I've learned that in the last couple years that colleges are much more networked. For example, campus Wi-Fi is everywhere. Textbooks are starting to migrate to Kindles. iPhones have dozens of college-specific apps. Carnegie-Mellon's washers & dryers can even be set up to ring your cell phone when your laundry is finished. Although college IT departments used to be very specific about what computers & phones would mate with the network, these days they just seem to specify the minimum. And their minimum is probably beyond my old laptop's maximum specs.
Now that both my spouse and I are finally free of military software, I've been leisurely moving back toward a Mac-- but I don't really know the equipment. The process has been accelerated by our kid, who's leaving for college in just 348 days. She does fine with her iPod Touch but she makes the very good point that she should be fully proficient with a new iPhone and Macbook before she shows up at the college, and what better way to practice than during her senior year of high school. I don't disagree but I'd like her to avoid becoming a beta-tester for bleeding-edge software and a target for theft.
Here's what her top two college choices specify:
* Go for the most power currently available and in your budget
* Intel based Mac
* 2 GB RAM or higher
* 80 GB (or more) hard drive space total with at least 10 GB free
* Firewire 800 ports preferred, but not required
* Drive spin speed minimum 5400 rpm if you plan to edit video or audio files
* Apple Protection Plan for 3 years
Now that Snow Leopard is out and more iPhones are coming, I can see that prices might start dropping. If you were planning to spend a grand or two of your kid's college fund at the Apple Store in the next couple months, what would you buy and why? Any particular bargains or websites or months to take advantage of a sale?
Now that both my spouse and I are finally free of military software, I've been leisurely moving back toward a Mac-- but I don't really know the equipment. The process has been accelerated by our kid, who's leaving for college in just 348 days. She does fine with her iPod Touch but she makes the very good point that she should be fully proficient with a new iPhone and Macbook before she shows up at the college, and what better way to practice than during her senior year of high school. I don't disagree but I'd like her to avoid becoming a beta-tester for bleeding-edge software and a target for theft.
Here's what her top two college choices specify:
* Go for the most power currently available and in your budget
* Intel based Mac
* 2 GB RAM or higher
* 80 GB (or more) hard drive space total with at least 10 GB free
* Firewire 800 ports preferred, but not required
* Drive spin speed minimum 5400 rpm if you plan to edit video or audio files
* Apple Protection Plan for 3 years
Now that Snow Leopard is out and more iPhones are coming, I can see that prices might start dropping. If you were planning to spend a grand or two of your kid's college fund at the Apple Store in the next couple months, what would you buy and why? Any particular bargains or websites or months to take advantage of a sale?