[MacBook]Purchasing a Macbook Pro

Not completely, it's a straight up discount, it used to be a percent but not anymore, now its a set amount.

As for using one thats debatable. A lot of mac users say it's easier, a lot of PC users disagree. Personally I think HP is best way to go for students, my tablet was normally $1899 and I got it via the APP store (HP's student discount program) for $1200. It can do all that a mac can do and more. Depending on how much you wanna spend and what you wanna do. Personally I think buying a mac is more of a statement of how much money you can waste and not about preference. I'd say if you decide to go the mac route don't go through retailers, the Apple Store will set you up, and definitely get the Apple Care. BestBuy does sell macs at decent prices, but I'd hate for you to deal with those idiots in blue (I used to be one).

 

I don't really get why computers/OS's make people act defensive or arrogant. I didn't buy a Mac to make a statement or to waste money. In fact it was totally about preference. I felt it was worth it to pay a higher price for a different computing experience. I don't know why it's hard to comprehend. We don't all buy the same car. We don't all use our cars for the same thing. And we all place different values on an automobile. If you gave me an infinite amount of money I still wouldn't buy a Ferrari just because I don't give a crap about cars. I can totally understand why others would. Whether it's worth the premium price is up to you. The same goes for computers. When it came time to buy a new computer (lifelong Windows user here), I weighed all my options and decided to go to an Apple store and play around w/ a Mac for 30 minutes. I really took to it and don't regret taking the plunge. I am a heavy computer user and wanted the best experience possible, and I personally found Apple was better for me.

For such an expensive and (possibly) heavily used piece of equipment, I would definitely recommend that you do the same: go to a friend who owns one or an actual Apple store and play around w/ one for 30 minutes, take it for a test drive, do some of your normal routines, and decide if it's something you like...and of course, if it's something you're willing to pay for.

Finally, if you do take the plunge, wait until the school buying season (July - Sept?) when Apple gives a serious deal to students. When I bought my Macbook last summer it was $100 off PLUS a free iPod nano (or add ~$70 for a new iPod). Not to mention I think they are having major revisions to the Macbook Pros and regular Macbooks which will also coincide w/ the summer season...I would do a little research on that. AFAIK student discounts are the same across the board and it doesn't matter if you buy in store or not.

 

I agree whole heartily here. The best thing is don't listen to those that use either one. Mac users will tell you that they don't get viruses (which is a farse, just because you don't know they are there doesn't mean they aren't) and PC users who usually rave about Vista tend to have higher end machines. Hell, don't even listen to Linux users, nobody else does.

Try what you want out, and above all ask those in your industry what they use. One of my friends was considering a macbook and found out his entire office uses PC, so he went the other way. Whatever your degree is (will be) in is a good indicator of what you should buy 9/10 times.

 

I got a dell 2 years ago when they had that 750 dollar coupon when you spend 2000. so i loaded it up and got the 3 year warranty too.

1. being a college student, i dont have money to spend on apple products.

2. there's a lot of small shareware/freeware software that i find and use on a daily basis that's not really available for mac. i see people running around going.."is there a mac version..no?" plus it's easier for find cracked stuff on torrents for windows. lol

3. some parts of the Mac OS just bugs me. I am picky about some minor minor things that I just can't deal with. like how the maximize button in mac doesn't want to full screen things. apple believes in having lots of windows open everywhere but i like to focus on 1 window at a time so i am not distracted. then there's other stuff like X doesnt mean completely quit the program, no taskbar, the menus don't appear on each window etc.

i am thinking about getting one maybe next year since i am starting to use less programs on the computer. down to just the internet/email/word/calendar.

it's not that xp is way better or any of that. i just dislike xp less.

 

The problem with the student discounts is that the Apple online store charges tax. One an item that expensive, the tax can end up meaning you pay more than if you paid the non-student price at an online retailer like MacMall or the like.

 

When you buy a Mac, you aren't just buying the hardware/software. You are also getting the service that not very many PC's offer. You can't walk up to an HP or Dell store to find out what is wrong with your computer. When you buy a Mac you can go to any Applestore for a workshop or have a one on one appointment with an Apple Genius to help troubleshoot. I travel a lot so when something goes wrong with my Mac(which is rarely - I went once in 3 years for my laptop) I can go to any Applestore and have them take a look. That's just something you can't do with an HP, Dell, or any other PC. Yes it may cost more for a Mac but you get that peace of mind knowing you can drive to an Applestore nearby to check it out for you.

 

Discount is the same no matter what school, I believe. And it's pretty easy to pick up if you are familiar/proficient with computers in any way.

Disagree completely. I'm saying this as a PC user for all of my life and a Mac user for all of about 10 months.

Disagree with this as well. One thing I have learned is there is a lot of great, well designed software (often free) out there for the system.

This includes for torrents...y'know, if you are into that sort of thing.

 

LOL yeah Dude, torrent for five minutes on a PC and get software made by actual software manufacturers and tell me that they are not better than freeware, it's free for a reason.

What it comes down to, is those who really complain about PC's generally want to complain for no reason. I have Vista running on my laptop and desktop and I have a macbook (given to me). Guess what crashes and has never crashed? My Vista machines have yet to crash and my macbook is on it's last leg.

I guess 93% market share is not enough to really prove a point. I can't wait till the Nintendo Wii starts to steal mac's market share, they are gaining ground you know.

 

Whoa.. kinda defensive there, ain't we? I never said anything bad about PCs at all (like I said used them all my life) but your 'macs are a waste of money' is just too over the top.

And I stand by my statement about a lot of the mac software out there. I doubt you have used much of it (I know I didn't until recently). There's plenty of commercial stuff too, if that's all you want.

I haven't had any problems with Vista either (other than VPN issues I ran into at work the other day). But if you're actually tossing in 'Vista is great! Macs suck!' as discussion points than I don't think there's a point in trying.

 

I generally use PCs in my day-to-day computing, but I have Macs for video editing. I've not found anything that compares to Final Cut Studio in the PC world.

In the end, though, the computer is just a tool to do what I want or need to do. Judging by what I do, I could switch completely to Macs and not really miss out on anything I do.

But since it is just a tool, price has been a factor and that's kept me using PCs for my day-to-day stuff.

Everybody in L.A. makes fun of me when I whip out my Dell laptop, though, instead of a MacBook Pro.

 

majority of windows users dont know wat the hell they are doing.

microsoft is screwing themselves over. they need to put out a real good OS soon. you wait 5 years for vista and it turns out to be a disaster.

until then you are gonna get a lot of .."vista sucks, get a mac."

just today the girl next to me in class was like oh i am thinking about getting a mac. i was like why? she goes "oh i heard everything just works..all you have to do is plug it in and it's all just there."

then i was on office 2007 on my pc and i saved a file under the new format and office warned me saying it wont be compatible with the older version..she saw the warning and goes..see that wouldnt happen on a mac. i was like uh..u do know you have to use the same office on a mac too. lol

and to get technical isn't it "OS X vs. Windows", and not "PC vs. Mac?"

 

Exactly.

As in everything else, I find cheerleading/flame wars in this subject to be inane. Though I probably should have known better, but I was actually surprised at how bad it was once I started using a Mac/researching a bit.

Some of the fanboy crap is ridiculous.

And I'm saying that as someone who reads a lot of video game message boards.

 

I'm a Mac lifer in a PC world, so any arguments that I don't know what I'm doing are plain silly.

I bought a PC when Apple was switching to Intel processors, and I wanted to wait on any potential bugs to be worked out. My next computer will, thank GOD, be a Mac once again.

I'm certainly not a Windows know-it-all, and I've had to cope with a learning curve over the ~2 years since I bought this thing. It generally works....okay. I don't have any major complaints, I don't guess. I still hate the damn thing. It just seems so....bloated. Loaded down with crap I had to painstakingly figure out how to remove, whereas a Mac, like that girl said, 'just works.' That's one huge advantage Apple will always have over any PC manufacturer: Apple software working on Apple hardware, along with other software specifically designed to work on said Apple hardware. Not hardware made by one guy supporting an OS made by another guy, "featuring" ( ) a bunch of other software made by someone else. Its a lot more seamless, and though I generally hate quoting advertising slogans, it does feel like it "just works."

With a Mac, I never had to worry about adware, spyware, viruses, etc. I have to run a few different programs every couple weeks on the PC to clean all that crap out. Granted, I suppose you can hack and tweak a PC more than you can a Mac, if that's your thing. I may be wrong on that; I really don't know. Either way, thats never been my thing.

I'd encourage you to get a Mac, obviously. In the end, go with whatever makes you happy and makes the most sense for you.

 

OMG1!1!!! Vista rulleezz Macs sux0rz! How childish is this? I can understand rooting for sports teams...but multi-billion dollar corporations?

No one said a single negative thing about Vista, please don't bring the PC/Mac flame wars here...which everyone has been able to do besides you. This is exactly why I avoid Mac message boards...and reading this I assume Vista boards are full of the same crap.

 

i made the switch to my current macbook about a year ago, and even though it took me awhile to get used to it (i'm honestly still learning all the tricks to OSX), it's been one of the most satisfying purchases i've ever made. i used windows based pcs all my life up until then, not to mention i work in the IT field, so it'd be hard to pin me as someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.

i've yet to have any reason to take advantage of my apple care, but it's funny how comforting it is to know that whatever problem i may encounter, i know apple will take care of it. bottom line - the ease of use and peace of mind that comes with a mac makes it the clear winner for me, as its perfect for my personal use.

i don't think educational discounts differ by school, but i agree with the previous poster who said to wait until the summer sale season prior to the start of the fall semester. they've got great discounted deals that include the free nano, $100 off, etc.

p.s. the iphone/macbook combo for personal use has been awesome, as they sync seemlessly...might want to consider that for the soon to be released 3g iphone

 

Make sure you know the deals that are going on, because even at the Mac store you can deal with a stupid employee that doesn't mention you could get something free.

When I got mine I got a free i-pod, then I went back a week later to buy a friend one with my student discount and they got an i-pod and a PRINTER FREE! (yeah the deal was good a week before for my purchase too)... so it was a headache trying to get MY free printer so I said F it.

 

WAIT UNTIL June 3.

You're in luck! Wait until next week and score yourself some bonus schwag. As no_answer said, I forgot to mention I also got a free printer/scanner combo.