Posted on 05/09/2011 9:41:48 PM PDT by This Just In
detail = ideal
As you can see, I’m typing “on the fly”.
See if the schools has any deals on campus. Any schools bookstores have students discounts,
The college sells notebooks, and I have access to students discounts at both Apple as well as Dell through the college.
All the Dells I buy are refurbished, they are considerably cheaper and come with the same warranty, I always upgrade that and buy the complete care guarantee with next business day in home service. I have never had a problem that they did not fix fast.
Just bought a nice HP, and they’re having a sale on their “Quick Ship” models right now.
We will not be able to visit the campus before closing for the semester. Also, financial circumstances considering, we must purchase the laptop shortly. I wish we had had more time to research and shop, but we do not. I know that Freepers will be able to lend excellent advice and recommendations, or steer us in the right direction.
I would never, ever, ever consider, nor recommend purchasing a refurbished laptop, or any computer or peripheral.
Reliable and computer is a relative term. You can have it fast, cheap or inexpensive, but you can only pick 2 of these.
PC windows is probably the most versatile, but the MAC is probably better in some regards like video editing.
Mac is more expensive, but most MAC users swear by them.
MAC is more expensive to upgrade, but my experience is, unless you upgrade in the first year, it’s not worth it to upgrade. You can most likely get what you want from the upgrade and more with a new purchase for just about the same cost.
Do you order the upgrades when ordering the refurbished laptop/pc?
Computers, like mattresses and underwear, are consumer products that should never be bought used.
Is your child using the computer to compose music as part of his/her college course work? If so, I would suggest you check with the school’s music department. They may have specific requirements or recommendations. My son’s school did (Architecture Department).
Also, you may already know this but Mac has the reputation of being superior in the fields of art and music. When we bought one for my son, they were offering special pricing for students and a free printer and/or i-pod (which we sold on e-bay to recoup some of the $). They have not started this promotion but probably will late May/ June.
Why do I know this? I am about to send *another* one off to college and she needs a laptop.... sigh.....
Good Luck!
He replaced the motherboard all three times, once because the HDMI port stopped working, once because the AC adapter port stopped working and once because th new palm rest he had installed was defective. All visits and parts were covered. He also replaced all missing rubber pads. The notebook is like new even though it is 2.5 years old.
cheap or inexpensive
Wow....that was intelligent.
Fast cheap or good is what I meant.
Thank you. I don’t believe we’d be able to upgrade a Mac or replace it. It would seem more financially practical to purchase a Dell and upgrade to a newer model. What do you think?
This is for a formal music education? It might be wise to talk to some juniors and seniors in the music program to see what they recommend. There should be some music student organization on campus and the music department office probably has contact names and emails.
The primary thing I recommend is comparing Apples to apples. Don’t compare a cheap Inspiron to a Macbook Pro.
If you compare comparable models, the cost difference is about $250. Look at the Dell Latitude models.
The real issue is, “What software will your kid need to use?” If any is Mac software, the answer is clear, since it is easy to install Windows on a Mac, but the opposite isn’t true.
Why not?
Yes. http://www.dell.com/outlet
It is kind of like ordering a new one, you can choose from whatever they have on hand and buy whatever extras and warranty you want. They have business and a home/home office sides of the outlet store. The business models cost a bit more, but the support on the business side is better. I have bought some of both and have been happy with all of them so far.
I think if it has a good fast processor (name brand like Pentium or Mac), good video card, good amount of Ram it will most likely serve them well.
I would check deals found on slickdeal.net under hot deals for good prices that come in almost daily.
Yes, our child is majoring in music, and will be using the laptop with a focus on this major. I’ve already contacted the music department and they do not have any specific requirements other than what is listed on the colleges Notebook Guide page.
We have worked in the music industry for decades, but never used a Mac. I know that Mac’s are now the industry standard in film and music composition. I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford the ideal Mac for our child’s purposes. I was encouraged to see that the college did not recommend the Mac, which indicates that they’re able to work with what students have, provided the meet the minimum recommendations on their notebook hardware/software.
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