<p>So now that I've officially sent in my deposit... what's the deal with laptops at Georgetown? Any specific types recommended or required? I'd kind of like to get my laptop now so I can start using it and getting familiar with it.</p>
<p>I think the business school might have a requirement. </p>
<p>I like my IBook G4. But if you can afford it, get the Powerbook.</p>
<p>Which is now the MacBook Pro. Can't go wrong with Apple.</p>
<p>Oh yeah! that's right...I haven't had a chance to tinker with it yet, but I have heard amazing things about it from my brother (who is outrageously anti-Apple, too!)</p>
<p>NO! Apples are completely overpriced. the $2k Mac book Pro goes for $1.3k for HP and $1.5k for Sony.</p>
<p>Dont waste your money. The student discount for Apple is not even 10%.</p>
<p>Macs are not a waste of money, in my opinion. They have great tech support and are safe from all of the viruses and worms that like to travel around college campuses (is that plural supposed to be campii? I never took Latin)...If you have a problem with it you can bring it to the mac store (which is just over near the Pentagon) and they'll look at it for you. </p>
<p>Plus, it's size and lightweight-ness makes it easy to just throw in your backpack and go anywhere...down to Starbucks, to class, on the planes, etc.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that people using Macs to do their work are demonstrably way more productive. Plus they just work. Period. </p>
<p>And that's a bit of a myth that Macs are more expensive, when you count in all the included apps that come with every Mac, the iLife suite, and the fact that you don';t have to pay for antivirus, they are cheaper.</p>
<p>i dont have to pay for antivirus...and i have every file that i need.</p>
<p>Actually about the Macs size, its bigger than many comparable laptops, especially the sony sz series and dell latitue series, which are both considerably cheaper.</p>
<p>Tell me what you think. I like it because it has an incredibly long battery life, its lightweight, fast processor, big hard drive, big ram and it just looks nice. :) I cannot decide between this ro a mac. They are fairly comparable in price so I figured that I would get my CC buddies opinions. </p>
<p>bobbobbob,</p>
<p>I'm going to disagree with you on the pricing. The MacBooks and the Sony SZs are about the same for comparable specs. But, you can get a much lower end product with Sony and save money (if you don't need a beefier machine, that is.)</p>
<p>But for a 1.83 Core Duo with 512 megs of RAM, you're looking at around $2000 for the MacBook with a 15" screen. The Sony saves you money with those specs by giving you a 13" screen. But, if you really want to show them a product that gives "bang for the buck," I'd say the Sony VAIO FE is a better product. </p>
<p>Either way, I like the video card in the Mac better (Radeon x1600 far outperforms the GeForce 7400) and the RAM is clocked faster. That, and the 7200 RPM drive option is nice.</p>
<p>But the Latitudes are nice, since they let you basically build exactly what you want. Dells are just butt-ugly.</p>
<p>Actually, for ultra-portable, I'd go with the Lenovos myself.</p>
<p>ah yes my bad there. i did get the sz and the fe mixed up. the FE is around $1.5k. But you can still get an SZ with a 2.00ghz core duo, 1gb ram, 80gb hd, extra large battery for $1949...less than the base mac with a less powerful processor, half the ram and 20gb more hd. obviously the video card is better in the mac but that can be changed rather cheaply.</p>
<p>But the fe doesn't get as great of a battery life as the sz... i think that is an important factor if you plan to use it outside of your dorm room</p>
<p>Is anyone considering one of the new ultraportables (i.e. Samsung Q1) and buying a cheapish desktop to fill in the gaps.</p>
<p>bobbobbob,</p>
<p>Actually, the vid card on the SZ is fixed, I think. No options, there.</p>
<p>Yes, the Mac is more, but it's not really THAT much more. IBM Lenovo more, really.</p>
<p>But it's a nice machine.</p>