<p>Ill add to the “cheap” white mac testimony – my oldest had it for 4 years and it has been abused beyond any expectation, and its only now showing signs of old age. We are also waiting for the August special.</p>
<p>Dell has a discount program with Exeter. It is on their website under the parents tab. Not sure if that is the best deal or not, I think we ended up not using it but we did get a Dell and it has been fine. Extended warranty is recommended - you never know what will happen.</p>
<p>No matter what brand of computer you choose, buy a surge protector.</p>
<p>Izzy, I don’t see the offer online at the Apple store now–they have a new one up, buy a laptop & get an iPod Touch. Call the Apple store to enquire about Middlesex. (1-800-My-appl.) Here’s a thread from this forum last year about the Apple offers for 2008: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/517404-apple-student-deals.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/517404-apple-student-deals.html</a></p>
<p>There are also offers for people who work in education–such as teachers in K-12 schools.</p>
<p>If anyone can separate themselves from the fixation on laptops, the Apple store has a clearance offer on the last generation of Mac Minis for $499. If you add a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard, you’re all set.</p>
<p>Andover has discounts with Apple, Dell and one other provider. The Dell discount ended up to be about 7%. PA has the suggested minimum specs and the specs for their most recently purchased school computers posted on the website under the technology section. I expect most schools post similar information.</p>
<p>where can you access the apple discount? I thought it would be under the college section in the education part of the site.</p>
<p>OMG I FOUND IT! IT’S UNDER K-12! so now i just have to figure out if i can get a discount as a student.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for all your ideas.</p>
<p>We’re leaning toward Macs.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>The deal for free ipod touch is presently going on.</p>
<p>While I am a mac person, you should check your school. At my D’s school, 90% of students and faculty were Macs and IT fixed them. They liked them for all of the above reasons. I understand one of the HADES schools used to require PCs and has now changed to Macs. But, check with your school and call the IT dept and ask them.
Other advantage of macs is that they all have wireless built in without having card. If you get free ipod touch, you can use its calender and wireless at school too and sync to your mac (also itunes, etc). You can also get an application for the ipod to use internet phone system so can use the ipod as a phone (for free).</p>
<p>My dd had a mac at BS and it was a popular choice.</p>
<p>More boarding schools now seem to be embracing the Mac - Deerfield recently announced that rather than issuing all new students with a Lenovo ThinkPad, they will be giving out new Aluminum MacBooks. This is big deal for Deerfield considering their laptop program has been active since 1998 and since that date has run on Windows. It will be a significant shift to Apple infrastructure, and the fact that a school like Deerfield is making the effort to make that shift should say something about the Mac.</p>
<p>I saved up some money and my mom and I pooled together to buy me a new Aluminum MacBook Pro. She paid the cost of a base-level MacBook, and I made up the difference needed to upgrade to the Pro. I can tell you that it works flawlessly, as I am sure the normal MacBook does as well.</p>
<p>Screen is superb, excellent graphical capabilities, big hard drive, DVD burner, FAST processor… The list goes on. I made sure to buy the 3-year care plan though - that thing is priceless. So far, no problems whatsoever and the machine is nothing short of a joy to use. My dad was so impressed that he decided to order himself a 17" MacBook Pro. He’s an art teacher, so he could use the bigger screen, etc.</p>
<p>If you’re prepared to invest a little more (and it doesn’t have to be that much more - Apple has great education discounts and iPod bundles) the Mac way is the only way. So reliable and easy to use, and if you don’t want to go cold-turkey on Windows, you can run XP or Vista natively on the Mac alongside the Mac operating system, OS X.</p>
<p>I second all of Tom’s speech. Macs are the way to go. And i think you don’t HAVE to choose the touch. When you go to checkout on apple.com, it has a link that says you can choose one of the other iPods instead… but do most people think touches are the way to go?</p>
<p>Also, at the recent WWDC keynote, Apple announced that they are rebranding all their aluminum MacBooks to MacBook Pros and lowering the prices. The cheapest MacBook Pro now costs $1199! That’s amazing.</p>
<p>I really do encourage anyone who’s in the market for a new machine to go and check out Apple’s website and check specs and prices. A lot of very significant price drops were announced at WWDC. The lower range MacBook Air got a rise in specs and a $300 price drop. The higher spec model also got a raise in specs and a $700 drop in price. That’s unheard of.</p>
<p>The aluminum pro is probably MORE computer than one needs for BS. </p>
<p>The simple MacBook is what most kids have and has plenty of power and memory to do what you need.</p>
<p>It’s definitely more than one needs, but I was looking for additional longevity. I was willing to spend a little more money on the condition that the computer, with good treatment, would last me at least through my first year of college. I don’t see plastic faring as well as aluminum in that scenario.</p>
<p>That said, however, mine is not the most affluent of families, so I suppose it might make more sense for most other boarding school families to buy a slightly less expensive laptop with the intention of replacing it sooner than they would were they to buy a more expensive, more durable one.</p>
<p>This is all theoretical though, I suppose, as I have yet to test the aluminum and plastic MacBooks and MacBook Pros side by side, but you probably get the idea. Plus I like the additional graphical capabilities. I highly doubt I’ll be using the 512MB graphics card during school for games, but during breaks, you never know.</p>
<p>I have a plastic macbook that I have used for the past two years at my current day school. I have one of the lower levels so now I have around 29G of space left (out of an original 80?) so if you are planning on using your laptop for a few years, I would definately get a version with more space (I dont think it is possible to upgrade memory) my current school suggests a new computer after 3 years, but I would suggest seeing where you are, and whether you need a new one. in terms of speed, its pretty fast, has gotten slower throughout his life. it terms of wear and tear, after a couple locker fallouts (in case), a couple of desk falloffs and a lot of transportation, the front has some small scratches (onliy obvious from up clse) some a bit of wear&tear on the inside, and also some cracks and chips in the plastic around the corners and the edges (a slight flaw in the creation, many of my friends have it too, it doesn’t effect how the computar runs at all) that is probably one reason the created the new aluminum ones.</p>
<p>Hehe, my HD is 320GB :)</p>
<p>Just thought I’d put that out there =)</p>
<p>Removable storage devices work, too. They’re a whole lot cheaper than replacing a computer because the hard drive’s full. It’s also possible to sort through the programs you have on your hard drive, and to get rid of old and outdated programs you’re not going to use.</p>
<p>With a new school year coming and your mention of August Mac Sales, I took inventory of D’s computer. Two corners smashed in with the corners taped over plus 4 other dents in the aluminum case; battery not working/now plug in only, cd drive not functional. 4 years of backpack abuse has taken a toll.</p>
<p>But you know - the guts still work! That an aluminum Mac pro can take that kind of abuse and still work just fine is a testament to Mac for BS kids.</p>
<p>was this in a laptop case IN her backpack, or just put in there?
yeah, macs are the shizzzzzzzzz</p>
<p>toadstool. You need to get the mac insurance. The dents would not be fixed for free, but the CD and battery would be. Also 24/7 phone help. For the dents, they would replace it with a refurnished one for little bucks.</p>
<p>Also, one of the biggest advantages of apple is the Genius Bar at Apple Stores. They will help you with almost any problem. PCs do not have that help (although the IT at most schools does)</p>
<p>D has white plastic and no problems except cd. Turns out the problem (most) on them is easily fixed with simple “expansion” of the slot. When they are held from the side above and below the slot, it narrows.</p>