<p>Is there a computer store on campus that sells and services computers? Checking with them would be good to see what they sell/support. You often can get academic pricing as well which is a little less expensive.</p>
<p>For those who are not as tech-savvy or don’t want to bother keeping up with hardware news and updates, I recommend going to [Slickdeals:</a> The Best Deals, Coupons & Discounts on Laptops, Computers, LCDs, TVs, Dell, HP, Apple, Amazon](<a href=“http://www.slickdeals.net%5DSlickdeals:”>http://www.slickdeals.net) and filtering the category for ‘computer’. Look at the thumbs up, view count, and number of replies and you can usually get a good idea of what’s hot and what’s not. This is also a great way to save a few hundred off a purchase. </p>
<p>If I had to choose a single laptop to recommend, it would be the Asus UX31A. It can be had for under $1k easily (prices can drop to the 600s), is light, has a great battery life, and comes with a phenomenal 1080p, full-resolution screen. For those of you who still use traditional hard drives, this model comes with a solid state drive (SSD) that increases boot/shutdown speed, program startup speed, and general data access. It’s also silent and doesn’t require disk defragmentation (which people usually don’t do anyways). </p>
<p>In layman terms, what that means is that your computer will never slow down over time from all the stuff you install on it. I highly recommend this laptop if you are looking for an upgrade for yourself or your child.</p>
<p>I am my family’s SA (system administrator). They called me whenever they had a problem with their computer. We were a Dell family until we kept on getting Dell blue screen of death and I had to re-install the OS few times. The India help desk kept on reading their script to me over and over again. We switched over to Mac 5 years ago. I am missing those, “My computer just froze, what should I do?” (I used to tell them to turn it off and turn it back on. My kids all knew how to take the battery out and put it back)</p>
<p>Mac. Plus kids are judged if they are not using Mac.</p>
<p>I bought Acer Aspire laptops for my D & myself for Christmas the year before last. With an AMD A8 CPU (+ 1 GB dedicated graphics RAM on this particular model), plus upgrading the RAM ourselves from 4GB to 8GB on each one, my D’s laptop has had no problem dealing with any MMO she wants to play with her friends (or graphically-demanding single-player CRPGs) - although I’ve had problems typing text comments on mine occasionally. My D is thinking about replacing the laptop, and wants to meet or exceed the specs on her existing laptop - Best Buy has a refurb HP with an AMD A10 CPU & 6GB RAM which looks promising (although we’d spring for the Geek Squad extended warranty with any refurb).
My son has an HP laptop (which replaced his freshman-year Gateway laptop after 2 years), as well as an HP desktop computer (he’s also a major PC gamer). Our homeowner’s insurance would cover his computers - but the deductible equals the replacement cost of an inexpensive laptop. We pay approx. $40/year for a “supplemental personal property” policy on just our son’s 2 computers, which covers the replacement cost with no deductible – well worth it! (We’ll have to do something similar for whichever laptop our D takes to college with her, too.)</p>
<p>Oh, and an e-book reader/tablet (iPad mini/Kindle Fire/Nook) can save your student’s back from lugging heavy textbooks across campus, plus cut down on or eliminate the leisure-reading books your student might want to take to college. When I was shopping for fall semester textbooks for my son & daughter on Amazon earlier this month, it seemed a lot more of them were available in Kindle editions than had been the case in past years. (Or combine the super-cheap recent deals on B&N Nook HDs with NookBook editions of textbooks & leisure reading, plus loads of physical B&N bookstores in most larger towns.)</p>
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<p>Were you using the consumer grade Dimension/Inspiron/Vostro lines or the corporate Optiplex/Latitude/XPS? Am curious as the latter don’t use overseas outsourced phone support from what I’ve experienced…though you do pay more for that privilege. </p>
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<p>IMHO, a stupid reason to consider whether to use a given computer or not. I love Mac notebooks myself for the designs/reliability. A reason why I got a MBP for mom which still runs well after 7 years. </p>
<p>However, I find the “coolness” and hype from hardcore clueless Mac cultists to be a turnoff…especially considering most aren’t remotely techie-inclined. Fortunately, they tend to be a tiny minority who are the most technically clueless so I find many opportunities to amuse myself at their expense. </p>
<p>One I’ve done this which was really effective was to show off an old P4 Notebook/desktop PC from 2003-5 booting up Mac OSX Snow Leopard. Heh…once Mac moved over to intel…Macs became another flavor of PC…albeit one of the better built/designed ones IME.</p>
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<p>HP have had higher than average hardware issues on both their desktop and notebook lines. Also, Geek Squad tend to be really hit or miss judging by the fact I’ve had to repair some messups they’ve caused and Best Buy tends to have a long turnaround time for warranty repairs…sometimes to the point of some customers having to threaten class action suits when that time lapse extends past the end of the warranty period in question.</p>
<p>For my daughter, I purchased:</p>
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<li><p>Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook - very light in weight (2.8 lbs) , backlight keyboard, 13.3" HD touchscreen, wireless mouse, Windows 8, free MS Office 365 Student, etc… she is very happy with it.</p></li>
<li><p>Microsoft Surface RT tablet - type pad, MS Office 2013, 32GB, 10.6" HD touchscreen display, front and rear HD camera, etc… </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck!!</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I just can’t get past…</p>
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<p>oldfort, I’m with you until this statement and can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic (please). A lot of kids are using macs. They’re good computers. They’re not always the best computers depending on what the student is studying and/or how the university has set up their system. Certain areas of engineering, for example, are better with a comparable PC especially when that part of the university discourages macs. My eschool son has a Lenovo (loves it), would never have considered a mac, and I would be shocked if any of his peers judged him because he wasn’t carrying a mac. You get the best tool for the job.</p>
<p>Don’t get one they are just a distraction.</p>
<p>Both our kids purchased different laptops which each took to college. S took a Lenova, I believe and D took an HP. Both found that their laptops were too heavy and bulky for toting everywhere, as they had intended. Both laptops were purchased using Costco AmEx card and therefore had an extra year of warranty and BOTH laptops broke and couldn’t be repaired before the extended year of warranty expired. AmEx gave us a full refund for each of the laptops.</p>
<p>BOTH kids ended up purchasing a netbook, which was LIGHT and easy to tote around plus a desktop with two monitors. S was an EE and D was a cinema student. Both loved the portability of the netbook and the ease of computing with a desktop with 2 monitors.</p>
<p>At this point, I love having my iPad mini + Belkin keyboard, which I prefer over the netbooks I’ve tried. It’s very light and still allows me much of the benefits of a netbook but is even lighter. I am not an Apple fan, but do like the iPad mini just because it’s SO light. The battery doesn’t last as long as I’d like. Both kids have had some issues with their netbooks as well. D’s screen went black and now it’s essentially a large hard drive because she can’t see anything on the screen but she can plug it into her desktop. Since it was purchased with AmEx and died within the extended warranty, she again got a full refund. I think S’s netbook died but it was after the extended warranty.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve noticed is that many of these electronic devices don’t last nearly as long as some of our ancient laptops. We have two that are heavy but very ancient and have lasted maybe 7-10 years or more. I personally like buying at Costco, because if anything goes wrong, they will take it back for 1st 90 days and have a 2 year free tech support & mfr warranty. Buying it from AmEx, extends the warranty an extra year.</p>
<p>I think the specific brand is really a matter of personal preference. Have heard of lots of parents who buy insurance for their college kids, in case of spills, breakage, theft of loss. We never have but several have been glad they did and made claims that have been paid.</p>
<p>Weight was a definite consideration as was battery life when our son was comparing options. He’s been very pleased and has no complaints with either. We did get ‘accidental damage and death’ insurance for drops, spills, etc. Dorms and apartments with roommates (and their guests) aren’t the greatest environments for computers. You pay a premium for ‘just in case’. So far luckily no issues with the computer itself and no accidents.</p>
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<p>Ha! Back in the '90s, there was a definite stigma against Mac at my STEM-centered public magnet and among the hardcore engineering/CS set*. In such subcultures, mac users were regarded as STEM/Tech idiots and mac owners…folks with much more money than sense. </p>
<p>That and throw in some hippie/countercultural bashing** considering the '80s era conservatism was still going strong in many places during the early '90s. </p>
<p>Granted, this took place when Mac QC and corporate fortunes were such there was serious talk they were on their last legs and close down. </p>
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<li>To be fair, the hardcore engineering/CS set I knew in HS, college, and work also had similarly strong disdain against Microsoft Windows users. Granted, the type of bashing used many references to “Pointy-haired bosses” and as encapsulated by a former senior colleague…“dumb fat lazy MBA holding executives”.<br></li>
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<p>** Mac was disdained by corporate types and non-hippie/countercultural engineering/CS types partially because Apple and Steve Jobs were so strongly identified with the '60s hippie counterculture during the '80s. </p>
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<p>How heavy were they?? Back when I was in college, my first notebook weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 pounds with ac adapter. Had no issues carrying it around with a few textbooks…sometimes walking for a few miles.</p>
<p>If you get a Mac, get the extended warranty. They are well-built but not hard to total–e.g., a screen replacement can be $800.</p>
<p>My daughter (wrapped around her finger) wanted a Mac. Got her the Air 13.3, which is less than half the weight of her old Dell Studio. She is hard on tech, and the solid state memory drive means one less moving part to worry about. </p>
<p>The just announced new version of the Air claims 12 hour battery life, so a student could easily get through her day without needing to carry the extra weight of an AC adaptor. </p>
<p>Dell support is a pain, but they honor their commitment–even if it takes a bit of persistence.</p>
<p>Re backup. Any media–particularly hard drives–can fail, but memory sticks are so cheap, you can get 64gb for less than $30, and buy two.</p>
<p>One nice thing about google drive (probably true about other clouds) is that there is a plug-in for Word so that when you save a file locally, it automatically saves it to the Cloud too.</p>
<p>Is ideapad not good enough? (I’m debating between thinkpad and ideapad.)</p>
<p>Just be aware that Applecare doesn’t cover accidental damage. So if you drop the computer and damage the screen, that’s not covered. Neither are spills, etc.</p>
<p>I’ll put in a good word for my laptop, the Asus model U31SD. It’s a simple laptop, not gonna run any hardcore games or anything, but I like it because it’s super lightweight and has a great battery life.</p>
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<p>It isn’t just Applecare. Nearly all standard initial and extended warranties for computers/electronics I know of don’t cover accidental damage. </p>
<p>There are some manufacturers who will provide an extended warranty for such accidental damage…but you’ll pay heavily for the privilege. Also, heard some homeowner/renter insurance plans will cover it…but YMMV depending on policies.</p>
<p>Back when I was in college in the '90s, most parents/older students or siblings/relatives tended to impress upon us the importance of taking utmost care around our computer/electronic equipment so such accidents don’t happen or if they did, aren’t catastrophic enough to take out the computer/electronics concerned. </p>
<p>Then again, back then computers were much more expensive and many homeowners/renters insurance policies may not have caught up to cover accidental damages of such items. </p>
<p>Some like the Toshiba I picked up in the late '90s were also built so robustly that they’ll last even after being dropped a few feet onto concrete floors while turned on. It’s still running today providing service for someone who fell on hard times and needed a simple laptop for job searches/resumes.</p>
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<p>Both my wife and DD1 have Lenovo T420 Thinkpads. I have found the Thinkpad is well worth the money vs the more mainstream and lower priced machines. </p>
<p>DD1’s Thinkpad goes with her to architecture studio nearly every day and performance - configured properly - is very good. Wife’s Thinkpad is on 12-14 hours a day (she works from home) and super reliable also.</p>
<p>The build quality of the T-4xx series is no comparison with other similar Dell and HP’s. I have an aging Dell from work that I use for travel, it’s a joke. Newer Dells are decent, but if it is mission critical, I would take a Thinkpad.</p>
<p>It was 4 years ago when we completed switched out of Dell to Mac, and I don’t remember the last time I was called by my kids and H to tell me their computer has crashed. I think other than Engineering students who may need more powerful computer, there is coolness about Mac, especially Mac Air, that other laptops can’t compete. My kids have iPhone and iPad, like many other college students, so it would be natural for them to a Mac.</p>
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<p>I happen to have a 12.1 inch screen Lenovo mini-notebook which a client dumped on me as his D filled it up with viruses, had Vista, and didn’t want to bother with it any more. </p>
<p>Other than running exceedingly hot due to extreme small form factor and my running the CPU at 100% to run boinc for medical and science research, it’s fine running Win 7 64-bit. </p>
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<p>The engineering/CS students of the '00s seem to be much more tolerant and and even going a bit gaga over Macs. Major contrast to the '90s. </p>
<p>Interestingly, it was a hardcore CS/math major friend who was a Unix evangelist who got me interested enough in Macs to give them a second look in the '00s. Hated Macs before OSX…but became a major convert afterwards. </p>
<p>I didn’t hate Macs before OSX as much as most of my engineering/CS friends/classmates in HS/college/work, but I wasn’t too fond of them either considering the crashing/QC issues of Macs/Systems 7-9 during the '90s.</p>