<p>Assuming the campus supports both, should we go Mac or PC for our daughter's laptop? I have a running list of pros and cons for each, but I want to know what others think 'cause I'm sure there is some great information to mine from this board.</p>
<p>I am an Apple user since college (with one sad and short affair with the PC world in the mid-1990s when the price difference was even greater than it is today), and so my daughter has a Mac laptop.</p>
<p>At SAS, and in our tours of other schools, 13" MBPs (Mac Book Pro) were as ubiquitous as Hunter boots.</p>
<p>We have both platforms in the house - but the kid travels with a MAC and the family is now primarily Mac. Fewer viruses, easier to use, lower learning curve. I find our PC a bit faster, but frustratingly convoluted in software design (which may be improving). But honestly - it just depends on what your student is more used to using. More “gaming” developed for PC’s, but otherwise, whatever you can get for one, you can get for the other and our experience has been that Macs come preloaded with a good complement of software. Macs have been more prevalent at my D’s school (which loaded MS Word on to her computer so we didn’t have to buy it - yeah!).</p>
<p>If you decide on Mac - one way to cut the price is to a: buy with an educational discount (online has a special link on the store page), or at the Apple store. Or, online, scroll down and look on the left hand side of the page. There’s a refurb section where the last model computers are listed at a discount but with full warranty. If you don’t want to buy Applecare extended warranty (cheaper if you buy it with the educational discount - even if separately), then use an American Express which will cover accidental damage, theft or loss in the first 90 days and cover the warranty free for the second year.</p>
<p>(Same applies to PC’s if you use an Amex)</p>
<p>I agree with Seven Dad
At Groton, where Dells are issued to all students, most students bring their MACs too. MACs are ubiquitous on most STudent campuses ( and I agree with the Hunter analogy, although I think Bean Boots are just as prevalent ;0) )</p>
<p>The last three Macs we purchased were Refurbished models from the online Apple store. They were indistinguishable from new Macs, came with a full year warranty, and were 10%-15% less expensive than new.</p>
<p>One Mac arrived with an issue with the headphone jack. We took it to an Apple store for service, and Apple ended up sending us another computer to replace it.</p>
<p>Not all models/configurations are always listed for sale, so you sometimes have to check over a period of weeks until the specific model/config you want is available.</p>
<p>For MAC folks, note that very recently it came to light that a virus was being targeted toward the MAC community (which for a long time was ignored by the malware set). It sometimes masquerades as a Adobe Flash updater, but apparently also exploits a hole in the Apple’s OS related to Java.</p>
<p>Here is what you have to do:
-Run “Software Update” (under the Apple Menu) and make sure your OS is up to date…there was a patch for the Java hole last week.</p>
<p>-NEVER click on an Adobe Flash updater that you haven’t initiated from within Flash Player itself. For good measure, go to the Adobe site and download the latest version of Flash Player directly…this way you know that you’re running the latest and are less likely to get duped into clicking on the fake one.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great insights. She and I both think that Macs are more intuitive – and it sounds as if they are significantly more popular among the BS students. She is headed west, not east, but I’m sure they are equally apple happy there too.<br>
[And I think Toms are the footwear of choice. : )]</p>
<p>This discussion seems to have rapped up, but I’ll just say that I absolutely love my Mac. They are infinitely more user friendly and simple to use, but at the same time being elegant and fast. I just love them. And I have a 13" MacBook Pro too!</p>
<p>Another tip for the MBP faithful…I have found that Lion (the latest OS, for now) got a bit boggy with the standard 4 Gigs of RAM. </p>
<p>In doing some online research, it turns out that the newer MBPs can use up to 16 GB (though Apple only sells them configured with up to 8 GBs). I did this upgrade (relatively simple self-install, with RAM from Other World Computing) and it made a huge difference.</p>
<p>A tip (works for parents with PC’s too)"</p>
<p>For all kinds of deals related to Macs this site keeps up with everything they can find and is updated daily (if not more than once a day):</p>
<p>[dealmac.com:</a> The best deals on iPod, iMac and MacBook. Find sales on Macs, new and refurbished Apple systems.](<a href=“http://www.dealmac.com%5Ddealmac.com:”>http://www.dealmac.com)</p>
<p>They’ll note which stores (including Apple) are offering discounts, what the best prices are, and they’ll note what is in Apple’s refurbished store, etc. I was going to buy new ink for my Brother fax machine ($30 for the 3-color cartridge pack) when Dealmac listed the link to an online store that was selling 32 cartridges for the same price. I also found the link for my leather iPad cover (cost $17) when the same was still on the Apple site at $79. Dealmac will also tell you what codes to enter at checkout (if applicable). I love this site.</p>
<p>FOR PC OWNERS: Try [dealnews:</a> Best Deals Online - Daily Deals and Coupons](<a href=“http://www.dealnews.com%5Ddealnews:”>http://www.dealnews.com)</p>
<p>It’s the same as the Dealmac site only tracks PC’s and peripherals.</p>
<p>Neither site sells anything or requires you to sign up - just keeps track of pricing on computer equipment deals and posts them with a link directly to the stores.</p>
<p>P.S. On Mac refurbished equipment – If something isn’t available (sold out) keep looking since Apple doesn’t put its entire inventory in the refurb store at one time. So something not showing as available one day may be there the next when they restock. Years ago I bought my black macbook as a refurb at $500 off retail. The fan kept running so they just sent me a brand new one to replace it. We’ve bought a lot of our equipment that way over the years. But make sure you compare the pricing to those in the regular store after logging into the educational site. Sometimes the prices are similar or not that different.</p>
<p>SevenDad - thanks for that tip. I just replaced my office computer and I’ll watch for speed and look into adding more RAM. I’ve had good luck with chips from OWC.</p>
<p>My question had nothing to do with what laptop she needs to “fit in” as you put it; rather, I was seeking advice on what students have found to be best for functionality on campus. Did you even read my original post? Where in the world did you get that idea and what are you so angry about?!</p>
<p>@dsterino: Maybe you missed this recent post by a current Exeter student.:</p>
<p>"HARKNESS</p>
<p>I feel like Harkness is overstated. Exeter loves to talk about it. Quick answers -</p>
<p>Yes, it’s an amazing learning device, and I can’t go back to normal classrooms.
Yes, all of our classrooms are taught Harkness style.
No, every teacher does not teach the same way. We do have teachers who lecture at the Harkness table, but they are few and mostly despised.
Yes, teachers notice when you don’t participate. If you don’t do an English reading or fail to present problems at the math board repeatedly, teachers do notice. About half my teachers actually tally / record # of times a student speaks. Harkness discussion is usually about 40% - 60% of your course grade. It’s important, and it’s difficult to slack.
No, not all of our teachers are amazing people. But all of them, I can honestly say, know what they’re talking about and are good at teaching the material. Like any school, some are more boring than others.
Yes, you speak to other students, not to the teacher, in Harkness. Teachers will remind you and take off points if you keep on facing them, not the class, when you present or talk.
Yes, it’s up to you to ask questions in Harkness. If you don’t get a concept, ASK.</p>
<p>A side note - Exeter gets a bad rep for being a math/science focused school. That’s not true at all - we simply happen to be good at those two subjects and so people assume Andover is better at the other two. But our science departments and building is amazing, and math taught this way helps me understand concepts thousands of times better than I did before."</p>
<p>From this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1321872-if-youre-considering-exeter-going-exeter.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1321872-if-youre-considering-exeter-going-exeter.html</a></p>
<p>While I appreciate some of the sentiment behind your hyperbolic generalizations, you have to understand that the period to ask questions about academics, sports, community service, etc. is pretty much over for this application cycle. Admissions AND matriculation decisions have mostly been made. So it’s a bit late to be asking questions about “the important stuff” for the Fall 2012 enrollment season. Come back in September and it’s a very different vibe.</p>
<p>FWIW, I used the advanced search tool just now to search “sports”, “academics”, and “community service” within this Prep School Admissions subforum and there are dozens of threads about all of those topics. So people DO care about those things. Chill.</p>
<p>Why is anyone responding to this dsterino’s comments? Just research his/her prior posts and “nuff said.”</p>
<p>dsterino is a ■■■■■. He is a freshman college student. Here’s a quote from one of his posts in the College Admissions - Transfer Student - Northeastern subforum:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@dsterino - please take your unpleasant posts somewhere else.</p>
<p>I’m about to invest what, to me, is a large amount of money in my daughter’s first laptop. A Mac is quite a bit more, but it seems like they have less issues than PCs and if more students are using them, she’ll be more likely to find someone to help her out with it. (IT-savvy was not her hook.)
This is a “real” question and I’ve received great info. If you weren’t interested, why did you bother reading posts entitled “Mac or PC”?</p>
<p>The problem with an anonymous discussion board is anyone can pose as a student or interested party. Best to just ignore them. </p>
<p>BTW - Macs do tend to run a bit more, but sometimes you can find deals by keeping your eye on dealmac.com. ALSO - usually in the summer Apple tends to “sweeten” the pot for students using an educational discount by offering a free printer, or free iPod with the purchase. The offer is almost always for students only and almost always announced just after I buy a replacement for my office equipment (or upgrade my husband) which - lol! - should mean the deals will be coming soon. :-)</p>
<p>They do it to clear inventory just in preparation for announcing newer faster fall equipment. But with Jobs gone, who knows if that will continue.</p>
<p>Thanks for more great information. Hopefully she can connect with some current students soon to get more information and advice straight from he horses mouth, so to speak. We have a statewide tax-free “holiday” for back to school shopping in August so there is plenty of time to get this figured out.</p>
<p>My kid bought a pc, but now wishes he had a Mac. I’m not sure why though.</p>
<p>Macs are way more difficult to operate than PCs. I cannot work my way around them.</p>