My daughrer is heading off to college and I am looking for a laptop

[Duchess Jack]

Her school uses mac, but I am not ready to invest in one until I am sure she is really, really serious about art.

 

Until then, I am looking for a laptop of a high enough quality to run 'most' art applications. I am sure most non-bargin basement laptops can, but I really have no idea of what I am looking at with PCs and what is a good deal or not.

 

If anybody runs across something, please drop the link here.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Duchess Jack

[Puddy]

Save yourself the trouble and give her your used one (this way you don't spoil her). Then immediately buy your wife a brand new one while you take her hand me down. Then trade that one in on a new one for yourself.

[frenzal rhomb]

theres gotta be a lap dance joke in here somewhere?

[Puddy]

Oh my bad. He's talking about a computer. My recommendation is for a car.

[rocknrobn26]

DJ...Checkout Comp USA. They have some sales going on.

The only problem I see is w/ the s/w. If it's pretty sophisticated you'e gonna need a lot of Ram 4Gb+, 1 Tb HD or larger, and a decent Vid Card w/ probably 1Gb of ram. That said, do the following:

 

1) Call the college for the h/w specs for the s/w they use.

2) Make sure it will run on both platforms.

3) You're probably looking @ ~$700 or more for a PC laptop. Not sure about the Mac but probably 50% to 100% more than that. Ask caveman or another Mac guy.

4) The Mac would be viable regardless of what she used it for (albeit more $$$) assuming she doesn't follow thru w/ Art, and it would still be cheaper in the long run to buy the Mac first than a mid-priced PC LT and then a Mac later.

 

Good Luck.

Edited June 23, 2012 by rocknrobn26

[polksalet]

I use some of the most demanding engineering software available on the cheapest laptop Wally Mart had a couple of years ago.

[Sugar Magnolia]

DJ...Checkout Comp USA. They have some sales going on.

The only problem I see is w/ the s/w. If it's pretty sophisticated you'e gonna need a lot of Ram 4Gb+, 1 Tb HD or larger, and a decent Vid Card w/ probably 1Gb of ram. That said, do the following:

 

1) Call the college for the h/w specs for the s/w they use.

2) Make sure it will run on both platforms.

3) You're probably looking @ ~$700 or more for a PC laptop. Not sure about the Mac but probably 50% to 100% more than that. Ask caveman or another Mac guy.

4) The Mac would be viable regardless of what she used it for (albeit more $$$) assuming she doesn't follow thru w/ Art, and it would still be cheaper in the long run to buy the Mac first than a mid-priced PC LT and then a Mac later.

 

Good Luck.

 

 

Wow you are quite knowledgeable about computers for an old guy I'm impressed.

[Caveman_Nick]

1) Call the college for the h/w specs for the s/w they use.

2) Make sure it will run on both platforms.

3) You're probably looking @ ~$700 or more for a PC laptop. Not sure about the Mac but probably 50% to 100% more than that. Ask caveman or another Mac guy.

4) The Mac would be viable regardless of what she used it for (albeit more $$$) assuming she doesn't follow thru w/ Art, and it would still be cheaper in the long run to buy the Mac first than a mid-priced PC LT and then a Mac later.

 

 

All good advice.

 

Honestly, if the school recommends that she get a Mac, I would do so if you can afford it. The course material might include examples that are done up on a mac, etc., and if she is working on another platform then she will have the dual task of figuring out what to do for assignments and figuring out the translation for how to instructions. You can always choose to run Windows or linux on the hardware later if you find the need, but in my experience I have rarely run into instances where my mac did not handle whatever I needed it to.

 

If you make that decision, Macbook Pros start at 1199 and top out at about 3800 with all the worthwhile bells and whistles.

 

Coming from a graphics background, our purchasing rule of thumb was always that more powerful machines were worth the money because of the time savings in processing the graphics. Machines are so powerful now that I am not sure that makes a difference, but I would at least buy the minimum recommended system requirements from the school and even consider going past that as this machine will probably need to last her 4 years (a century in computer years). In terms of viability for her whole 4 years, the more you spend on processor, RAM, etc., the more viable the machine will be a few years down the road. A 13" screen is going to be more portable, and then you can get her an external monitor for her room so she can have some screen real estate when she is working on projects. I would do this (the external screen) for her regardless of what computer she gets. Portability > Screen size for a student when the student can hook up to a screen for homework, but the 13 inch machines are going to have fewer niceties (you can add the niceties on if you choose to)

[SteelBunz]

You might also look on Craigslist for a "newer" used Mac. You might save a lot of money that way.

[wiegie]

Before you do anything, find out what sort of job she can get with a degree in Art.

 

(Other than that, I think CN has some good advice. I'm guessing the last thing that a freshman in college needs is to worry about software compatibility issues with her OS.)

[montster]

All good advice.

 

Honestly, if the school recommends that she get a Mac, I would do so if you can afford it. The course material might include examples that are done up on a mac, etc., and if she is working on another platform then she will have the dual task of figuring out what to do for assignments and figuring out the translation for how to instructions. You can always choose to run Windows or linux on the hardware later if you find the need, but in my experience I have rarely run into instances where my mac did not handle whatever I needed it to.

 

If you make that decision, Macbook Pros start at 1199 and top out at about 3800 with all the worthwhile bells and whistles.

 

Coming from a graphics background, our purchasing rule of thumb was always that more powerful machines were worth the money because of the time savings in processing the graphics. Machines are so powerful now that I am not sure that makes a difference, but I would at least buy the minimum recommended system requirements from the school and even consider going past that as this machine will probably need to last her 4 years (a century in computer years). In terms of viability for her whole 4 years, the more you spend on processor, RAM, etc., the more viable the machine will be a few years down the road. A 13" screen is going to be more portable, and then you can get her an external monitor for her room so she can have some screen real estate when she is working on projects. I would do this (the external screen) for her regardless of what computer she gets. Portability > Screen size for a student when the student can hook up to a screen for homework, but the 13 inch machines are going to have fewer niceties (you can add the niceties on if you choose to)

 

 

Yesterday I went shopping at the Apple store for a Mac Book with my cousin's daughter, who's headed to college in the fall. She went in thinking she really wanted the new 15-inch Mac Book Pro with Retina display ($2200). The sales guy was actually helpful, helping her narrow it down to 13-inch Mac Book Pro and 13-inch Mac Book Air. She went with the Mac Book Pro ($1200), and got $100 education discount and $100 iTunes gift card (part of promotion for people buying computers for college). Her school is also Mac-oriented, and even though the one she got is certainly more powerful than she needs, I would be surprised if it didn't last her all four years and beyond. (My first Mac was a Powerbook I bought in 2003 and I didn't replace it until 2010.) Plus, if your daughter is surrounded by people who are used to Macs, she'll have a lot of help should anything go wrong.

[Duchess Jack]

 

awesome, thanks everyone. right now I think we're settled on a low (used or refurbished) mac.

 

 

she is not doing engineering, but art, so I am thinking the computer should not need so big of balls.

 

 

The school hasn't 'suggested' mac, but all their computers are mac. I don't know how easy it is the jump from one to another with files, but figure getting her a mac should keep things easier and keep her from unexpected compatability issues.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Duchess Jack

[i_am_the_swammi]

PM peepin....he is in the business of reconditioning computers/laptops...and had my dad not been an old stickler for doing tings by the book and buying from Best Buy/Computer World, we'd have surely gotten one from him, as the price he offered was exceptional, and he can configure it however you want.