<p>Son is starting school soon and plans on studying graphic design. We are looking at laptops. He is thinking a mac. Any ideas or thoughts</p>
<p>Ask the school what they recommend. And if you purchase at the Apple store, they have a student discount.</p>
<p>Good advice from handemom. Also, the school bookstore may have a special student discount on computers.</p>
<p>Someone asked the question at the art dept open house and the professors were vague. The school itself has an arrangement set up with Dell but also lists specs if you want to get an Apple. I wonder if they are encouraged to recommend Dell.
Looking through the major description it says the Graphic Design dept has a Mac-based lab so I think that gives an answer.
How to decide if he can get by with just the Mac Book versus Pro.</p>
<p>A little advice. Even at the same school, some departments/majors may be Windows-PC oriented, and others Mac-oriented. In first (foundation) year, it may not make a whole lot of difference in any case. After that, if a particular major is using some very specialized software, they may have a preference.</p>
<p>However even this is changing a bit, because the new Macs can run either Windows or OS X, especially after Bootcamp becomes a standard supported under the next version of that operating system (due out in the Fall -- an easy upgrade, btw).</p>
<p>If your son is starting art school, I'd be inclined to go toward a Mac but give thought, as you already are, to getting him the Pro machine, in part because it comes standard with a lot of RAM, a larger HD, a better screen, and some other hardware advantages. Graphic work eats up a lot of storage, and so he wants the larger HD, and possibly also an external HD for backup and overflow. Graphics software is also very memory intensive, and so putting in at least 2 GB of RAM will also speed things up (even more if you can buy it cheap from a third party and install).</p>
<p>Mac or PC ?</p>
<p>Steve Jobs answers the question for you at this link...
<a href="http://podcasts.macworld.com/2007/08/downloads/stickerquestion.mp3%5B/url%5D">http://podcasts.macworld.com/2007/08/downloads/stickerquestion.mp3</a></p>
<p>I have to say...opening the box for a Mac product is a spiritual experience. I'm not kidding...because even the presentation of the product inside the box is "designed."</p>
<p>I do agree that you need to contact the school. That said, most art and design programs that I know are mac oriented. I have to say as a PC afficionado, I have been very impressed with what I see in the Macs.</p>