<p>anyone buy a laptop yet? what did you get and why? daughter is an englisth major who also wants to do some video editing.</p>
<p>are there laptops that tufts recommendations? </p>
<p>are there any discounts for tufts students?</p>
<p>also, does tufts give any discounts to word processing software?</p>
<p>My son just brought with him the same laptop he used in high school. There’s no need for a new laptop. Tufts doesn’t recommend any particular brand and I don’t know of any discounts. </p>
<p>Apple has discounts on Mac’s and iPads for college freshman. Ask in store or look on website- they ask what university you’re attending and you get like $200.00 off a Mac. Lots of kids have Macbook Pro or Air; but computer science kids tend to have PC’s. My junior daughter has a MacBook Pro 13" and an iPad Mini for cheaper books etc, and it has been perfect.</p>
<p>Generally seems like Mac for non-engineers. Discount software is available for Tufts community from the school website. You need a Tufts email.</p>
<p>Here is the full information from the IT website- they do a pretty good job of explaining it.</p>
<p><a href=“https://student.support.tufts.edu/computer/buy”>https://student.support.tufts.edu/computer/buy</a></p>
<p>In general, engineers need more powerful machines for simulation, modeling and compiling tasks.
Some of these programs are not compatible the standard Apple/Macintosh operating system
Therefore, many engineers use more powerful “standard PC’s” running Microsoft windows.
But, some engineers like Macs better and are either knowledgeable enough to install a different operating system, or they are willing to go to the computer lab to run these programs on Tuft’s computers.</p>
<p>In general, liberal arts students can get by with less powerful machines, and the choice between PC and MAC is based on personal preference/familiarity. Having said that, for one reason or another, most liberal arts students at Tufts seem to choose MACs and there is a pragmatic advantage to having the same type of machine as everybody else because then people can more easily help each other out if there are problems.</p>
<p>The exception is computer science majors/minors (who need to do compiling tasks) and students with majors/minors in the area of visual arts (who need the extra power for graphic design and video editing tasks).</p>
<p>The field of visual arts also tends to be dominated by MACs, so you can experience the inverse effect that engineers experience (i.e. some of the preferred programs are not compatible with the standard PC operating system). </p>
<p>Here is an excerpt from the linked page above, that would be applicable to your case:</p>
<p>“We recommend the MacBook Pro with Retina Display for anyone looking to do graphic design, photography, or video editing”</p>
<p>You probably want to go with 8GB of memory, a 256GB solid state disk and Applecare extended warranty - all of which is explained in the the linked page. </p>
<p>Also, try to impress on your daughter the importance of making backup copies of important pieces of work (while she is working on it). This may prevent the tear-filled telephone call when the computer crashes during finals week and a large piece of work is lost…</p>
<p>Can someone tell me what the discount is on MS Office (windows) for Tufts students? I do not have the login credentials for the site and me D is not around. </p>