<p>ok im a business major at tcnj and i need a laptop. what should i look into?</p>
<p>lenovo t61 I can't think of another laptop that even competes for what you get with the t61, considering cost.</p>
<p>something cheap. I bought a laptop one year ago for $500 which will be more than sufficient for my upcoming 2 years of business school. I figure the lifespan of this machine is about 4 yrs. Laptop prices will continue to fall in the future, so even if a $500 laptop becomes obsolete, you could then buy a $400 laptop and still save money.</p>
<p>Business applications don't require much power. (BTW, my laptop was on sale (a Compaq) and was normally $650...so watch for deals). Also, this machine didn't come with MS Office and such. However, most schools offer MS applications for cheap or free so it's no big deal.</p>
<p>"Business applications don't require much power." That's a very good point. Business isn't like gaming, so as long as your computer can handle Office (schools should be switching to 2007 by next year if they haven't done so already), you should be fine. Get anything that you like and can afford. There's really nothing else to it.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don't buy a mac. I have a Macbook for personal use, but it's really annoying for business related work.</p>
<p>What makes the macbook a hassle?</p>
<p>Probably because most programs you'll use are specifically designed for windows.</p>
<p>How are you gonna be an Excel wizard on a Mac? (There probably is some way of doing it by now though?)</p>
<p>There is an excel app for mac, I do believe.</p>
<p>Or you could purchase a mac that is intel based. You could run Boot Camp or Parallels which essentially runs Windows. It's pretty cool. Then you have a mac and a Windows based laptop as well in one machine.</p>
<p>Just get microsoft office made specifically for macs...</p>
<p>I highly recommend looking at a intel based mac book. I bought my first mac last year after being a PC guy for 8 years. I use Microsoft office on it all of the time. Excel and Word are a little bit different but I really didn't consider it a big deal. Compatibility issues are almost gone between the mac and PC. So I don't see why people say they suck for business use, because I can do everything from making spreadsheets in excel to designing brochures in adobe photoshop. I also think OS X is better then windows. Its easier to use and fun to mess around with. Also there are no viruses for macs which is a huge bonus if you download a lot of stuff like I do.</p>
<p>For Ibanking, Mac's are terrible, which is what I was refering too. If you're just a business student, Mac's are fine. But I would reccomend a PC because it's what you will be using when you get a job, so you might as well practice on it.</p>
<p>For Ibanking we use a lot of excel, and I basically don't even use the mouse anymore. It's all about shortcuts. The short cuts for mac are different in a lot of cases, so it's a pain in the ass when I'm doing some stuff on my Mac at home.</p>
<p>But yeah, for personal use Macs rock, I love the no virus aspect and the friendly user interface.</p>
<p>it takes 5 minutes to memorize the shortcuts</p>
<p>And if you constantly are worrying about viruses, then you are doing something wrong. I haven't received anything in 7 years, i have never used an antivirus program and i have downloaded thousands of files from limewire, usenet, torrent, old warez sites etc.</p>
<p>You better do a scan, I'm sure you have something.</p>
<p>southpasdena-</p>
<p>I'm not talking about layman short cuts(I could memorize those in 30 seconds), I'm talking about the difficult excel program shortcuts/hacks, it would take a long time to be completely fluent.</p>
<p>Also, my grandmothers computer has gotten at least a couple viruses and all she does is look at cooking recepits online, and check cnn.com. I don't think anyone would say it is smart to use those filesharing programs without any anti virus protection. Like the previous poster said, do a scan NOW.</p>
<p>To each his own, I guess.</p>
<p>i routinely do scans and have nothing. The computer is checked monthly by online virus scanners, a few different adaware utilities and hijackthis. And i have nothing I was recently playing with norton 360 since i was downloading for a friend..and guess what..it works and again i have nothing. </p>
<p>something like 97% of all excel hacks are capable on a mac and all shortcuts can easily be printed out from excel and posted above your computer for your convenience. Office on mac = office on windows except a few exceptions (mainly visual) due to the differences in the os that they must accommodate</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you can do the same shortcuts/hacks on excel for mac from what I've seen. The only thing I didn't like about using my mac for school projects was when I was entering data on excel or typing papers it was kinda difficult to see on a smaller screen, but I eventually got use to it. Also keep in mind that the mac books are smaller and lighter, which makes them easier to bring into a large classroom setting such as an auditorium where you barely have any room. </p>
<p>As far as PC's I don't like the fact that you have to have tons of protection software, and majority of it doesn't even block most of the stuff out there. I was having to reformat my hard drive at least once a year.</p>
<p>what is Ibanking, and who uses it?</p>
<p>^lol....i think a quick search will answer everything and more. (TEN TIMES OVER)</p>