My D attends a small LAC and they didn’t provide laptop guidance either. The IT website just shared the various software that all students get as part of tuition (see how I don’t say ‘free’, lol?) through the college – MS Office and One Drive, dropbox, etc.
They are hardware agnostic and didn’t offer bookstore laptop package. They stay out of the hardware side of things except for loaner laptops. (And I’m guessing for full-need students they may have a separate system to make sure students have what they need for school. . . maybe a technology grant or such.)
Oh, and they have lots of on campus printing which is nice. Parents in the FB group said no need to bring a printer as it’s readily available. I imagine it’s the same at Kenyon, but you might want to post that on the parents’ FB group.
Hope this helps!
If shopping for Macs on the apple store, check for “education pricing” online which is usually $50-100 less per laptop than regular pricing. Finding those offerings is not necessarily easy on the site, and not all products may be offered, but if what you need is available, every little bit helps. I think you just check a box that it is for educator or student, I don’t recall having to verify student status any other way. Apple has also run promotions with a specific credit card that, if you purchase apple product using the card, then the purchase is interest free for 12 months and you get a $25 or $50 gift card for your choice of itunes or apple store.
For what it’s worth, both my humanities/social science kids, one at a LAC, used a Mac laptop. Good durability, each had one that lasted 6 years through heavy student use/abuse (back packs getting tossed to the floor etc).
Another consideration is insurance/repair programs. I think with the first kid, we bought cheap personal property insurance policy to cover bike, laptop, then realized that, with the $250. deductible, most repairs were usually less than the deductible so we were really paying $30-50 a year to cover a lost or stolen device. Still, if laptop was lost or stolen, it would have been well worth it. On the other hand, Apple care for iphones has been well-used.
@Midwestmomofboys Yes, I’m using the education pricing. It doesn’t make a huge dent in the cost, but a little helps. We also recently discovered a huge number of rewards points on a credit card we’ve had for over 20 years. We will definitely be cashing those in for Apple Store gift cards!
Watch for bonus deals. Dd’s Mac is now 9 years old and still running. She got the university discount with bonus Ipod and printer. While her dorm had a printer, it was always out of paper, ink or your were at the take end of a long printing que. Instead of staying up half the night waiting for her stuff to print, it was easier to just use her own printer.
Went to Best Buy today so DS could actually put his hands on a mac. I wanted him to be sure he liked it before we went any further but I had zero intent in buying one today. Holy crap, did I get a hard sell!! If I wasn’t already going to get his laptop from the Apple Store before, I sure am NOW!!
@GloriaVaughn See, that’s why I encouraged DS when he said he was thinking about a Mac Air! I’ve had mine for 5 yrs and it still runs like new. DS’s PC is only about 3 1/2 years old (and we plunked down a good chunk of $ for it!) and he says it’s starting to run slow.
DH & I go back and forth about getting him a printer. His school has alot of different places to print off, though some aren’t as convenient to where he will be living. I figure if he really finds it difficult once he’s there, it’s an easy Amazon Prime to get one to him in a couple days.
@ChaosParent23 Not all schools are Mac friendly. The college she works at now isn’t Mac friendly. Dd runs hers as a pure Mac, no windows on it. The one issue she had was that some Profs wanted certain spacing and her Mac wouldn’t do it so she took a point loss. She had two issues with her Mac, one was the power cord going bad because of the angle she had to plug it in at in her dorm, the second was a foot coming off (twice). A cheap fix, less than $10 which included blowing the dust out, at the local Mac shop but something that she could do herself. I miss Toshiba which lasted at least 5 years for me. Had an HP and the video card went bad the first year. Bought a Dell, great speed but suddenly didn’t recognize the power cord. Turns out that is an issue with Dell and has been for over 5 years. Replace that with an Acer touch screen and the only way the screen works in less than a year, is if I put my hand behind it. Just bought a Lenova so I see how long that lasts. My sisters lenova has low volume and a loud fan so she can’t hear anything she wants to watch online. Basically, from what I have seen, most of them are cheaply made and don’t last a year.