<p>I'm buying a new laptop that I can use for college (I'm Yale 2012 SCEA). What do you recommend?</p>
<p>Title should read: Laptops Common on Yale Campus</p>
<p>Dell inspiron 1420</p>
<p>What about the good ole Mac v. PC debate?</p>
<p>I'd been leaning towards a mac, but was told by a current Yalie that software required by certain classes (statistics was cited as an example) is only downloadable to windows. In those scenarios, mac users were forced to use the library computers/computer clusters. Anyone have any advice/experience on the matter?</p>
<p>on the new macs you can run windows. so I would go with a mac...best of both worlds.</p>
<p>It's a cash issue. Low-end Macs aren't worth it (yes, Macs have a certain je ne sais quoi, but je ne sais quoi isn't worth a 1.5x price modifier below $2000 for hardware), and Dell's can be great deals if you wait for a solid coupon. This assumes you're shopping in the $800-$1800 price range.</p>
<p>At the top-end ($2000+), your best bet is a Thinkpad or a Mac. Truthfully, from a purely pragmatic standpoint you're almost always better off with a Windows machine. Almost everything supports Windows, it's likely older professors will only have experience with Windows, certain out-dated or niche programs are developed only for Windows. And there's also the fact that most video games will only run on Windows.</p>
<p>A Mac is nice, but unless you're in love with OSX you're better off with a Windows machine. It's just more utilitarian, which is what you need in college.</p>
<p>It seems like the most common laptops on campus are either Dells or Macbooks. I have a Macbook and have never had a problem, and if I ever needed to run a Windows program, I could do that.</p>
<p>Ok, Dell isn't the most qualitative brand around (mostly because their success is based pretty much on the name, rather than true and tested performance), but keep in mind that Yale actually offers on-site service for Dell and Mac.</p>
<p>My roommates have IBM and HP, both very good if a bit pricey brands, and have never had a problem. The majority has Dells, I know of several who have needed service already (which, again, isn't an issue since we have good tech support for that brand).</p>
<p>I have a Dell inspiron 1420 and love it. I know that it probably won't be as sturdy for as long as other brands such as IBM, but on the other hand, it's got everything I was looking for in a school laptop, I have a desktop would things go awry, I know I'll have good tech support, and I also bought a solid warranty.</p>
<p>So personally, I'm willing to compromise with hardware stability in favor of style, long battery life, very good performance, and great price ($1100 with 2-year warranty, laptop case; 2.0gHerz, 2gig RAM, 160gb harddrive - better than my desktop). This only because I know the issues I'll have are sure to be fixed quickly and for free.</p>
<p>Fully a third to half of students (4/6 in my suite) have MacBooks or MacBook Pro's. Macs are fully compatible with any software you will need for class (unless you're engineering, in which case you can run Bootcamp which is included in OS Leopard.) Also, there are Macs in all of the computer cluster and the student tech people can help with Macs, making the campus very friendly for us.
I made the switch with my new MacBook Pro coming to Yale and haven't regretted it at all.</p>
<p>Go Thinkpads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>We're looking at mac v dell now and leaning towards a macbook. Any other input on this subject?</p>
<p>I would say not to go for Mac. I'm a techie person and have found Macs to be very limited in what I need for even everyday stuff - I miss the programs I can run on Windows (and no, Windows-on-Mac is not an adequate solution and we all know it!), file organization is not intuitive, and neither computer cluster Macs nor my friends' Macbooks have jibed well with some of my external hardware.</p>
<p>I know - the Mac is a cult. It's hip, it's shiny, it's over-advertized in the U.S. But for the price and capability, as a machine... just no. To my own surprise my low-price Dell Inspiron 1420 has still not had any malfunction, not even freezing up which is something Win OS has had an infamous problem with. My friends much newer, much costlier Macbooks? Chargers, DVD-players, etc already had to be replaced for several.</p>
<p>Don't buy the hype. As an operating system it's not worth it. Also - and this is purely subjective - keyboard looks symmetrical but is horribly unfriendly to quicktype with. Yipes.</p>
<p>In my experience on campus, I actually think I've heard of more Mac problems than Dell problems. And they are usually big deals, too, like hard drives going schizo. So maybe Dells have lots of little quirky things that bother you a little, but I'd say for avoiding major problems, stay away from Macs.</p>
<p>And yes, I own a Dell. And yes, all my evidence was ridiculously anecdotal.</p>