<p>Hi, my D will be a freshman majoring in Business. She needs a new computer and she really wants a Mac. Is this ok for the business school?</p>
<p>I know in the past they have said that biz students should have a PC. I know idad says it shouldn’t matter if you get a Mac that runs both. I would call the biz school office and ask, because I am sure they get this question a lot. I think this is one of those cases where CC won’t be definitive enough before you buy; you will have to ask the people at Tulane.</p>
<p>The business world uses pc’s. Perhaps you could get her an ipad and that will fulfill her trendy desire for the mac. Be sure you get her the newest one ipad2 (i think). Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay the monthly internet fee. Also, anyone out there wanting to upgrade the iphone 4 probably needs to wait until August when the new one is released.</p>
<p>My son is in the business school and has a Mac that he uses with no problems. When you get your Mac, you also need to purchase the Windows operating system (the PC version) and you also need some software called Parallels. I think you can theoretically avoid buying Parallels but it makes things simpler because once it’s installed you can easily toggle back and forth between the two operating systems.</p>
<p>Ah, the business world uses a mix of a Macs and PCs. Anymore it really is not a questions of either/or, but more a question of which do you prefer?</p>
<p>I doubt it will matter. Here’s what I would research if I were you:</p>
<p>Call the schools’ IT dept. and ask them if they provide help to students with Macs.
Beyond a spreadsheet program, what programs do you really need?
Is there a Mac Version? If not, it will likely run using Parallels or you can boot up with Windows 7 if you like.</p>
<p>I don’t want to seem like a Mac evangelist, but there is a superiority of Apple’s tech support over almost all of the PC makers. It’s not a fair fight though. Apple has the advantage of selling a much smaller amount of hardware configurations. It is much easier for them to support. This is a good thing for the Mac owner. Additionally, the stability and security of the underlying technology is better. </p>
<p>PCs are cheaper and used by more people. </p>
<p>You can buy a Mac at an Apple retail store. They should be able to guide you on how to install MS Windows on it.</p>
<p>Neither choice is a bad choice. I would trust in your D’s opinion. There will be bumps in the road regardless of choice. At a university, there are plenty of smart people there to help her through them. This is also good practice for the real world. Good Luck</p>
<p>Business school accommodates both, though they will not tolerate inability to use the operating system as an excuse. So if you don’t know how to make a interactive powerpoint slide on a Mac, stick to a PC, and vice versa.</p>