Mac or PC in college?? Any opinions please...

<p>I'm planning to get a Mac for college. I think I'll have to go back and forth from CA to MI or IL or whatever, so the lighter the laptop the better. And if my parents decide to move out of country, across the Pacific.</p>

<p>
[quote]
save yourself the heartache and buy a mac. they're more reliable, less gunged up with ineffiecient programming. windows is a bad copy of the mac os anyway, steve jobs and bill gates just signed a contract where apple will continue to provide microsoft with 'inovations' and microsoft will continue to create software that will run on pcs. so, yes...go with a mac.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Haha, fanboy.</p>

<p>Now, go prove everything you wrote. Just try. I bet you can't.</p>

<p>Let me prove it for you...I'm a 17 year vet of the Mac...</p>

<p>-I have done IT work at schools for years. In 1995 we bought 25 Macs and 25 Compaqs. 21 Macs were still running flawlessly, the other 4 needed minor tuneups. Of the Compaqs, only four were running and it only made sense to fix three of the others. 4 working versus 21. And it's not just Compaqs either. </p>

<p>-For short term reliability, here's another case. From 1998 to 2005 (my last year at the school) we bought hundreds of PCs. We have had problems with about 50% of them. Another local school bought Macs and they had maybe ten of them break each year.</p>

<p>-The programming in Windows isn't that well-done. It's like a sedimentary rock, with layers being added upon old ones. Why else does a Windows install eat up a big chunk of hard drive space? Apple removes old code and even completely rewrote the OS in 2001, starting from scratch. The same inefficent programming can be applied to Office. Take a look at one of Apple's programs and bang it head to head (PowerPoint vs Keynote).</p>

<p>-Actually, Windows isn't a copy of the Mac. Both Apple and Microsoft copied Xerox. However, the Mac has always been more elegant, user-friendly, and ahead...Windows 95 = Mac 89.</p>

<p>-The whole innovations deal was probably done to avoid lawsuits. Apple gets in more legal trouble than anyone it seems, and I know Vista will have an equivalent of Widgets. However, I expect Apple to make Widgets better in Leopard so they'll probably still be ahead.</p>

<p>-Microsoft almost has to keep supporting the PC. They'd leave millions of people stranded if they decided to stop Windows development. Those people would be stuck with Linux (ugh) or would have to buy Macs. (And if you wonder what I have against Linux, it's that nobody develops for it, plus I don't like the interface or the fact that it's stereotyped with true geeks...I consider myself the "anti-geek" technician and I have results from the online geek test to prove it)</p>

<p>-Microsoft will, on the flip side, probably keep developing Office for Mac. While Word files can be used in Pages, there is no Excel equivalent except for the horribly outdated AppleWorks. Supposedly a program called Numbers or something along that line is in the works, as is a basic drawing program to fill the void left by MacDraw years ago.</p>

<p>-As far as a virus goes, the last widely spread Mac virus was nVIR. The last and only malicious virus was INIT 9403, and it only affected computers running the Italian version of OS 7 (possibly could attack earlier or later versions too). Although some minor ones have been written since nVIR, it was the only one that spread and continued to spread for years...I eradicated some nVIR from school labs in 1993, 1995, 2001, and 2005 (all were computers made in 1994 and earlier; the two recent ones were computers that weren't treated years ago because of their location in special classrooms).</p>

<p>If there's anything else you want me to try to prove, bring it on! I know I'm gung-ho about the Mac, but when you go as far as buying Apple stock, you have to be...plus I like a good challenge like this now and then!</p>

<p>MacTech92 bla bla bla bla, clear waste of time. Calm down.

[quote]
Also, most PC laptops are garbage, especially Dells (the XPS is built better but costs a ton) and Acers.

[/quote]

Really good people with computers would never say this phrase no matter what. Even if you have Ph. D. in computer engineering from MIT, I don't care. If you like Macs - congratulations, but please don't post crap like you posted about PC laptops. You are too biased</p>

<p>The only reason I would get a mac is because of their sleek notebook design. The fact that I'm a medicore gamer forces me to stay with Pc because of every game being developed for PC first and the two graphic card producers, ATI and Nvidia constantly make cards for PC. Second I'm a chronic P2P program user >.>; The boot camp probably won't come out before I go to college so I'm left with buying a laptop(PC). =/</p>

<p>Actually, the MacBook Pro and Intel iMac come with an ATI x1600 and the iBook G4 has an ATI Radeon 9550, but that iBook model is old. But I plan to play some games in college too this fall so I'm planning on getting a PC, too.</p>

<p>My co-workers would have said the same thing about how bad Dell and Acer laptops are. Sure, some people have had good luck with them, but in the long run it seems like they break more than any other brand.</p>

<p>I have worked in IT for years and you're always going to find people in that business who hate certain brands. And a PHD means nothing to me--I'm a "blue collar" technician who has never gone to college to study IT (only class I took was the mandatory MS Office one, which is more a business class than anything)...and I'm damn proud of that.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The only reason I would get a mac is because of their sleek notebook design. The fact that I'm a medicore gamer forces me to stay with Pc because of every game being developed for PC first and the two graphic card producers, ATI and Nvidia constantly make cards for PC. Second I'm a chronic P2P program user >.>; The boot camp probably won't come out before I go to college so I'm left with buying a laptop(PC). =/

[/quote]
For what it's worth, Boot Camp beta seems to already work well for those who have used it. They likely will finalize before you're off to college. The student perks might also come up then (like buy a MacBook Pro + iPod and get x amount of money back). Also, I've been on a college network for years and have had no problem as far as P2P goes.</p>

<p>does anyone here have a macbook pro already? since they're new i'm kind of wary of buying one because of the possibility of bugs</p>

<p>OK, I need a computer soon. I am going to UMD and they have offers for Apples and Dell computers and suggest we use their offers because they will be able to help anyone that has problems if they have these. The Dells they offer are basically just the latitude ones while I can get anything from apple. I am not that great on computer stuff. I am using windows now on an HP and am using internet explorer so I am not all that computer savvy. So, help me get this straight. All the Intel operated Macs are able to get that boot camp down load and get windows as a separate OS. It is Windows XP right?? Now vista will be coming out later, will there be a download for that just like boot camp? </p>

<p>The only laptop from Apple that runs on Intel is the macbook pro right? Will there be more that run on Intels in the future and when will there be more? I am a high school senior. I really don't need a computer now, when do you suggest to buy one?</p>

<p>i know nothing about computers so bump ^^</p>

<p>yes the only laptop from Apple that runs on Intel currently is the macbook pro and can boot Windows..</p>

<p>According to ThinkSecret, the iBook and PowerBook will be dropped by the end of May. The replacement will be the 'Macbook' (different from the 'MacBook Pro' out already). The 'MacBook' will be Intel.</p>

<p>I assume then that the Macbook will be the iBook's replacement while Pro is replacing the PowerBook, is that correct?</p>

<p>Generally, yes.</p>

<p>The upcoming 'MacBook' series will be approximately an entry level iBook to an entry level PowerBook. Meanwhile, the 'MacBook Pro' is an upper level PowerBook and beyond.</p>

<p>This is great (if the rumors are true). Just in time for the college shopping season!</p>

<p>Personally, I love the 12" Powerbook (you can still find them) as the size is PERFECT. And I do web design, graphic editing, etc. I hook it up to a 23" monitor in my room, and then I can carry the computer anywhere I want without it being an ordeal (should I bring? should I not? etc.) as I can just stick it into its sleeve, pop it in my bag, and I'm off. I'd highly recommend it.</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>Get the Intel version if you can, otherwise an iBook G4 (Power PC) is very satisfactory and durable for life at college. No virus nonsense to speak of.</p>

<p>To compromise with the Windoze world (pity them and be kind, for they know not UNIX) add Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02</p>

<p>;-)</p>

<p>For buying, Florida State University has it's own Computer Store on campus. Maybe other schools have this as well.</p>

<p>See: <a href="http://computerstore.fsu.edu/jez/CatalogModule/home_page.jsp?heading=&manufacture=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://computerstore.fsu.edu/jez/CatalogModule/home_page.jsp?heading=&manufacture=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>whoever said microsoft was good its the users that make it bad...wrong</p>

<p>microsoft has a monopoly on the market so every one has to buy their crappy coded, not so well built OS. macs can have slower ghz and still be competitive because of the well written clean code. </p>

<p>personally, i am waiting for the cheaper macbook to come out and i will be getting one. and i want garage band. lol</p>

<p>I also second getting a Mac. My first computer (Compaq laptop) despite every type of possible virus software still managed to get at least 5 and I had to get everything completely re-installed by the tech people more than once. I decided, for the heck of it, to get a Mac iBook G4 - and it's been smooth sailing ever since. It's all so much easier, no viruses, no sluggishness, I don't have to run a jillion different things to find the wireless internet, it just starts up.</p>

<p>Honestly, if you are even considering it, just do it! You'll be glad you did, I think at least :)!</p>

<p>Oh yeah, and sometimes they run deals like "buy a computer, get an Ipod" which happened to me. I bought my computer and got a free Nano!</p>