<p>For current and incoming Berkeley students, what is your advice on the best time to buy a laptop, and what laptops did you guys purchase? Also, do Berkeley students get discounts anywhere for laptops (PCs only)?</p>
<p>Buy in the summer so you can adjust to your new laptop before school starts! I started out my 1st year with a Windows laptop. I later switched to a MacBook Pro in the middle of the year and loved it! Will not go back to a Windows again :)</p>
<p>Get a mac if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Funny, I went Mac 2 years ago and now I can’t wait to go back to windows. I’m in the process of buying a 13in Vaio within the next week.</p>
<p>Haha every single one of my non-engineering friends at Berkeley has a mac, and my engineering friends are split roughly 50-50. I definitely prefer my macbook pro over the various PCs I have at home. Summer is the best time to get one because they usually have some discount for incoming college students.</p>
<p>If you want a well built OSX computer, get a Mac (duh). If you want a well built Windows computer, get a Thinkpad. The build quality of these is pretty much equivalent, but the design is polar opposite: shiny slab of aluminum vs. pro looking tank-like black box.</p>
<p>After establishing this, it’s purely personal preference. Artsy types generally go Mac and Science/Engineering go PC.</p>
<p>I’d have to disagree with tehEECS’ claim that science/engineering types go PC. I’d say it’s split roughly 50-50. The use of Macs by engineers is steadily increasing and the use of Windows computers is steadily decreasing. Mac (and Apple in general) is slowly taking over the entire industry! Can’t y’all see it?</p>
<p>Haha, only if you’re looking through apple goggles. It really doesn’t matter though, both oses are practically similar in terms of productivity. Macs do give the appearance of having money though and some of these EECS geeks try to get as much cool factor points as they can get, haha.</p>
<p>Would prices be significantly different between now and August (back to school sales) on PCs?</p>
<p>I have a powerful PC desktop and I have a macbook pro. I only use my macbook outside of my home, and when I read while I’m in bed or too lazy to sit and surf. I’d say wait until the new macbook comes out and buy the outdated one for a cheaper price. Also, you can buy a refurbished one with apple warranty and hope it breaks and get a brand new one for free. (happened with my iphone 4)</p>
<p>I second ThinkPads - there are also a lot of sizes to choose from.</p>
<p>It’s all about <em>NIX: unless you’re engineering and *not EECS</em>, get a Mac or install Linux/BSD on a Thinkpad.</p>
<p>I’ve heard a lot about Linux. Why is it used by a lot of people?</p>