Recommendations re college freshmen's laptop? (Update - Macs chosen)

[SKL]

My kids need new laptops for college.  They will be pursuing a business degree and a psych degree.  I asked the school if they have any particular requirements for what kind of laptop to buy, but they said that for these degrees, it's the students' preference, as long as they have stuff like Word & Excel.

Does anyone have any recommendations?  Obviously I don't want to mortgage a house for this, but I do want something that will be good throughout their bachelor's & master's degree at least.

Thanks!

*Update - someone revived this thread so I thought I should post the resolution.  The girls chose Macs, so that's what they got.  So far so good.  🙂

Edited September 27 by SKL

[Arcadia]

Usually schools have Office 365 accounts for students once they are officially enrolled in the college. However, if you want personal accounts, I pay $9.99 per month for a family account and the storage is very generous. My teens and my husband just use their Microsoft (outlook, hotmail) emails to login to Office 365.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products

As for the laptops, what is your budget since all you need is an entry level laptop. Also the size and weight if they are commuting from home. I have a heavy 15.6” laptop and it is a pain on public transport. DS19 also uses a 15.6” laptop but his is lighter and he stay in the dorm during the academic year. 

[prairiewindmomma]

We got our kids 13” macs. They tuck into backpacks easily, have long battery life, and they are really reliable. Upgrade the RAM a bit, and you should be good to go through grad school.

[SKL]

My kids had said they wanted macs, but my friend says macs don't work well with Office apps.

I agree with looking for something lightweight ... yet reasonable sturdy.  Small size should be OK ... they spent the last 4 years using Chromebooks, which are smaller than any other laptop I've had.

[catz]

I’d google their colleges website before I spent money.  There are often recommendations buried somewhere and info about tools they may provide.   Some schools will provide window tools, some recommend google tools, etc    
 

I would personally go with a PC unless you have particular need for an apple.  Generally more affordable and flexible.  Apples can be targeted for theft on campus.  Many employers use PCs so just having good comfort in that environment is good and I feel like the jump to an apple is easier than the other way.  And we do own apple products as well so I’m not anti apple.  
 

if they are commuting and will be taking laptops to campus regularly , check the weight.  The larger laptops can be bricks.   We ended up downsizing my older kid’s  giant gaming laptop shortly after he got to his big campus.  That was an older laptop so it wasn’t super tragic, but it would be a bummer to get something that immediately didn’t work well for needs.  They shouldn’t need anything super fancy for those majors.  

[wintermom]

Is the laptop going to be their only computer, or will they also have a desktop? I'd look for something that can run statistical programs like SPSS, as some universities provide student accounts (at least mine did during COVID). I think some programs are available online, like R. Business courses may use Stata, while Psychology might use SPSS. 

I'd avoid a Chrome book as it just isn't flexible enough. At least I found it a real pain. Perhaps there are extensions your can add. A laptop just seems more straightforward. And everyone who was using a Mac in classes always had issues in compatibility with different software programs (bibliography building software).

[regentrude]

Many of my students use tablets or laptops that convert to tablets for taking notes in class. For anything that involves equations or sketches, typing on a keyboard isn't practical. 

[DawnM]

8 hours ago, SKL said:

My kids had said they wanted macs, but my friend says macs don't work well with Office apps.

I agree with looking for something lightweight ... yet reasonable sturdy.  Small size should be OK ... they spent the last 4 years using Chromebooks, which are smaller than any other laptop I've had.

One of my sons has a Mac and uses all of that without an issue.   He is a business major.   For my other son, he needed a PC as he is a computer programming major.

[mmasc]

We got our ds a Mac laptop. It has served him well. He hasn’t had a problem using it for anything that has been required—canvas, blackboard, google docs, a class that was all Microsoft Office applications, etc. 

[almondbutterandjelly]

We had gotten our dd a Dell laptop for college, but it died after a couple years.  She went to Mac and it's a workhorse.  No problems running Office.  For grad school, she is also needing a tablet to use some app that allows them to take notes on their professor's slides directly onscreen, but she didn't need that for undergrad.

[prairiewindmomma]

SPSS has a mac version. Most programs do. Ds, in his last year of engineering school, needed to do a thing that required a PC for a corporate client. He simply used a desktop at home. NBD. 
 

In the lifetime we have had our oldest macbook, we’ve had the following non-mac laptops fail between the six of us: 2 dells, a HP, 2 lenovos and an asus. Dh swore up and down macs were for artsy fartsy folks with no place in real computing. And then, about four years ago, he switched and has been really really happy. Turns out he could do all he wanted to and his battery lasted five hours longer with his macbook which meant he wasnt forever plugging in while traveling through his work day from meeting to meeting.YMMV, but I recommend letting your kids pick what they want.

Regentrude’s point about tablets and writing equations is spot on… but paper + converting to digital images is a work around or some kids just reference posted notes/slides from the professor. Two of mine just seem to listen and already understand and dont take notes. 🙄. It’s all in how your student learns and how their brain works.

[AmandaVT]

I love my MacBook air. DS has one, too - not in college, but he is enrolled with WTMA, and all of his classes and schoolwork are online. I'm on year 5 with my Air, and it hasn't seemed to lose any battery length or processing speed, um, speed? (still just as fast, and the battery lasts almost all day) 

I have a stupid HP laptop for work that I only use for printing now because it was so slow and the battery only lasted a couple of hours (can't print on the school network with my home computer, so I keep the HP for when I need to print)

[KidsHappen]

I have an 11" Lenovo ThinkPad that I love. This is my second one. The first one lasted about 10 years and I loved it so much that I bought another. The new one has Windows 11 and I don't like that quite as much but I would have that with any PC. It is very light weight and I can carry it everywhere in my purse. It has all the basic programs: word, excel, micro soft office.

[sbgrace]

My business student got a Surface Pro. His school recommended that business students have a PC rather than Mac, though he could have used a Mac and then work arounds for Excel I believe. 

He's happy with it, so we got one for his brother to take to school as well. 

[TerezaM]

Well, I chose a Mac because it seemed to be a better option. There is no need to take Pro, and Air will be good. 
I have a MacBook Air with an m1 chip, and it works perfectly fine.
It's light so it's comfortable to take it everywhere. It was a little bit hard on the beginning after years of using Windows, but I managed to find some good sources which helped me. For my studies, I use a lot of things, and pretty often, I have to take screenshots. One article helped me to understand how to change the default filename of screenshots, and now it's so easy and fast to find the screenshots I need. And in general I like Mac more and more.

Edited September 30 by TerezaM

[Kidlit]

My college kids both have Macs but I do know that everything doesn't work with Macs.  My chem/bio major also has an iPad for note taking and uses it a lot. 

[The Governess]

My college age girls and I all have macbooks. I use word and powerpoint daily - both work great. Excel works fine too although I don’t use it as much now as I used to.

We have had almost no issues. My youngest had to replace her battery after 4 years. My oldest has had hers for 7 years and it is still going strong. They are worth the investment IMO.

[SKL]

My kids chose Macs, so that's what they have.  Seems to have been a good choice so far.