Stepson is going to university, year three. Homework is mostly essays (English major). Budge: $1,000 +/-. We are thinking about buying him a laptop for Christmas - anyone got any advice: good or bad?
The Apple MacBook starts at $1049 with the educational discount, and I believe you get a free iPod too.
I bought a very expensive Gateway for school when my total computer usage amounted to word processing.
Lasted 3 years…died 5 minutes before the bar exam.
Wised up this time around and bought a $700 Dell. Unless he wants to carry it around (everday…everywhere, not just the library), you’ll do okay on a Dell Inspiron, which in my experience has been both reasonably priced and problem-free. If he needs to carry it around (like I did), you’ll need to look into ultra-lights.
This month’s Consumer Reports does laptops.
I’m a fan of my Dell E1505. Customizable, but really affordable. I got nearly top of the line, every option they had, and it was a little over a grande. If you trim it down some, you can bring it under that easily.
I have a Dell Latitude that was purchased for slightly under $500 from some repair guy. I think the screen was replaced. <shrug> The computer’s not so bad. It could use some upgrades (memory, hard drive space), but those aren’t needs. Just wants. The comp’s compact and easy to carry - very convenient.
The real reason I’m posting: someone needs to look into what will be required for his classes. My sister (accounting major) just bought a laptop worth* $1100 or so. That wasn’t getting the best suggested spec’s for her classes, but it wasn’t the bare minimum either. Some of the architecture programs I’ve looked into strongly recommend that students purchase $3600 computers. Don’t throw money on an item that so quickly loses value if he’ll need to get a different one at some other point in his college experience. (IMHO, YMMV, etc.)
Upon preview, I reread that he’s an English major. Don’t forget to budget in software he’ll need if it’s not included in the package. I never bought Microsoft Office, which I could put to good use. It distresses me greatly. Someday I’ll work it into my budget. Wordpad has its limitations but is good enough for now.
*Dad currently works for a major computer company, so he got one hella good discount for her.
Unlike their desktop machines, Apple laptops are priced very competitively compared with PCs. And everyone I know who has one loves it with a fierce and primal devotion. So I’d recommend that.
However, if you do go with a PC, get a Dell laptop from the Dell outlet site. You can get a great deal if you figure out what you want and then check the listings for a few days.
Buy him or her an inexpensive ($500 or so) desktop “base unit” for his dorm room and one of these for taking notes in class or whatever.
I own an AlphaSmart Pro which isn’t nearly as powerful as the Dana, as it only does word processing, but it is very nice, very fast about booting up (because it has no moving parts other than the keyboard) and lasts 300 hours on two AA batteries (I kid you not).