<p>I am trying to make a decision about a laptop purchase for my daughter starting as a college freshman. Everytime I think I know which manufacturer to go with I find reasons not to: Mac - expense $$$$ and compatability, and then various reviews tear down Dell or Lenovo.
1) Are there really that many instances of applications, software, or websites that won't work on a MAC? If you want to run Bootcamp, is that problematic?</p>
<p>2)DEll- 2 of our kids have Dells at college and have not had any major issues; is there anything particular about the Dell 15 that we should really steer clear of?</p>
<p>3) I never even heard of Lenovo before, though I realize they bought out the personal computing arm of IBM - and who hasn't heard of IBM? What is their track record like for product reliabilty and customer support? What about the Thinkpad T-series or would you recommend a different Lenovo product?</p>
<p>Thanks. I'd really like to make this decision very soon.I'm really stressing over this.</p>
<p>mac has the superior hardware, levono has a solid history of working well, and dell is just so big that inevitably you hear a lot about bad eggs. that being said, levono does generally, especially with thinkpads, put out a more solid product, but is usually more expesive than dell. dell isn’t as bad as its often made out to be, but buts definitely a budget consumer manufacturer.</p>
<p>compatability under bootcamp is usually pretty solid because of how good the drivers are.</p>
<p>Assuming your daughter is some unknown as yet major then she shouldn’t find any incompatibilities. Schools tend to do a lot by email - on their own system - and using it is a matter of setting up whatever your preferred program is on your OS. The standard, I’ve found, for submitting papers tends to be Word (and sometimes profs will use track changes to make comments, which is useful.) Apple’s Pages exports to Word and works fine if you’re not going nuts with tables, but the choice is personal. Remember that more stuff is now done on the web. I know kids who only use the web interface for email and who use the various online word processing, etc. tools. Kids pretty much live in web browsers and music players like itunes.</p>
<p>The only issue I’ve run into using bootcamp is shorter battery life with Windows. That isn’t a problem for me for two reasons: I don’t need to use Windows much (and thus run it within VMWare so I can share files, etc. more easily rather than boot into it) and this thing called a plug that brings in electricity.</p>
<p>The decision is really a personal choice and not that one is truly “better” to use on a daily basis. My daughter chose her laptop because she was the user. </p>
<p>My advice is more about specs. You don’t need a super larger hard drive because external storage space allows backup and is dirt cheap. (Apple’s Time Machine makes backing up extremely simple for anyone.) You don’t need a large monitor. I prefer a 13" screen to a larger one because I can buy a much larger external monitor (& keyboard and mouse) for less than the cost difference and thus have more like 2 computers in one. While some kids lug their laptops around, my observation is that most people only use them in their rooms, when they’ve specially gone somewhere to work, etc.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=Quiche78]
What is their track record like for product reliabilty and customer support? What about the Thinkpad T-series or would you recommend a different Lenovo product?
[/quote]
Lenovo’s ThinkPads are some of the best business laptops out there. They’re well known for their durability and build quality. I’ve got a T400 and would definitely recommend any of the ThinkPads in the T, R, X, or W series.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=aforautumn]
mac has the superior hardware
[/quote]
Actually, Apple uses parts from the exact same manufacturers as the rest of the OEMs (ever since they moved to x86 in 2006). The idea that Macs have “superior hardware” is just part of Apple’s [url=<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field]RDF[/url”>Reality distortion field - Wikipedia]RDF[/url</a>].</p>
<p>Please stop making snide comments about Macs for no reason other than your personal quirks. That has nothing to do with giving advice. For example, if you take apart an Apple desktop, which I have, and a Dell, you find the Mac is obviously and significantly better engineered. I’ve taken apart Apple laptops - the last was a few years ago - and again the internal engineering was different from the Dell that was open on the table next to it. Why not stick to giving advice and leave the snide crap out?</p>
<p>Bottom line to the OP, is your daughter involved in this? You can’t make a wrong decision because any good quality laptop will work fine - and schools have enough virus scanning / security that she should be safe with reasonable precaution - so why not let her decide within your budget?</p>
<p>The Lenovo is a great built machine. All of my family uses them and they are truly fantastic and a business standard for a good reason.</p>
<p>Right now, Apple computers are generally still quite a bit more expensive for similar specifications. I actually would recommend taking a look at the Studio 14z from Dell. Removes the CD drive (totally unnecessary these days), light weight, great screen, power ratio is right, and the price is right-- $700 for better specs than the Mac you’d buy for 1199 (though the Apple has the DVD drive). Also, you’d get HDMI out on the Dell which is a really nice feature.</p>
<p>You should also factor in that until the end of the summer, you do get a free iPod with the Mac, an up to $200 value.</p>
<p>Apple computers do cost more, and they’re generally very well engineered liked Lenovos. However, I think the gap has really been reduced in the last year or year and a half in this area.</p>
<p>Check to see if your daughter’s school offers Office-- some schools do, some don’t. It’s pretty expensive if her school doesn’t offer Office to all students and you could get Office for free (and an upgrade to Windows 7) if you buy the Studio for $749 (no 7% student discount :() at Best Buy.</p>
<p>are you kidding? how are cd drives totally unncecessary? when was the last time you bought software that came on a flash drive? what?</p>
<p>When was the last time I bought software?</p>
<p>Everything I need my school provided, the few things it didn’t I purchased online and downloaded. FWIW, Best Buy is giving a free external disc drive with the laptop as well (it’s about the thickness of one CD jewel case).</p>
<p>Honestly, the only thing I’ve used my drive for lately is ripping CDs to FLAC. I’m not sure I’ve ever used my laptop’s DVD drive in 4 years. Even when I installed Linux I just did it from flash.</p>
<p>like what everyone else says, if you want a reliable laptop that will last for college; I recommend Mac or Lenovo. The T400 will be perfect, but you might want to upgrade the battery and the DVD burner, ending up about $900 with the 3 yr. protection; Mac will be $100 or more with the current promotion (+ipod touch). Compatibility wise, I think it depends on the major. If business, definitely Lenovo, it has great great build and awesome ratings and history. If anything associating with art…go with Mac. After serveral months of reserch, that’s what my impression is. It is the same decision I had to make 2 weeks ago, I went with the mac because of the deals and my major (biology) will probably not run into too much compatibility issue. Even it does, you can always run Windows on Mac, but it takes up to about 30 Gb, so an upgrade might be considered. Hope this helps, good luck :)</p>
<p>Lenovos are legendary machines, tough as bricks and stable as them too. There’s a reason that they are the industry standard in business laptops.</p>
<p>Anyways, yes it does depend on your major. If you’re doing artsy stuff, might as well get it over with and buy a mac because apparently people in the arts point and laugh if you don’t use a mac.</p>
<p>It should be between the Apple or the ThinkPad.</p>
<p>I love my macbook pro.</p>
<p>I love my macbook pro. Easy to use.</p>
<p>I appreciate hearing everyone’s responses. I would say that various reviews I’ve previously read on different websites could scare anyone away from every brand. Hearing your comments underscores for me that it is largely personal preference, and that Dell, Lenovo and Apple have some ardent fans. </p>
<p>Lenovo was such an unknown to me that it is helpful to read strongly stated support. Within our family of five we do actually own one 13 "MacBook(from 12/2007) and three Dell laptops(Inspirons) anywhere from 2-4 years old. </p>
<p>It is also helpful to learn that you have not experienced any significant & unworkable obstacles using a Mac as a college student. That really minimizes that concern for me.</p>
<p>Yes, my D will ultimately decide on the laptop, within the constraints of our budget. I ,however, have offered to do the initial research and create an educated shortlist. So pretty soon we’ll be placing an order - for something!!</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone.</p>
<p>Last bit of advice: consider an insurance policy. I’m not talking about an extended warranty but a cheap, college student insurance policy for things. I paid $135 or so a year for a replacement cost policy that covered everything. When a laptop was yanked off a table by accident, they paid for a new $600 screen (with a $25 deductible). Theft is also covered. </p>
<p>I believe a few companies do this stuff. I used NSSI.</p>
<p>Some of the manufacturers will sell those warranties as well. Lenovo has an accidental warranty that I bought (and thankfully never used) which basically was a “no questions asked, will fix it” for three years. I personally don’t think it’s worth it to purchase these policies on a laptop that’s less than about $1200.</p>
<p>Just bought a t500 Lenovo, great laptop. I would recommend this laptop, this will last for years.</p>
<p>Family has a Dell from the company they work for, the Latitiude E6400. Not a great Laptop, 4 months old and had everything replaced except CD burner. The Keyboard was replaced twice, mother board and screen also repplace</p>
<p>Dell took 3 service calls to replace, a lot of frustration, and very cheaply made.</p>
<p>if you have the money get a thinkpad t400s (14 inch), x301 (13 inch), or x200s (12 inch) depending on what screen size you want. I love the new macbooks but the three models i mentioned above are the all around best you can get. </p>
<p>p.s. i chose the x301.</p>
<p>I read on some thread that some people just resell the iPod Touch. I’d probably try to do that since we don’t need the iPod and i’d rather save the $$$
So my questions -
What mechanism would be the best for reselling?
Does the iPod warrany transfer to second owner</p>
<p>I’m just trying to figure out how practical & successful that approach is.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Where did you buy your Lenovo?</p>