<p>Not sure as to whether or not I should post this in Tufts 2015 or not, but here goes.</p>
<p>I'm just curious, since my parents have broached the idea of laptop shopping recently. Mac vs PC, which additional features and/or hardware might be a good idea to invest in, computer usage on campus (pervasiveness of Wi-Fi, how many students gravitate towards Macs vs PCs, etc et), anything else relevant to this topic? Have at it!</p>
<p>fwiw, DS is planning on getting a Mac laptop. His brother at Brown has one and loves it, and it seems all his friends there do, too. As to Tufts specifics, I’m afraid I can’t help – hopefully a current student can.</p>
<p>If a Windows/Linux laptop is cheaper for you, get it. You won’t go wrong with a Mac, but most people don’t have $1,500+ to burn. Even a very decent PC will easily cost <$1,000. I’d advise getting a long-lasting battery; 4-5 hours is really nice to have if you don’t want to carry around a charger.</p>
<p>Wifi is available in most (all?) academic buildings and a fair number of the dorms.</p>
<p>my experience is that wifi is not available in dorm rooms. it is available in lounges, but not in many rooms.</p>
<p>tufts is perfectly friendly for both PCs and Macs</p>
<p>If you are an engineering student you may be limited if you get a Mac. Some of the software packages that are used will only run on Windows. I’m guessing that you could get a dual boot Mac, but D said most of her engineering friends that did not have PCs used the computers in the library for the engineering class.</p>
<p>I would say engineering: PC and anything else, take your pick.</p>
<p>^^ I know some compsci engineers that are FANATICAL about apple. The truth is that a lot of the engineers, irrespective of Mac/PC, spend a lot of time on the computers in Halligan. The machines tend to be faster than what you’d have in a laptop, and there’s the bonus of being in a room with the other people in your classes working collaboratively on assignments. </p>
<p>I’m a PC guy, but if you’d like to talk to engineers who use macs, I’m happy to connect you.</p>
<p>Why do you even need to think?</p>
<p>Go for MacBook Pro 13" (as a Tufts student, you are entitled to $100 discount). </p>
<p>You will fall in love with it. Aah! You will get bang for your money. Trust me.</p>
<p>I’m pretty set in my ways, but I don’t think Macs provide enough additional functionality or user-friendliness to justify the hugely inflated price tag. If you want one, though, you can probably dual-boot it with Windows and run any software you may need to.</p>
<p>And Dan, most of the engineers spending time in Halligan are EECS - there are plenty of other computer labs for us, too ;)</p>
<p>I’m going into engineering (Chemical) and just got a Dell XPS laptop. I’m sure it’ll be more than perfect :)</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Macs are not as susceptible to viruses as PCs. My daughter’s friend had so many viruses in her PC that the school (not Tufts) kicked her off the school’s server for a while. We are a Mac family and never get viruses.</p>
<p>There are going to be favorites either way. I’m a PC person. Other people are Mac people. Either way, with a little research you can find a high-end machine both ways or one that suits whatever needs you may have (Macs tend to be a bit pricier though, not to say you don’t get what you pay for). Tufts does have Dell and Mac deals, so that’s good to know too.</p>
<p>Cautionary tale: S2 had a couple of laptop issues and the computer repair folks at Tufts couldn’t touch it because they weren’t authorized HP warranty service providers. Had to ship it off to HP for repairs. This could be a reason to get a Dell or Mac through the Tufts discount – Dan, correct me if I’m wrong, but the computer folks there are authorized to do warranty work on those.</p>
<p>We got ours through Costco, but when a circuitboard was cracked in the initial shipment, because we got a custom-built, we had to send it to HP for repair. Costco would have replaced it on the spot if we had bought an off-the-shelf laptop at the store.</p>
<p>Some dorms have wireless. Other dorms are close enough to those to pick up the neighboring bandwidth.</p>
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<p>Absolutely no idea. I always just opened it up myself. :)</p>
<p>
In my experience, if you use your PC intelligently it’s usually pretty hard to get viruses; there’s plenty of free anti-virus software and firewalls, too, that increase the difficulty of getting your computer infected</p>
<p>If I were doing college over, I would get a MacBook Pro. I’m in grad school now and I’ve been using the same Black MacBook for 3 & 1/2 years with no issues. Three main reasons:</p>
<p>1) portability
2) reliability
3) space</p>