<p>Mac’s are insanely easy to use. Plus if you have any questions you can just call their customer service line or go to an Apple Store and they’d be more than excited to help you.
Since your parents are paying for your computer i don’t know how comfortable they’d be spending that much cash on a Mac.
What it comes down to is first what are they willing to pay for a laptop?
Then figure out what specs you need on your computer. As well as battery life, OS and all that stuff.<br>
Then test out computers at whatever store. Best Buy and/or Apple Store.
Fyi…you can also run windows on a Mac.</p>
<p>What it comes down to is what you are ultimately comfortable with.
Don’t just go for a MB bc it’s what’s popular on campus.
And don’t just go for whatever is the cheapest.
Good luck w the search. </p>
<p>Also I spent about 1300 on my MB back in 2008 (that price includes warranty).
I haven’t had a single problem with it and plan on having it for years to come.</p>
<p>in my personal opinion, mac book just lasts alot longer in terms of battery wise. With the price of a mac book, and most likely a hundred or or two less, you can get a great laptop with battery life. For example, on the toshiba laptop, great graphics card, 10 hours of battery life, its great and light! i believe its only around 1000 dollars. so yea, if u gonna buy a macbook and run windows, that is kinda of pathetic, its a waste of money.</p>
<p>some people like to use BOTH OS’s on the MB, lol. I don’t know anyone who has bought a MB to just use Window’s over any Mac OS.
Personally I just prefer Mac’s OS.</p>
<p>I bought a Macbook Pro for my freshman (current) year of college, and I love it. The transition wasn’t difficult at all, and I have Windows installed in case I ever need it. I haven’t had the need to use it for anything besides gaming, though.</p>
<p>I have a Macbook Pro and I always boot into Windows if I need to use any Office program. Office for Mac is HORRIBLE, and iWork isn’t much better. Plus, I’m used to Word and Excel on Windows, and the Mac versions are quite different. However, this may change with Office for Mac 2011. I have to wait until Christmas break so I can get it with my home connection rather than my dorm connection ;)</p>
<p>There are plenty of Windows laptops around with big batteries and energy efficient components. </p>
<p>And I wonder, why would you want to switch over? There aren’t really any valid arguments against Windows anymore. Quite the contrary. It’s way more compatible with everything, there’s way more software and hardware for it, the price is right and it just works. Again, no real rational arguments for paying an absurd price for a Mac.</p>
<p>I agree. Unless you’ve grown up with a Mac or are already used to a Mac, there’s no reason to switch over. Especially with Windows 7, everything has become as user-friendly as the Mac OS.
And plus, in terms of hardware, Macs are generally 2 times more expensive than the same specs in a non-Mac computer/laptop.
So the only reason you would switch over is for the Mac OS, which is not very revolutionary compared to Windows.</p>
<p>I’ll agree that there’s not much point in switching to Mac now. Just keep in mind that Windows is just now matching Mac OS in how revolutionary it is.</p>
<p>The hardware failure is what’s going to cause me to switch back to Windows. I’ve really likes the OS, but I’ve had a CD drive and two power cords die on me. And if you ask Apple to fix one problem on your laptop (say, a minor problem like a crack in the casing) their policy is that they MUST fix every problem (like my CD drive which I never used anyway). Ends up forcing me to never take it in to the Apple store.</p>
<p>Apple’s also driven me away with their close-mindedness about EVERYTHING. Think open-source, Apple, and stop controlling the App Store so closely.</p>
<p>Why even consider switching? Everything in this thread says the mac os is about as easy to use as windows. You even said you’re fine with windows. Why switch? Why make your parents pay so much more than they need to?</p>
<p>I haven’t perused this thread aside from the original post, but the simple answer is that the transition from a Windows variant to Mac OS X is mentally undemanding if one is already computer-adept.</p>
<p>Whether one wishes to convert is contingent on preference and financial resources.</p>