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If you could pick any personal computer that you wanted, what would it be?


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My dd18 has been blessed with a fantastic scholarship for the upcoming year, and the organization funding it will provide anything that she needs for her education, up to $15,000. :hurray: She needs a computer (currently uses a netbook). If you could choose any computer, which one would it be? PC or Mac? Laptop or desk top? Bells and whistles you might recommend? She wants to be an English teacher, writer, journalist...Thank you for your suggestions.

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I would vote laptop, too. Portability is a big deal for school.

 

Operating system is really personal preference, and I don't think there's all that much difference in terms of software available anymore. (Some specialized software, yes, but not like only a few years ago when most things were only available for Windows.)

 

I would suggest hitting the various purveyors of personal technology and have her play with various systems.

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Thank you all. We just want to guide her in the wisest choice that will serve her well in college and beyond. It looks like an apple a day may be what the doctor ordered...and I hadn't thought of a wireless printer to go with it. The printer she uses is old and clunky and constantly running out of ink. I appreciate your help!

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and use the netbook if she every needs portability...my college students have NEVER needed to take a laptop to class...

 

If she has to have a laptop then hands down Macbook Pro.

 

Fewer issues than a PC laptop. If she ever needs MSWord it is available for Mac (so is the rest of MS Office)-- reasonable price for students.

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If it were *me* (and I'm a college student :D) I'd go with a MacBook Pro, with a wireless printer to go with it, and all the fancy upgrades she needs/wants. Go through the apple site and do the build your own computer site and read about all the different options. (You can do this once through without clicking buy at the end to get a feel for what there is).

 

Don't forget:

-a really good quality bag for carrying, she's going to want something JUST for her laptop and accessories. You don't want to throw your laptop in the same bag with a bunch of heavy books, or your lunch, or a leaky water bottle....

-a quality pair of headphones (no-this isn't just for listening to music, many of my classes have online components that include sound, and if you are on campus it's hard to hear without headphones- spending $100 once on a good pair of headphones is better than spending $20 over and over again on a crappy pair of headphones and being without in between).

-word processing software. The macbook will come with the apple software, but she should go ahead and get the PC compatible programs also.

- a couple of extra flash drives if she doesn't have any. These come in handy for transferring work to on campus computers, and more importantly, when you have to do in class presentations you can put the presentation on a flash drive and bring it to class with you. (But let her know this- ALWAYS have your presentation available in at least two methods. Flash drive and then email it to yourself, in case one way doesn't work.)

-an extra power source could be really useful also if she thinks she'll be using her laptop to take notes in class and such. Some classrooms don't have many plugs, and the worst thing is getting halfway through class and your battery dying, or setting up in the perfect study place only to find that the nearest plug is miles away and your computer only has a half hour of battery time left.

 

Obviously none of this is absolutely necessary, but if she has the money, these accessories will make life a little easier. These are the things that I use regularly on campus. If you have to pick, I'd say headphones and flash drives are the two most important- depending on the class, sometimes I use my headphones daily, and my flashdrives weekly.

 

Before you buy a printer- you may want to check with the technology center. Many schools offer a certain amount of free printing to students. My school gives us 200 pages a week. A WEEK! And they up it during finals week. I use it for my school work and a bunch of DD's school work and still barely get close to the limit. :lol: It's black and white printing only, you have to pay for color printing, but it's cheap enough that on the few occasions I want to print something in color I pay.

 

And speaking of checking with technology, before buying a mac, I'd talk to them and make sure she's gonna have an easy time switching back and forth between a mac and the on campus computers, whatever they are. If students have a lot of problems getting their papers and such onto the campus network from macs, it may be worth it to go with a PC.

 

OH YEAH! One more thing, i promise :D, check with the school for a discount. My school offers discounts with a couple different companies for the purchase of computers. It's not huge, but if you're spending big money, even 10% adds up.

 

Wow. What a novel....

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I'd get a Macbook Pro, too. Check with the college bookstore- a lot of them can get you a decent discount on certain computers. I bought my Mac laptop back in, oh, around 2007 at my college bookstore, and got over a hundred bucks off. I'd think a Mac would be better for an aspiring writer, too. With publishing companies and agents now expecting an author to have an established internet presence, your dd will need to be able to run a good blog, utilize social media, etc., and imo, a Mac is much better for all that.

 

Also, if you buy any pricey software packages, check with the bookstore on that, too. I know that where I went, we could get Office for, like, ten bucks though the school. A lot of colleges offer free antivirus programs, too.

 

I'd definitely go with a laptop over a desktop. She may not actually bring it to class, but she's probably going to need to bring it to the library to study, and to group projects, and if she needs to do a presentation in class, she'll need it for that... Almost everyone buys laptops for college now.

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I had no idea that Macbook Pro's were so popular. Where have I been?? Oh yeah, my dh is a die hard pc fan. It's all I know. We're going to have to sneak past him this time. :D I am so excited for dd!! Thanks again for your gracious help.

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A couple years ago, I would have said Macbook Pro, but now I'd say if she's even the least bit interested in techy stuff or a little bit knowledgeable, get a 12"-14" Windows notebook and dual-boot it with Ubuntu. And either a new Nexus 7 tablet, or one of the new Galaxy 2 10.1 tablets coming out (might have already).

 

My 4.5 yo netbook is still going strong with Ubuntu.

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I'm not techy at all so as long as the laptop WORKS and isn't slower than molasses, I'm cool. :glare: DS13, on the other hand, desperately wants a MacBookPro to do film editing. It is most certainly not going to happen since we literally JUST bought him a basic laptop for his school work a couple of months ago.

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). -word processing software. The macbook will come with the apple software, but she should go ahead and get the PC compatible programs also.

 

I don't know if other people have had this happen as well, but I have found Pages (mac version of MS Word) to be more compatible with actual MS Word than the "MS Word for Mac" program :confused:

 

Another vote for a macbook!

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