OK, college computer, i'm gonna get a mac, what should i buy

[slydecix]

i think the whole "new computer for college" thing is overrated...

when i first got to college, i bought a new laptop... and i ended up trading it for a desktop and other stuff because i never needed the portability.

i think you should just hold onto that money for now and a few months after you get in, once you get better acquainted with the university's environment, then decide

 

[WarSong]

hmm, have you considered the 12.1 ibook with a PC combo? I'm not sure what type of IT job you are looking at but a PC might be of more use...

 

[dugweb]

wow man, i wish i had 3000 bones to get a comp... but deffinately get the combo holmes... youll be so happy with the small ibook, especially if your taking it back and froth between classes.

 

[Sid59]

i was viewing the apple.com/switch ads last night and i want a Mac. Damn marketing!

 

[yoda291]

I'm a very anti-mac person. I almost become ill whenever a mac comes near me, it's like kryptonite except it just makes me agitated. I mean, if you leave me and a mac in a room for an hour, only I will be leaving that room. Having said this, I'll try and be impartial.

I say pocket the money and keep it in a bank acct. use the pc you have now and keep track of what would make you more productive. If you catch youself wishing your notes were digitized, get a low end powerbook or maybe a pda+keyboard. If you find you're not in your dorm room at all, always slumming in the library and constantly waiting for lab usage, get the expensive powerbook and switch your pc into an ftp server. Don't make a purchase until you know exactly what would help you the most. That's a terrible thing to do and I shake my head at parents who need to get the new machine for their student.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: LaSt

Originally posted by: Talon02
a PC

yeah basher, ever used one without thinking this thing is a peice the whole time? Well i really think i'm gonna spend a few 100 bux less, and get a 1.5 hour bat life 2.2 ghz machine that is the size of a 1000 page calculus textbook, and weighs 4x a much, and yes they are ugly as crap (<-- what most apple say about pcs period) all those laptops/desktops look great for style etc.

~Bryson

I take it you prefer Apple but your thread asks for suggestions.
I would spend two thousand and get a powerful PC (with a good monitor) and an used laptop, with a warranty, off ebay.

 

[deftron]

I would get a combo..


BUT a pc/mac combo


Get the iBook and build your own PC desktop

Having both will come in handy, especially if your're going to be majoring in a computer studies field

 

[NewSc2]

you can probably easily put together a decent computer for about $1000 (hell, they have those dell deals all the time for great computers for like $400, just do about $200 in upgrades and a $400 monitor and you're set)

you can then spend $2k on a 15" powerbook, or $1800 on one of those 12"ers (if you get school discounts you can get powerbooks for as low as $1500)

 

[Aceshigh]

I would definitley go for the combo. You got the power when you need it and the awesome mobility. Those 12.1 inch iBooks are so light!

 

[tantos]

Dude you're a freshman, u don't need such an expensive mac.

 

[flot]

Why would you drop $3000 on a computer your freshman year?!? That's a total waste of money. Computers depreciate faster than just about anything else out there. Trust me, the computers I took to school when I was a freshman were total doorstops by the time I graduated.

Why not spend $1500 now on a decent computer, save the rest, then in 2 years spend the other $1500 on a new one??

 

[Murpheeee]

Originally posted by: flot
Why not spend $1500 now on a decent computer, save the rest, then in 2 years spend the other $1500 on a new one??

Sounds like someone has money to burn

 

[XZeroII]

Your family must be incredibly rich if you can afford a $3,000 laptop for your freshman year. I would be looking through the BB ads for a $1000-$1200 PC laptop. Why would you want to spend that kind of money on an apple anyway? Pen and paper are so much cheaper (about $3000 cheaper). You will not get the chicks just because you have an apple.

 

[Reel]

Ask around if your school has a discount. I know many schools/departments throughout the country will get special deals for their students which can save you some money and might make one of the choices stand out more than the others.

 

[i3rYs0n]

ok, a few Q and A's

Q - why spend the money?
A - parents are gonna pay for it

Q - Why spend that much?
A - OK i know this is a tad execessive, but you can think of it this way too. Apple is very slow about updating there hardware, like every half year. If i spend 3300 on a lappy, i could use it for 2 years and have a top of the line lappy (or close to it), and then it would probably be worth like what 1000? That would be the same as buying a lowend laptop for 1300 ish, and use it for the first two years, and then again buy another lowend laptop for 1300 ish and use for the last two years. This way i would never get to use a top of the line laptop and prolly end up hating macs again cuz it would be slow.

Q - Why a mac?
A - I want one, you say Pc laptop, cheaper, better etc, but i want a lappy that last longer than 2 hours (dell 4150 - 2.2 ghz - 2 hours max) or (apple 17 inch PB - 4.5 hours ) or (ibook - 5-6 hours)

Q - Why else a mac?
A - OS X/unix period

Q - Why not get a ibook/pc combo
A - because the pc would go to waste, windows is gettin on my nerves, linux is too hard for me. I'm a very visual person, i like the look of osx and the look of the computer (imac, ibook, powerbook - cases)

End the end, i'm gonna get a mac, and those are my three choices as of now (unless apple upgrades its hardware), if i wanted a pc desktop i would take this piece of crap 1.33 thunderbird down to wilmington.

But i will not buy a pc lappy because of

portability vs speed, and battery life

- apple has it's fastest processer in a 1 inch case, although it is only a ghz, the risc processor does about 60% more work each clock cycle than the sisc pricessor (x86). And if i got a pentium i would be lookin at 2 inches of uglyness (sorry already said i was a visual person) and the case would be heavy, compared to the powerbook/ibook. And all of apples lappys last at least 2x as long as and pentium 4 lappy.

~Bryson

 

[i3rYs0n]

Originally posted by: ReelC00L
Ask around if your school has a discount. I know many schools/departments throughout the country will get special deals for their students which can save you some money and might make one of the choices stand out more than the others.

Also my grandma use to me a computer teacher, she can get me a laptop for the schools price (whatever they get it for from apple). And i know of some other people that work in the school system that could hook me up.

 

[Daniel]

The combo is a good choice but up the memory for sure.

 

[jcovercash]

Originally posted by: flot
Why would you drop $3000 on a computer your freshman year?!? That's a total waste of money. Computers depreciate faster than just about anything else out there. Trust me, the computers I took to school when I was a freshman were total doorstops by the time I graduated.

Why not spend $1500 now on a decent computer, save the rest, then in 2 years spend the other $1500 on a new one??

Macs dont depreciate in value like the pc's becuase mac hardware is updated as much as a pc. Why get a 1500 now and a 1500 later when you could get the imac and ibook now and havew a fast one, and slower yet portable model.

Plus if apple lowers their prices or updates their hardware, you can still sell the ibook and the most a 15% loss and then get the newer model and still have a nice desktop during the time you wait.

 

[jcovercash]

Originally posted by: ReelC00L
Ask around if your school has a discount. I know many schools/departments throughout the country will get special deals for their students which can save you some money and might make one of the choices stand out more than the others.

Apples student discount is only $50, unless you know someone on the inside.

 

[jcovercash]

Originally posted by: LaSt

Originally posted by: ReelC00L
Ask around if your school has a discount. I know many schools/departments throughout the country will get special deals for their students which can save you some money and might make one of the choices stand out more than the others.

Also my grandma use to me a computer teacher, she can get me a laptop for the schools price (whatever they get it for from apple). And i know of some other people that work in the school system that could hook me up.

DUDE I NEED TO TALK TO YOUR GRANDMA

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

How about not getting a mac? I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, but... you pay twice for half! Come on man, and you have a tiny amount of compatability too.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: LaSt
ok, a few Q and A's

Q - why spend the money?
A - parents are gonna pay for it

Q - Why spend that much?
A - OK i know this is a tad execessive, but you can think of it this way too. Apple is very slow about updating there hardware, like every half year. If i spend 3300 on a lappy, i could use it for 2 years and have a top of the line lappy (or close to it), and then it would probably be worth like what 1000? That would be the same as buying a lowend laptop for 1300 ish, and use it for the first two years, and then again buy another lowend laptop for 1300 ish and use for the last two years. This way i would never get to use a top of the line laptop and prolly end up hating macs again cuz it would be slow.

Q - Why a mac?
A - I want one, you say Pc laptop, cheaper, better etc, but i want a lappy that last longer than 2 hours (dell 4150 - 2.2 ghz - 2 hours max) or (apple 17 inch PB - 4.5 hours ) or (ibook - 5-6 hours)

Q - Why else a mac?
A - OS X/unix period

Q - Why not get a ibook/pc combo
A - because the pc would go to waste, windows is gettin on my nerves, linux is too hard for me. I'm a very visual person, i like the look of osx and the look of the computer (imac, ibook, powerbook - cases)

End the end, i'm gonna get a mac, and those are my three choices as of now (unless apple upgrades its hardware), if i wanted a pc desktop i would take this piece of crap 1.33 thunderbird down to wilmington.

But i will not buy a pc lappy because of

portability vs speed, and battery life

- apple has it's fastest processer in a 1 inch case, although it is only a ghz, the risc processor does about 60% more work each clock cycle than the sisc pricessor (x86). And if i got a pentium i would be lookin at 2 inches of uglyness (sorry already said i was a visual person) and the case would be heavy, compared to the powerbook/ibook. And all of apples lappys last at least 2x as long as and pentium 4 lappy.

~Bryson

You've been living under a rock man. The dell has a low battery life because it is so much faster than the crapple. If the RISC does more, then why are macs constantly owned in benchmarks? AMD's do 9 IPC, compared to the 6 of a P4, so it's the same difference. Have fun finding any decent software for the mac, too. How does a crapple last "2x as long as a pentium 4 lappy"? The P4 laptop has more compatability and more speed, and probably less of a price, too. By the way, for the OS argument, the NT kernel has never crashed for me in over 20 months. (I'm kind of going backwards here, bear with me). Just because mac doesn't update it's hardware too much doesn't mean that you still have a top-of-the-line laptop! They just make you think you do.

 

[Evadman]

Since I am not a MAC guy, and I do not wish to impose my biased views on the poll, I respectfully request a "show me the results of this poll" or some such option.

 

[jcovercash]

Originally posted by: Jmmsbnd007

Originally posted by: LaSt
ok, a few Q and A's

Q - why spend the money?
A - parents are gonna pay for it

Q - Why spend that much?
A - OK i know this is a tad execessive, but you can think of it this way too. Apple is very slow about updating there hardware, like every half year. If i spend 3300 on a lappy, i could use it for 2 years and have a top of the line lappy (or close to it), and then it would probably be worth like what 1000? That would be the same as buying a lowend laptop for 1300 ish, and use it for the first two years, and then again buy another lowend laptop for 1300 ish and use for the last two years. This way i would never get to use a top of the line laptop and prolly end up hating macs again cuz it would be slow.

Q - Why a mac?
A - I want one, you say Pc laptop, cheaper, better etc, but i want a lappy that last longer than 2 hours (dell 4150 - 2.2 ghz - 2 hours max) or (apple 17 inch PB - 4.5 hours ) or (ibook - 5-6 hours)

Q - Why else a mac?
A - OS X/unix period

Q - Why not get a ibook/pc combo
A - because the pc would go to waste, windows is gettin on my nerves, linux is too hard for me. I'm a very visual person, i like the look of osx and the look of the computer (imac, ibook, powerbook - cases)

End the end, i'm gonna get a mac, and those are my three choices as of now (unless apple upgrades its hardware), if i wanted a pc desktop i would take this piece of crap 1.33 thunderbird down to wilmington.

But i will not buy a pc lappy because of

portability vs speed, and battery life

- apple has it's fastest processer in a 1 inch case, although it is only a ghz, the risc processor does about 60% more work each clock cycle than the sisc pricessor (x86). And if i got a pentium i would be lookin at 2 inches of uglyness (sorry already said i was a visual person) and the case would be heavy, compared to the powerbook/ibook. And all of apples lappys last at least 2x as long as and pentium 4 lappy.

~Bryson

You've been living under a rock man. The dell has a low battery life because it is so much faster than the crapple. If the RISC does more, then why are macs constantly owned in benchmarks? AMD's do 9 IPC, compared to the 6 of a P4, so it's the same difference. Have fun finding any decent software for the mac, too. How does a crapple last "2x as long as a pentium 4 lappy"? The P4 laptop has more compatability and more speed, and probably less of a price, too. By the way, for the OS argument, the NT kernel has never crashed for me in over 20 months. (I'm kind of going backwards here, bear with me). Just because mac doesn't update it's hardware too much doesn't mean that you still have a top-of-the-line laptop! They just make you think you do.

I think your speaking through your ass, I used to be like that.
I have seen the performance of apples high end products and its really amazing.

Try ripping a dvd on a G4 1ghz apple, compared to a 2 ghz P4. The time difference is amazing.
Bettery life is way more important than performance. I would sacrifice 2ghz of pc speed for the awsome power of a 1ghz g4 and get 3 more hours of life, and still have the performance to boot.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: AMDman12GHz

Originally posted by: Jmmsbnd007

Originally posted by: LaSt
ok, a few Q and A's

Q - why spend the money?
A - parents are gonna pay for it

Q - Why spend that much?
A - OK i know this is a tad execessive, but you can think of it this way too. Apple is very slow about updating there hardware, like every half year. If i spend 3300 on a lappy, i could use it for 2 years and have a top of the line lappy (or close to it), and then it would probably be worth like what 1000? That would be the same as buying a lowend laptop for 1300 ish, and use it for the first two years, and then again buy another lowend laptop for 1300 ish and use for the last two years. This way i would never get to use a top of the line laptop and prolly end up hating macs again cuz it would be slow.

Q - Why a mac?
A - I want one, you say Pc laptop, cheaper, better etc, but i want a lappy that last longer than 2 hours (dell 4150 - 2.2 ghz - 2 hours max) or (apple 17 inch PB - 4.5 hours ) or (ibook - 5-6 hours)

Q - Why else a mac?
A - OS X/unix period

Q - Why not get a ibook/pc combo
A - because the pc would go to waste, windows is gettin on my nerves, linux is too hard for me. I'm a very visual person, i like the look of osx and the look of the computer (imac, ibook, powerbook - cases)

End the end, i'm gonna get a mac, and those are my three choices as of now (unless apple upgrades its hardware), if i wanted a pc desktop i would take this piece of crap 1.33 thunderbird down to wilmington.

But i will not buy a pc lappy because of

portability vs speed, and battery life

- apple has it's fastest processer in a 1 inch case, although it is only a ghz, the risc processor does about 60% more work each clock cycle than the sisc pricessor (x86). And if i got a pentium i would be lookin at 2 inches of uglyness (sorry already said i was a visual person) and the case would be heavy, compared to the powerbook/ibook. And all of apples lappys last at least 2x as long as and pentium 4 lappy.

~Bryson

You've been living under a rock man. The dell has a low battery life because it is so much faster than the crapple. If the RISC does more, then why are macs constantly owned in benchmarks? AMD's do 9 IPC, compared to the 6 of a P4, so it's the same difference. Have fun finding any decent software for the mac, too. How does a crapple last "2x as long as a pentium 4 lappy"? The P4 laptop has more compatability and more speed, and probably less of a price, too. By the way, for the OS argument, the NT kernel has never crashed for me in over 20 months. (I'm kind of going backwards here, bear with me). Just because mac doesn't update it's hardware too much doesn't mean that you still have a top-of-the-line laptop! They just make you think you do.

I think your speaking through your ass, I used to be like that.
I have seen the performance of apples high end products and its really amazing.

Try ripping a dvd on a G4 1ghz apple, compared to a 2 ghz P4. The time difference is amazing.
Bettery life is way more important than performance. I would sacrifice 2ghz of pc speed for the awsome power of a 1ghz g4 and get 3 more hours of life, and still have the performance to boot.

Maybe it's because P4s suck? Crapple sucks, face it. There are too many benchmarks to prove it. The only time it wins is in photochop. By the way, where's the software for mac? That's what I thought.