<p>Amazon is offering a $100 discount coupon for MacBooks, no sales tax in most states, and free shipping. Use ramseeker.com to find extra RAM and then install it yourself.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This from the latest issue of Apple eNews:
Reporting for Computer Shopper, Simon Aughton quotes from the blog of technology consultant Jack Campbell: Just over one-year ago, my company, DVForge, announced a $25,000 prize for the first virus developer who could infect two Power Mac G5 computers located in our office, Well, more than a year has passed. And, surprisingly (or not, to some of us), there is still not one self-replicating virus in the wild that attacks the Mac OS X operating system. Thats right, folks... not one.
[/quote]
This doesn't meam much. Claim the prize, go to jail.</p>
<p>PCs will also run Linux. I don't know of any application that the Mac will run that can't be replicated on the PC, not necessarily the same program, but the same capability. Viruses are easily controlled and most campus networks require you to run their suite of anti-virus programs. It is really a toss up these days, however, if you ever want to end up in a corporate environment, you better be highly PC literate. Most corporations (save media companies) don't allow Macs in the door. Now that Mac is running Intel chips, it will only be a short while before OS-X is available for all PCs, then the Apple marketing strangle hold will be broken and prices will come down to PC levels. </p>
<p>Selection criteria -- if you travel by plane, go less than 5 pounds. My D had an old 9 pounder and got a new Thinkpad that weighs 4.2 (14"). It's an amazing difference. Other than that, read the reviews on service and support, then shop price.</p>
<p>You'll find similar threads about many of the PCs as well. Laptops in particular are a love/hate relationship for many.</p>
<p>I think a students area of interest (intended major) has a significant influence on whether he/she would want to choose a PC or Mac. From my experience, PCs seem to be better for technical/science/engineering/business applications. Macs seem to be a better choice for art related fields. My suggestion would be to contact the specific college or department in which your student is enrolled and ask if the departments instructors have a preference.</p>
<p>a lot does dpend on the college- my D just graduated from a mac centric college- with a degree in bio- I think most students and profs actually have macs- a lot depends on what they were attached to before hand- although I expect many have left the * dark side* because Tiger is just so cool!</p>
<p>she is currently updating a manual to help students write their theses with LaTeX- she found LaTeX to be a great tool.
*LaTeX contains features for:</p>
<p>Typesetting journal articles, technical reports, books, and slide presentations.
Control over large documents containing sectioning, cross-references, tables and figures.
Typesetting of complex mathematical formulae.
Advanced typesetting of mathematics with AMS-LaTeX.
Automatic generation of bibliographies and indexes.
Multi-lingual typesetting.
Inclusion of artwork, and process or spot colour.
Using PostScript or Metafont fonts.*
<a href="http://www.latex-project.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.latex-project.org/</a></p>
<p>For equally equipped notebook Mac's and Windows-only-machines, the prices are about the same or lower for the Mac. Many university science and engineering departments make great use of Macs, and simply from a reliability and ease of use standpoint Mac OS X is superior. In my company, the management has switched to Macs: more secure, automatic configuration, fewer crashes, less IT support required, not much of a learning curve. Now that they dual boot Windows, the rest of the company is switching (some legacy Windows only vertical software is still used occasionally). Though individual iLife applications can be approximated, no other media software package sports the feature set, ease of use, price point, or the complete integration with one another that these applications offer. In this area, the Windows market lags far behind. The dominate business package is currently MS/Office which runs the same on both platforms.</p>