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[3man75]

Hi I'm a student in college and I'm interested with the idea of buying a lap top.

I don't know if I want to buy a 800$ apple laptop or something else. I've heard that macs are for smart people ( is the quality that good or is this just hype?) And Microsoft is for the masses (worse quality/full of viruses.)

I'm making my decisions based off worth. I don't mind going for an expensive laptop as long as it pays me back with good service. So any advice or information on these brands? Or is there an even better laptops for college students that I have no idea about.

[nenjin]

I've heard that macs are for smart people ( is the quality that good or is this just hype?) And Microsoft is for the masses (worse quality/full of viruses.)

You've been listening to hipster idiots.

Tech is not about how smart it makes you look. It's about what it can do for you.

Figure out what you want a laptop to be able to do well, and start from there. (I'm not going to bother rattling off what you should get if you don't know what you want it for other than "College!".) That those are the things you've heard tell me the people you're listening to don't know or care what their tech can do either, they're focused on it as a status symbol. Stop listening to fucking morons who don't know tech from their own asshole. Apples devices can get viruses just like PCs.

[10ebbor10]

First off, I would start checking for the partnerships your college might have with any providers and such. Usually, that nets you a well working computer.

Now, first off, Mac's aren't for smart people. Mac's are for people who want a decent-good computer, and are willing to pay a significant premium for it. If you know where to look, you can usually find a PC that's equal or better for cheaper. If you don't, well, ...

The other thing to notice too is that a Mac will have software comparability conflicts.

[Frumple]

It's definitely a question of what you want to do. Most college students can very much easily get everything they need for college out of a piddly sub-$300 laptop that manages text editing, maybe a little multimedia editing, internet, and basically nothing else. In some ways, it's even better for them to run cheap, since there's less they can run on it and it's more difficult to make it both a distraction from schoolwork and an expensive distraction from schoolwork -- plus if something goes wrong (like a particularly bad roommate that manages to defile the machine to the point of non-functioning, or whathaveyou) it's considerably less of a loss.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a cheapo machine, maybe even second-hand, and set aside whatever extra you were intending to spend for after college, when you'll have a better idea of exactly what sort of machine you'll need for work or leisure, as well as being in a situation that's considerably less likely to have something go wrong (you'll also be considerably more likely to be able to get a notably stronger machine for the same price at that point, for what it's worth).

Other than that, listen to the folks above me -- their words are truth.

[Phmcw]

I hate Mac buisness model and pricing, but they offer two things you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else.


First they offer a convivial, ergonomic and hassle free unix-based (so sane) operating system.
Second they offer one of the best middle ground for solidity, design, battery life and weight available. And their screens are exellent.


Windows machines allow for a beeter power/price ratio, but the quality of the laptop can be a gamble and I cannot recomand any brand (never found a really good one).
My approach is ussually to buy a cheap, expendable computer : you can have 3 for the 1500€ that a mac cost and have comparable processing power to the then current mac model. If it break you buy a new one.


If you have the money buy a mac. Else buy a cheap windows machine and if you're interested in informatics, dual boot it with Linux.

[i2amroy]

As a person who has used both types here's my take on it.

When you want a windows:

• If you want a top of the line, awesome laptop. (Since it's cheaper for a better one, so your money will get you a better one).
• If you just "need a laptop". Most college students don't actually need much more then microsoft word and internet access, something that any cheap laptop will have.
• If price is a big issue. Macs are expensive, and windows are not.

When you want a mac:

• If you need better support. Personally having experienced both windows and mac support, I'd definitely take the mac one. Also for a bit extra mac's will give you a 3 year warranty, which is coincidentally about the time a lot of parts sometimes start to break down. Personally I've saved something like $400 because in the last few months before the warranty expired I basically replaced like half of my laptop with new parts, completely for free.
• If you are working in the graphic design/music fields it might be better to get a mac, since the majority of "professional" programs in those fields are designed for macs.
• If for some reason you need to be able to access programs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Mac's can be easily set up to be double or even triple booted, and a lot of mac stores will even do all the installation required for you for very cheap/free if you ask them. Trying to get mac running on windows hardware is a much more trying experience (though still possible), and has a lot more drawbacks since windows doesn't officially support it (while mac officially supports the hardware/driver side of boot camp).

Other things you should factor in/look into:

• Does your campus have a on-campus store? If so what is it? Having an on-campus store makes getting your laptop fixed so much easier if something goes horribly wrong, and they often have big education discount deals if you buy through them.
• What education pricing is offered. As a college student you can usually drop anywhere from $20 - $200 off of most laptop prices.
• Are you planning on using this mainly for college, or for personal use? If you are planning on gaming with the computer you will definitely want a Windows computer, short of dual-booting a mac. (Which costs as much as you need to spend to get the Windows OS, and maybe another $30 or so for the support programs, which make life so much easier).
  

Things that seem like they might matter, but usually don't:

• Future moddability. Laptops are pretty much built in one piece, and mac has done enough that their laptops are just as changeable after purchase as most windows ones are (i.e., swap out ram and the hard drive).
• What programs you need to run. Unless you are a Computer Science or Engineering Major, you'll almost certainly be able to get whatever programs you need in a mac as well as a windows version. If you are a CS major then you can get things to work on mac, but it often takes a bit of extra work (which probably shouldn't daunt you since you are a CS major). If you are a Engineering Major you can still get a mac, but you should probably get in the habit of using remote desktop into the college servers unless you want to dual boot your computer. A lot of engineering programs are windows only, sadly.

[3man75]

Thank you all for your help. I'll go do some more research on it and see what becomes of it. Personally I'm not tech savvy at 20 due to how complex computers are and how expensive the "helps" seem to be.

[AlleeCat]

You could always do what I saw a lady at the library do the other day and get one of those all-in-one Macs with the computer built into the monitor and carry that around with you. Sure, you don't have a a battery on that, but think of the increased processing pahahaha I can't.

[BFEL]

A smudge on my screen made me read the thread title as "vs other faptops" I was very confuse.

That's all.

Return to the topic at hand.

[alexandertnt]

All the PC's suggested are substantially larger (15.6" vs 11"), and thus may be less appropriate for the OP's situation, for example if you walk long distances to and from college. Barring Atom-powered netbooks (which might actually be worth considering), similarly sized and specced PC's end up in a similar price range. Keep in mind that the small form factor of the Air/similar-laptops is a plus for the people looking at these sorts of computers. The graphics cards are useless deadweight unless you actually intend to use it for gaming, which depends on the OP.

The Toshiba has abysmal battery life ("Up to 3 hours, 4 minutes"), and the slow mechanical hard drive will be more of a detriment to non-gaming activities than the integrated graphics would be. The dedicated graphics appear to be about 50% faster than the integrated graphics on the Air, a bit helpful for gaming I suppose but hardly a game changer.

The Asus gaming laptop is better, up to 5 hours, but the Air nearly doubles that. If your not indending to game on it, then the extra CPU/GPU does nothing other than add weight, size and lower battery time. Still uses a slow and clunky HDD. If you were intending to game regularly, it looks pretty solid. But if you already have a PC to game with, or are just not interested in gaming, then it's only slightly cheaper than the Air.

The refurb dell you linked to has an ancient Sandy Bridge processor (4 year old architecture). The processor would probably not be that much faster than the much newer one in the Air, and the integrated graphics in the Air is considerably faster, which would ironically make the Air the more capable gaming laptop here. The older processor is also rated at 3 times the power consumption (45 vs 15 watts). Battery life is not specified, nor any statistics, but would probably be pretty poor. As a refurb, I would be concerned about battery wear further reducing battery life. It is cheap though.

The laptops you mentioned are a somewhat more performance bang for your buck, but with significant compromises in other aspects, particularly portability, which is traditionally one of the more important aspects to consider when buying a laptop. It depends on what you want to do with it though.


If you are going to college, you may be eligable for a student discount. here in Australis it's ~10%, so that takes the price of the Air from 900$ to 810$.

Since word processing doesn't exactly require bleeding-edge technology, those specs on the Air will last you as long as the computer survives, technical-obsolescence be damned. Given their construction, that will probably be as long as the battery lasts (They are built like tanks). Given that the battery is literally glued to the case, it's worth factoring battery life (as in how many years before it wears) into your decision too.

If you don't intend on downloading masses of things, 128 gb SSD will be plenty of space, and also be MUCH faster than a HDD. That depends on your use case though, if you prefer to have tons of storage, then the HDD would probably be better.

Laptop touchscreens are a gimmic IMO. They really should be left to the tablets and All-In-Ones. The trackpad on the Apple laptops are effectively the benchmark standard for good reason, they are of excellent quality. PC trackpads are a bit of a crapshoot, being anything between "Apple-like", and "piece of shit". They have improved substantially though.

In the end though, if all you want to do is type reports, and you don't need an all-day battery of particularly small form factor, than a cheapo $300 plastic PC laptop will do wonders and save you a fair bit of money. Ontop of that, as long as you don't actually treat it like a $300 cheapo laptop and actually take care of it, it should last you years. If you want to game, you can put the $500 towards a PC box, because PC graphics card will curb-stomp laptop graphics card for the price.

A netbook may also be worth considering, however the Atom processor will effectively limit you to exclusively word processing and light web browsing, and the screens are usually of very poor quality.

Both Windows and OSX work fine as operating systems. The only problem is that some Windows resellers load their computers with tonns of shit that nobody wants and that makes them perform worse.

Future moddability. Laptops are pretty much built in one piece, and mac has done enough that their laptops are just as changeable after purchase as most windows ones are (i.e., swap out ram and the hard drive).

This is incorrect for all models except the non-retina 13 inch model. All other mac laptops are held together by torx screws, have ram chips soldered to the main board, batteries that are literally glued to the case etc. You might be able to swap out the SSD, but thats about it. Dismantling these things is no easy task

[Flying Dice]

There's literally no reason to get a Mac beyond the approval of fools. Regardless of what you want it for, you can get a PC/laptop/tablet which will do the same thing better and/or at a lower cost. Unless you want your computer to look pretty while you play on social media in class.

[acetech09]

There's literally no reason to get a Mac beyond the approval of fools. Regardless of what you want it for, you can get a PC/laptop/tablet which will do the same thing better and/or at a lower cost. Unless you want your computer to look pretty while you play on social media in class.

For college, that is totally the case. Depending on where you work afterwards, it's a lot less clear.

[Parsely]

Macs are doody, you can take my word for because I've actually owned and used one for years. Please just get a PC.

[Flying Dice]

There's literally no reason to get a Mac beyond the approval of fools. Regardless of what you want it for, you can get a PC/laptop/tablet which will do the same thing better and/or at a lower cost. Unless you want your computer to look pretty while you play on social media in class.

For college, that is totally the case. Depending on where you work afterwards, it's a lot less clear.

Yeah, sorry. Meant it in the context of OP's question.