“If the school prefers one brand or model of computer (and you don’t already have a PC), go with what’s recommended: Technical assistance will almost certainly be easier to come by. If the school has no preference, the best value comes from Apple, even though prices tend to be higher than for most Windows-based computers. The 17-inch Apple iMac with SuperDrive ($1,799 and up) is a space-saving beauty. On the portable side, I’d pick the 14-inch Apple iBook ($1,499),” writes Peter Lewis for Fortune.
Lewis then continues, “Still, Windows machines dominate in the work world” and proceeds to offer up some “values” from the Wintel side in another one of those strangely misguided “that’s what they use at work” rationalizations for buying a computer. Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The boss also used to dole out one-cent Bic pens at work (one per month), the world’s cheapest, thinest, most-jammable printer paper, and never turned on the air conditioning… doesn’t mean we followed these dictums at home, right? You only live once, kids – enjoy it while you’re here by starting at the right place for your back-to-school computing needs.
By the time the kids get to work, Gates et al. will have ripped off the MacOS before last that they had been using when they were in college, so studying on a Mac makes better sense.
Yours sincerely,
John Davis
14″ iBook? I can well understand wanting the larger pixels–easier on the eyes… but this is yet another article overlooking how low the price has fallen on the 12″ PowerBook. THAT’s a great deal, I think.
Consumer Reports just did the same thing, evaluating the 14″ iBook as Apple’s low-end laptop. In many ways the 12″ PowerBook AND iBook have more to offer for the money, though, if you can get by with a smaller screen.
Peter Lewis is great! He was the author of that great line years ago — something to the effect that there were many more cockroaches in the world than humans, but it didn’t mean that cockroaches were a superior life form.
I wonder why he didn’t use Apple’s educational prices since the article was a “back to school” piece. The discounts for students are very good, especially when buying customized computers.
the 12″ iBook is a heck of a deal, in my opinion.
i use it for it’s namesake: as a “lap” top laptop 12 inches is plenty big enough for me.
Oddly enough, i think anything bigger would be too big (for my personal taste)
the 900 MHz G3 really doesn’t slow me down too much when I’m just doing the usual Mail/Safari/iChat stuff
and we need not mention the iBook’s airport range versus the PowerBook
It’s nice to see Apple mentioned first for once, instead as an afterthought.
It’s intersting how everyones comments over the last number of articles have been that the PC domminates the workplace. I’ve worked in both world for the last 20 years and seen first hand the migration from MAC/Apple to PC Clones/Windows. Now for the first time I can say that the Mac is actually truly a workplace machine. As a workplace machine it works in the corporate network ie. Windows Active Directory, the corporate high-end IT, ie. UNIX and variations and Telco enviroments. As I’m fond of telling people who ask:
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“Oh? You use a Mac?”
my answer is:
“Yes”:)
questions:
“Why?” “How do you like it?”
my answer:
“I SPEND MORE TIME WORKING, LESS TIME FIXING”
Hence less support needed and a damn shame schools don’t embrace cost cutting.
Misconceptions are always hard to change.