<p>Most of the time CS computer labs are just terminals connected to a main server. No real reason to use them when you can just ssh in with X11 forwarding. Due to OSX being a standarized unix system with its kernel(XNU) being comprised of FreeBSD 5 and Mach 3, you shouldn’t have any trouble doing your work.</p>
<p>The question that comes up for most people, is why pay the extra money for a apple. Why pay when you could get a better quality product from the thinkpad line from lenovo at a cheaper price. Why pay for osx and apple hardware when you can get a cheaper more powerful laptop for cheaper and instead of osx just used your chosen linux distribution, or freebsd itself. </p>
<p>To me id rather more performance for my money and better build quality. Thinkpads are built tough, and are built to last. They have added security features and look alot more professional. Oh and did I mention a actually nice keyboard to type on. </p>
<p>Its all about opinion. If you choose OSX because you think it looks cool, then I think its the wrong reason.</p>
<p>BCEagle, I read that article a few days ago. While some schools want to do this, it tends to be the schools with a more fortunate student base. Most public schools, such as the one I went to had a very large eop base of students, and others who were just poor. I worked in the IT department for a few yrs and consistently only 40% or so had their own personal computers. Even at 10pm most computer labs were packed.</p>