better than my PC, its so simple...it works.</p>
<p>There is really no reason as to why you should get a 14" iBook rather than a 12" PB. The PB has a faster cpu, more durable material, the SMS, same resolution, and is all over a more high end computer.</p>
<p>Macs are not more functional. Theoretically they are more functional, in certain situations. It is arguable that windows is a "necessary evil," but to strive for an ideal in a pragmatic world (of computer software development) is nearly useless. If you are looking for simple uses - office programs, printing, etc, windows has more software and hardware available, with a larger user base. Yes, it is also better for gaming. When I speak of duping, I refer to my experience with Mac users where most had bought it because of the outward appearance or an ad/salesperson. As a past user of both Macs and Windows PCs, I feel that Windows 95, 98, 2000, and XP (and Me but that is garbage) have all been as functional and stable as I could desire, especially with XP. Macs are not necessarilly worse, but slower and more expensive, with a smaller software base, and far more limited hardware. I would rarely consider Macs in general to be better than PCs.</p>