<p>Hey Im about to buy a laptop for next year at Princeton...any suggestions from current or other '13'ers?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Apple Macbook. Practical, user-friendly, and amazing.</p>
<p>I’m getting a Macbook.</p>
<p>They offer computers through princeton, so I would wait until you get an netid to buy a new computer. They offer macbooks, macbook pros, dells, and a tablet. I would recommend the macbook. If you buy it through their site its a slight discount, but mostly OIT can do the warranty repairs and it comes all set up to run on their network.</p>
<p>okay cool…i stopped by best buy last night and they were pushing for me to get a macpro which is in my price range (2k- 3k) Im just worried that since Im goin for engineering that the ‘art/graphic’ inclined mac is not as well suited for me…does this stereotype hold true?</p>
<p>also, do you know when we get our net id’s so we can purchase through princeton?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>it’ll be late may</p>
<p>MacBook Pro. I would just stay away from all PCs right now.</p>
<p>haha I bought a dell latitude (e6500) and i’m very glad that I did so I would recommend it to anyone (of course, I use Linux… so I’m guessing I’m a mintority here :P)</p>
<p>Get a lenovo thinkpad or dell latitude. They’re cheaper, always on sale, and they’re high quality, well-built computers.</p>
<p>If you purchase a computer through a third party, would OIT be able to add on the software (That they mention on their website that is included with all computers purchased through them) free of charge?</p>
<p>they will install matlab for you (one of the things that they mention), the install is available online as well. I’m pretty sure you have to buy endnote from them. I’m not sure about mathematica-- it used to not be free, but I think that princeton bought student licenses so that it now is. They obviously will not install microsoft office for you free. I’m not sure what other software is included.</p>
<p>definitely, definitely, definitely buy through OIT. You get a slight discount, a bunch of convenient software (MSOffice, etc, etc), and you get 3-4 years of warranty. Totally worth it.</p>
<p>Plus, if you are on financial aid and you’re getting outside scholarships, you can use those scholarships towards a one-time purchase of a computer. I got a Macbook pro for FREE, from scholarship money that would have otherwise just been absorbed into my “grant” money. </p>
<p>And as for which model, definitely get a Mac, even if you are an engineer. OIT will give you Mac versions of all the software you’ll need as part of the “Math, Science, and Engineering” software package. I think they just did a study and over 50% of Princeton students use Macs, and the number is growing.</p>
<p>JTCoo7, thanks for the info…Do you know of any instances where an engineer has regretted buying a macpro instead of windows system? In the same token, do you know anyone who has bought a windows system and wished they’d bought a macpro?</p>
<p>if you buy the computer through OIT you can get them to install windows on it as well, for what I think is a very nominal fee (maybe $40?).</p>
<p>JTC007 - I am interested in the computer for free idea! How did you find out that you could use the outside scholarships for a computer purchase? Did they increase your grant to compensate for using part of your outside scholarships for a computer?</p>
<p>If you win an outside scholarship, your grant will increase up to a certain point. It’ll first take away your campus job and summer savings obligation (so money you would earn from those sources that you would normally spend on school-related things like books, food, flights, etc. is no longer necessary). After that whole amount is covered, if you still have scholarship money remaining, you can use that toward a one-time purchase of a computer through OIT. Note that this doesn’t mean that you’ll always get a free computer–if your scholarship funds are less than the cost of the computer, you’ll just be getting that much of a discount–and that scholarship money will go toward campus job/summer savings before a computer.
([Princeton</a> University | Financial Aid FAQ](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/financial_aid_faqs/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/financial_aid_faqs/))</p>
<p>If you have any other questions though, feel free to PM. I’m a rising senior on FA…</p>
<p>Thanks quirkily for explaining the whole outside scholarship deal better than I did.</p>
<p>As for the other questions about engineers and Macs: I was enrolled in the BSE program last year and took the normal slate of classes, including the intro class for ChemE (CHE 245). I also took ORF 245, the intro ORFE class (statistics). I needed some programs for these classes, but they were all on my Mac as part of the Math, Science and Engineering package they give for free. </p>
<p>I am now an English major (go figure), so I can’t speak from experience from sophomore year on. But I took a lot of tours of the Engineering departments and saw them all at work in the core labs, and it looks like you use Princeton’s computers in the labs, not really your own. So I wouldn’t call Macs incompatible with Engineering at all, and you won’t be alone if you get one.</p>
<p>I am with JTC007 go through the U. D did and having the extras they give you plus the help if needed is useful.</p>
<p>When do we buy the laptop from Princeton? When we arrive at Princeton or do we have to order before hand somehow?</p>
<p>You buy anything on the SCI website until you get your netid (your e-mail address), but before that (if I remember correctly) you’ll get a mailing about SCI computers, etc. I think I ordered mine as early as possible, and I got it in the mail sometime in July, which gave me some time to get used to it over the summer.</p>