I need a new laptop for school!

[NbyNW]

Make sure you check with the school to find out what software or special technical requirements they may have for connecting to their network.

I've worked with both Macs and PCs in office environments. They're really not that different. And no system is without its weaknesses. It's even pretty easy to share files across platforms these days. Hopefully we can avoid turning this into a Mac vs. PC thread, since you can find plenty of those elsewhere on the web. Here's another consideration:

Check with your department if they have recommendations. You didn't say what you would be studying. In some fields, you may have specific software needs that might be available on one platform but not the other. In my field, for example, we did a lot of graphics using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, which are available for both Mac and PC, but we had one class where we were required to use AutoCAD, which is only available for Windows. I've heard that Windows emulators on Macs are pretty good these days, but I've had no reason to spend the $$.

I have a good friend who has a PhD in Physics and you would think they'd be all PC, but she tells me they were running Mathematica on eMacs.

Your department or university IT people might prefer one system over the other, and if you need to connect to your school's network, there may or may not be support for the non-favored system. Actually, I think these days most schools have both.

But if you're pretty tech savvy, or you have a friend who is, it probably won't matter.

Backwards compatibility is a problem for both Mac and PC platforms. I've seen this with both the new Office 2007 and with Adobe CS3. Pre-OSX, Macs had really nice backwards compatibility, but I guess that business model meant that people only replaced their computers every 5-7 years instead of every 2-4. I guess Apple decided they needed to sell more computers.

I think it comes down to personal preference and what you're willing to spend. For my personal use, I prefer Macs for a couple of reasons -- I'm pretty good at troubleshooting them from my office experience and when things go REALLY wrong, their customer service is excellent. On the rare occasion I've had to call their warranty service, I was able to talk to a real person within a reasonable amount of time, and they were really helpful. In fact, I'll be calling them tomorrow, since my MacBook is currently showing me a gray screen of death (there used to be a "sad Mac" face ).

Also when it was time to upgrade, I felt like I got decent trade-in value for my old machine. I'm not sure what people get for their old PC machines.

I started to subscribe to the .Mac service when I was in grad school and it was really nice to be able to upload things to my iDisk, leave my Powerbook in my locker at school, and be able to download my files and work when I got home. A 15" Book gets kind of heavy after a while, but for my graphics work I didn't want to go any smaller.

You can probably set up your own remote storage if you get a PC -- in fact, your university might provide you with some storage space. But there's just something really nice about the way it's set up in the Mac OS.

[Flur]

You can probably set up your own remote storage if you get a PC -- in fact, your university might provide you with some storage space. But there's just something really nice about the way it's set up in the Mac OS.

GoDaddy has Online File Folder. Super easy, works for both Macs and PCs. Once it's set up, it basically acts like a password protected network drive, only you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection, and on any machine. Love it.

[TrekTheKaty]

MAC! More expensive in the beginning, but my last powerbook lasted 6 years! When you call customer support, you get California--not India.

No compatibility issues:
No, "it's not our hardware, call Microsoft."
"It's not our software, call your manufacturer."
"It's not our computer, call your internet provider."

Free geek (tech) support at your local Mac store.

[Geonz]

Also think toadly outside the mac/pc thing... there are some interesting little portable 'puters if you're mainly going to do word processing. I love my alphasmart for taking notes (especially at conferences), and then I just upload the stuff onto a real computer. I'm thinking of getting one of those industrial strength do-the-basics 'puters...
Snork... Macs give me all kinds of issues, especially the pains in the pocketbook. I am forever trying to figure out how to*tell* them what to do and they want to tell me what they are sure I want to do. It's because I'm more accustomed to PCs, but if you're thinking of making the switch... be prepared for adjustments.
F'rinstance, I can get OPen Office for free to do all kinds of word processing and everything that Microsoft Office will do on a PC - it's not so good on my Mac, and there isn't a good free word processing option.

[smilingcat]

Hi Sue,

If you are happy with alphasmart but want something more like a full blown laptop. look at ASUS Eee 2G for $300.00. It comes with Linux (or XP I think) and it comes with WiFi, ethernet, web browser, personal manager and Open Office 2.0 (latest release of OOF is 2.3).

I'm really loving my ASUS 900. Its about the same form factor as the 2G. Both will fit in a decent sized purse. I carry a small messenger bag instead. Screen is very readable. I have zero complaints and everyone at my office, full of geeks, are drooling over it.

I will post a picture of my Asus next to my regular sized laptop Dell Inspirion.

I'm just ga-ga wild over my Asus. If you are not familiar with the brand name, they are one of the largest manufacturer of PC motherboards and based out of Taiwan. Customer service is pretty good.

Oh Dell is coming out with sub-note book/tablet computer laptops. Michael Dell was seen walking around with it earlier this year but its not released or just being released?? Another one is Nokia N800 or N810 a glorified PDA.

smilingcat

[mayanorange]

DH has the lenovo tablet- I think 13 in screen- and it's awesome. I love the tablet form- would have been great for taking notes in college. I've been shopping for a commuter work machine the last couple of days (so I can bike from the train a couple days) and am between the Toshiba portege tablet (I love tablet, but I hate that eraser mouse, so no lenovo for me!) and the Dell XPS M1330 (super great prices right now too). My caveats would be I'm limited to Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba or Sony and I am not expecting to be doing much rendering (CAD, Photoshop) or high powered calculations (MatLab, etc). More of a word processor, and excel coming out my ears. If anyone has either of these I'd love to hear reviews.

[ilima]

I would say Mac, because you can run Windows natively (I have a big memory hog of a program that runs better on my Mac than it ever did on my Dell). But if you want a cheap laptop for pretty much just word processing & surfing the web, Mac doesn't make the real cheap computers (Macs aren't more expensive than PCs if you compare them similarly spec'd).

If you want to do things like run stats, for example, a cheapie laptop is going to be out, so you might as well go Mac.

[smilingcat]

Asus Eee laptop.

I love this machine. And if cost is important its $300 for 2G model with 4G of solid state drive, 512 M byte of RAM. And if you need more storage space, you can add SD flash or USB hard drive. It also has WiFi, 3x USB, Ethernet (10/100), and VGA connector. Comes with either Linux or XP, open office, web browser... 2G screen is 800x640 at around 7" wide.

The model in the picture is the 900 and has 1G Ram with 20G of solid state disk. display is 1024x768. when connected to external VGA it goes up to 1600x1440. I have Linux, open office 2.0, TCL, RUBY...Also has 1.3Mpxiel web cam built in. see www.eeeuser.com for more detail. (if you decide on this model get the 20G of solid state disk and not the 12G or 16G)

[ilima]

My sister has one of those little Asus models (in addition to a bigger laptop) and my parents are thinking of getting one, as well. They look pretty cool and way smaller and lighter than a typical laptop.

[smilingcat]

Oooo Im intrigued by the mini-- might be realllly easy to carry and I can thwart off something more expensive until mine really blows up....

Do you ever have any problems surfing the web with it?? (do all the pages load properly, etc.? (Since Ill probably be doing a bit of research with it).

Thanks everyone for all your responses-- I havent decided yet, but am furiously googling all suggestions.

Jen

haven't had any problems with opening up web pages. then again, I don't open 20 to 30 pages at a time like some people do. You can find more reviews on www.newegg.com (wow they are out right now... try www.eeeuser.com and also search on Amazon search for "Eee PC 2G" or "Eee PC 4G" or "Eee PC 900")
EeePC 1000 is quite a bit bigger in size than the 2G/4G/900/901 models.
Newegg is where I bought mine. the reviews there are quite good and recommendation people make are worthwhile to read. On Neweg do a search for Eee PC. and read reviews for the other models.

I did have one web page lock up on me but I was able to kill the process without having to shut down my machine.

It has been a breeze to connect to the internet with WiFi. At my home, at a coffee house with free WiFi. Starbucks hot point needed ATT account so phooey to them. And at my office through the Ethernet.

BATTERY LIFE: It looks like it will run about 4 hours with WiFi turned on. but the charger is soo dang small.

Size wise, yes it does fit in my smallish meesenger bag. I bought one from Title9 and its called Haiku. love the bag BTW, my phone, ipod, this little laptop and the CHARGER, small jounal, makeup, coin purse, hairbrush... all fit in just nicely. And it doesn't rip my shoulder off from the weight.

smilingcat