<p>Resulting from the great responses my laptop thread got in January, we’ve narrowed our DD’s laptop choice to a MacBook Pro (without retina display) or a higher-end Dell Inspiron. </p>
<p>She’s pre-Physical Therapy, most likely a Bio major. So, we want one that will go the distance of 6-7 years. We’re leaning towards the MacBook Pro.</p>
<p>I know the SupeStore on campus has Apple support, which would be very convenient if she ever ran into problems. Anyone know of a windows-based support company on campus, or very near by?</p>
<p>My advice is to get a bomb-proof extended warranty (which will result in your having to send the machine back to manufacturer or licensed dealer, if you have serious problems anyway), and here’s why. There is NO on-campus support for hardware issues (only virus/software issues). We were not able to find reputable off-campus support for hardware issues either. (Think there is place in Northport, but S does not have transport, so we did not use them.) Even Best Buy Geek Squad in Tuscaloosa was pretty hopeless, sorry.
My S had some hardware issues w/ his laptop (non-Apple) and we dealt w/ this over a break…turns out he had to do w/out his computer for over a month, which he did not find as burdensome as you would think. He had an iPad to check mail and other online stuff, and went to library and computer labs to complete assignments and to print things. So the upshot - if you have a serious hardware problem w/ your machine, you will need to send it away (so as to not void the warranty) anyway. Hope that helps w/ your decision. Also, have your student keep the original boxes that the computer comes in, down at UA, as these are often very safely re-shippable, if needed. (That was another error my S made - not keeping the original boxes at UA - they were back here at home!) You can buy laptop shipping boxes from FedEx for about $15 (inc all the padding and so forth).</p>
<p>I highly recommend AppleCare with the MacBook Pro. One D had a hard drive issue which required replacement and it was completed at the Supe under AppleCare in less than a day. We were very pleased to owe nothing while getting it back in less than a day.</p>
<p>My comments above were meant to apply to non-Apple products only. It’s good to hear that The Supe Store takes care of things under the Apple special warranty. Another reason to go w/ Apple products! </p>
<p>if you have a Dell under warranty, they can take care of a lot of problems even hardware problems over the phone… They will walk you through the diagnostics and send you the appropriate parts via mail. You can then call them and they will help you switch out the bad components.
There were some type of Dell warranties that send technicians right to your doorstep. I vaguely remember a thread about repairs where the parent posted that a technician actually came to the dorm to fix the student’s computer.
If your computer was part of a scholarship package, it should have come with a warranty. I don’t know about the iPads.
One helpful hint: copy down all the serial numbers and place them someplace securely, preferably not in your computer because if you need to use the warranty you will need that information. On a Dell the serial number is on the back side of the computer and sometimes through heavy use and wear and tear, the number becomes unreadable. Keep all warranty information in a safe place.</p>