Grad gift (cont.): I know that he wants a copy of the family cookbook that grandma maintains. She prints it out and puts the recipes in plastic sleeves. His college has kitchens in the dorms and no formal meal service on weekends. (Some things like fruit and sandwich makings provided to the dorm kitchens.) Grandma gave him a starter cooking set for Christmas.
Luckily it is a marching piccolo, so a resin body is OK, still a lot more than a laptop though. The Intermediate Flute was more than her car. I guess I should be glad she did not pick the Bassoon.
Ugh, you guys are being all thoughtful and and stuff! I honestly have not given much thought to a graduation gift beyond all the things D is going to need for school. Her laptop and phone are of decent vintage, and she’s not allowed to have a car on campus for freshman year. She will definitely need some warm winter clothing to deal with the snow they get in central New York!
We are also planning on a laptop as a graduation gift. D mentioned today that she is tired of caring a heavy laptop so she wants the MacBook Air. Does anyone know if they’re powerful enough or should I just get her a new MacBook Pro? They are slightly lighter than four years ago.
What does she want to use it for? My wife uses a Macbook Air and it’s light and battery life is fantastic. She’s a tax preparer and uses it to VPN into a corporate Windows desktop. Works well enough.
@Testingearly Apple is rumored to announce some new laptops within the next month at their WWDC, so you might want to hold off just a bit.
Then they will offer special discounts on the old line, which would be a good bargain.
@Testingearly --Also watch for Apple’s annual student promotion. I have not taken advantage of it for several years so am not familiar with recent offerings, but usually a slight discount off the purchase price plus something else—iTunes gift card or Beats headphones. It varies each year.
Thank you for all the Apple laptop advice @CT1417, @NoVADad99 and @youcee. I had no idea that they were coming out with new ones.
@jmek15 I’ve been off the list for a while but my daughter is attending UVA, if you do additional updates. If not, no worries.
@jmek15 If you do additional updates, S17 will be attending Boston University. Thanks for putting the list together!
** baccalaureate:**. at my kids school it is not religious. It is a chance for other kids to speak to tell their stories of struggle and perseverance. Very moving.
Grad gift: going with a new Mac Pro. Hers is 4 years old and starring to crap out. They are much lighter and thinner than they used to be. I just bought myself one. Love it. Not sure she wants to wait for fall for a discount though, but she should get the student discount.
I also just purchased a tiffany bracelet that’ll be just from me. I gave one to my other D last year too. Just so they can have something they can always look back on and remember it was for their graduation. I still have my high school graduation gift from my parents.
@greeny8 - You might not have to wait until fall for a discount. Usually when Apple brings out a new model, the old ones go on sale. The new ones are set to come out in June…
A lot of colleges offer discounts on computers so definitely look into that. WFU offers laptops with extended warranties and discounts. The MacBook Pro had an update that my DS waited 2 years for so he won’t need a new computer. We are taking him and a few friends on a beach vacation for a week for graduation/birthday gift. I agree it will be an expensive summer with all of the gear they need!!
Grad gift: My D’s official gift will be the week-long backpacking trip with the Honors college, and the airfare to get there and back. She is already well-equipped with recent laptop and phone, but I know she’ll want a bunch of stuff for dorm set up. So yes, very expensive summer!
We’ll be buying S’s laptop/tablet at the Virginia Tech bookstore (unless someone has a real objection) because of their well known and highly regarded service policy. If he buys it there, he can drop it off anytime for service or repair and get a loaner. We might pay a little more than we would at Costco, but the service convenience makes it worthwhile.
Again, if someone out there has real experience and a strong opinion on VT’s policy I’d love to hear it.
@LoveTheBard I thought that they won’t actually be on sale for purchase until the fall. Are you sure they will be on sale in June and that it is not the release of info to get everyone hyped?
@STEM2017 I’ve actually used the info from VT’s site to help determine what is appropriate for an engineering student for both my boys. VT seems to publish some of the best info of any college - at least the ones I found. They seem to be ahead of the curve too in how they expect the laptops to be used for engineering.
For those getting Mac Airs, I would be hesitant to get one of the current ones with a discount at this point since they are basically 2 year old computers - it’s been that long since they’ve had a processor upgrade. 2 years old right now is probably not a big deal, but when they graduate it will be 6 years old. Just my $0.02
My son says he prefers the features of the Microsoft Surface Book, which costs $2,799.
I think the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is adequate, and it costs $1,657.
Any thoughts?
Here is the link to recommended engineering devices…
Lots of folks I’ve talked to say they prefer the Surface to any other tablet, whether iOS or Android—basically, whatever problems Microsoft has had the past several years, they got that one right. The problem, though, is the app infrastructure, which is sorely lacking.