<p>I don't know what kind of laptop I should get for college. I want to have a career in nursing so I'm probably going to need to take bio, chem, and physics. But anyways, I want a laptop that..
- has long battery life
- doesn't lag (which my current Toshiba laptop does)
- lightweight/portable</p>
<p>And I will mostly be using it for..
- internet (facebook, email, etc), research
- papers, presentations if I have to
- maybe take notes in class
- youtube, download/listen to music (I might get an external drive just in case)</p>
<p>I'm kinda hoping it will last me a while after college also. I'm leaning towards a Mac because I've has bad experiences with a pc or maybe the one I have just isn't a good one. It's about 4 years old maybe? And it lags, crashes, and overheats so easily.</p>
<p>But, I've heard sometimes Macs aren't compatible with school, like its files so that's the thing that worries me if I choose to get it. Can someone help me decide please?</p>
<p>If you’re looking for durability the MacBook is the way to go. I heard that PC would just be enough to last you about 4 years.
Macs aren’t compatiable with sharing files between Windows’ users. </p>
<p>Oh and Toshiba imo is a bad brand. You would had been better off with Dell or HP. </p>
<p>But yea, your usage is basically entertainment needs so I would be looking for laptops designed for entertainment purposes. Also look at Lenovo, Acer, and Asus. They also have good laptops selection.</p>
<p>You basically described the perfect scenario for a macbook air. I personally just bought one of the new airs and I’ll post a few quotes that I said about it instead of re-typing it all out.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
You should be fine. Nowadays pretty much everything is compatible on both mac and PC. So unless you were studying something like computer science or computer engineering I would say you are fine.</p>
<p>The stock 13" (4GB RAM and i5 processor) new macbook air is easily the best thing for a college student in your situation to get. It’s usually in the $900-$1100 range with student discounts. If you’re worried about having enough room, you could always either upgrade to 256GB (I think that’s an extra $100) or buy an external HDD.</p>
<p>
I personally have a 17" Toshiba Satellite that’s about 5 years old that I’ll also be taking to college and it still works like it did when I bought it in 2008. It only lags a little when I have an absurd amount of tabs open (oops) or when I have A LOT of applications open (2 internet windows, multiple word docs, powerpoint, itunes, etc.) which is understandable. I’ve gotten great mileage out of it though and I wouldn’t say Toshiba is bad if you get the right computer.</p>
<p>@yankees:
Still if it can’t handle “(2 internet windows, multiple word docs, powerpoint, itunes, etc.)” which is essentially college students list, I wouldn’t count it as ideal. But if your is working well for you then awesome.</p>
<p>“I heard that the PC would be enough to last four years”. </p>
<p>I don’t know where you heard that because that’s completely untrue. My sister had an hp laptop and it lasted her over four years. The only reason why the laptop broke is because she dropped it on the concrete. I bought one of the new hp laptop for college and the laptop itself costs me about $650. However, with insurance for three years and geeks quad protection it came out to around $1000. I would have bought a MacBook but they are very costly and I would have had to pay an extra $500 for insurance throughout college. So, it would have come of to around over $2000. If you have the money, then you should probably try and get a MacBook however if you don’t have the money then get the hp laptop. I’ve had it and I’m going to use it for college. It works just as fine. Don’t get toshiba or dell because they are unreliable. I’ve had both kinds of laptops and they have broken easily. Also, my friend had a dell laptop and the keyboard on the laptop stopped working.</p>
<p>At fly, well I was told otherwise by many people including some random best buy salesmen. If it’s an older laptop I expect them to still work now. but the Mac do last longer than current PC.</p>
<p>At Nyquil, I hope your reading skills haven’t deteriorated yet.</p>
<p>We bought our kid a new Mac last year when she started college. She now wish she got a Mac Air for portability. She carries her Mac to classes and to library, so the regular Mac is too heavy for her to carry around. I work at a tech company and was given a Mac Air last year. I love it for the weight and battery life. It also doesn’t give off as much heat. Old Mac Air used to have issue with wifi, but they have improved it quite a bit.</p>
<p>Although the Mac does have longer battery life, I’m just stating that PC laptops, depending on the type, work just as fine as the Mac. It’s also more affordable. But if the OP has the money to buy a Mac, then the op should. I’m not in any way saying Mac laptops are bad what I am saying is that they are very expensive.</p>
<p>Thank you @yankeesfanatic for the very thorough response! I think I will get the Macbook Air. </p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, do you have virus protection for your Toshiba? I don’t think mine does and it was a pretty cheap laptop so I’m assuming that’s why its performance isn’t the best. Would I need virus protection for a Mac?</p>