Re: Any suggestions/ deals on laptops?

[cindys]

My boy is headed to college..

DH & I are wanting to get him a laptop to take to school...

We have a nice desktop he can take but he wants a laptop..

Any thoughts?

[SpaceGal]

I know it's pricier, but I would say get him a base Macbook. With the new upgrades and resdesign it's pretty comparable to a Mabook Pro.

It's very user friendly and I can honestly say I had a Mac for 7 plus years and rarely ran into any issues...like viruses or things like that.

A laptop definitely is easier and more convenient for kids these days...even for us, we are not going to get any more desktops even for the house.

My Powerbook lasted me 6.5 years...and DH just got me the new Macbook for my birthday and I love it.

[vonfirmath]

What will he be doing with the laptop? What type of computers/software does the school he is going use? Being compatible will be helpful.

[LMPC]

I just bought an awesome ASUS off Amazon for around $700 -- I run Ubuntu and therefore don't have any windows issues [shudder]. It's really light and has fantastic battery life....about 12 hours! But I agree with PP that Macs are very cool! And stable!

[cindys]

Anyone considered buying a refurbished Mac from the Apple Store? It comes with the same warranty as a new MacBook.

I dont know the programs my boy would be using..

Times are tough over here so we are looking for the best deal without having to sacrifice quality..

I am not set on a Mac but we have one at home we love but they arent cheap!

I do get an AT&T and Dell discount but I think its only
about 6%.

I know Apple offered in the fall a free printer(which they still are up to $99) and an IPOD touch but they arent offering that anymore :(

[kellij]

I bought a sony last fall at Best Buy. I think they were discontinuing the model, so it was significantly less. I've really liked it a lot. I would look there for closeouts. If you look at gotapex.com they list deals that are going on with computers. I would go for the best quality at the lowest price; probably in general, but esp for a college student. My first laptop I actually spilled water on the keyboard and it was destroyed, so I would hate to make it too big of an investment.

[SpaceGal]

I know Apple offered in the fall a free printer(which they still are up to $99) and an IPOD touch but they arent offering that anymore :(

They almost always offer the ipod mac deal around back to school time, say around july/august/september. I got this deal once and it was awesome basically getting the base ipod for free.

[heidiann]

you might want to find out from the college he is going to if they provide software.. My oldest DD headed off to college this year and all the software they were going to need was provided.

[ahisma]

Another vote for Apple...

I haven't bought any refurbs, but my uncle is a comupter tech guy and has bought several. He's always been quite happy.

Remember that you get the education discount. The free printer / iPod thing runs pretty much every summer / fall, we've done it twice now.

I'd always, always, always buy applecare, just because I think any portable should have coverage. You can wait a year (well, 364 days) to buy it and qualify for the ed discount there too.

[chubbycheeks]

Another vote for a Mac. We bought a Toshiba laptop last year at Christmas time at Best Buy (it was like $350 if I recall?). I hate it. As as matter of fact I am typing on my old 6 plus year old iBook right now as the Toshiba sits. DS spilled an entire glass of water all over the Mac three years ago. We dried it all out, turned it back on, and it started right up. They are pricier, but I think worth it. Our Toshiba has had some issues already with turning on/off and neither DH or I think it will be around for long.