Personally, I'd get a PC. For the most part, univeristy networks are PC or Unix based, and mac support is few and far between because they are in SUCH a minority and the training for them is limited by the realitities of budgeting.

If you end up with a wifi networking issue or something, you'll likely end up having to talk to some Mac geek who's not really IT support staff, just a guy that works in the advertising or graphic design department... because that's the only place on most campuses you'll find Macs.


If you're looking for the best price, here's a couple things for you:

www.tigerdirect.com

www.pricewatch.com

Or... watch the best buy newspaper inserts for those great deals they have. 24 months free financing on the Best Buy card? GREAT stuff there. You can pay like $1000 and get a $400 rebate, then finance the rest over time.

I have a high-end HP wide-screen from Best Buy, probably close to two years old. I do graphic design work on it, plus all the standard "office" functions. Great machine, never a problem.

One other thing to note about Mac vs. PC... If you have or are used to "borrowing" software from friends, for the most part on a Mac you will have to buy everything. (Not that I'm advocating anything here, but something to keep in mind)

Suggestions:

1] Make sure you get virus software that updates online automatically.

2] Make sure that virus software includes Adware stuff too.

3] Never put your real email address in the settings inside Internet Explorer. Websites grab it and you'll get spammed all to heck and back.

Is WindowsXP their OS or can they also just run it? The reason I'm asking is ExamSoft and Secure Exam both shut down EVERY OTHER PROGRAM that you might be running so I could still see there being a problem.

Please don't offer computer advice if you don't know about it. At the very least, read what others wrote.

This is getting ridiculous.

You will rarely have that trouble on OS X because it's well integrated and a strong nix based OS. All campuses have IT staff that runs nix boxes, windows boxes, and os x boxes and I'd be willing to bet most of their servers are nix/bsd boxes. Plus you won't have a "wifi issue". You simply take your mouse to the top, click, and select the network you want to join. It couldn't get easier than that.

And, once again, you can run every single PC program once you install Windows. You can pirate the majority of mac programs just like you can with Windows. You can use limewire, poisoned, acquisition, or torrents to grab them or simply use someone else's CD if you feel like stealing.

And geeky, you can install Windows XP as an OS. You can install most operating systems on a mac. Examsoft won't shut it down. You can tell your IT department that you have a PC with Windows installed on it even if you have a Mac.

-Rudey

Then she should probably be okay but if her law school's IT department sucks as mine, maybe not. She should just call and ask if she can take exams in a lab. I do that because my computer and Secure Exam don't get along.

-GP
--Is sitting here plugged into an ethernet cable because they broke the wireless printing

As much as I'm a massive PC homer, this problem in particular may actually be 'better' on a Mac, due to architecture issues and the way Windows interacts with the CPU.

Well...

Being the computer geek that I am and have been since 1981, and having had recent experience with a friend with a brand new Mac laptop (OS X) that had noting but issues getting networked at Marquette for the better part of a semester...

I may be slightly biased since all I had to do was email the help desk for a network key for my PC laptop. As I stated, I'm a comp geek and can work network settings, etc. pretty well. dealing with configuration settings, etc. is pretty much second nature after all this time. My Mac experience is pretty extensive as well as my PC experience.

I have friends with a G5, and every file they send me, every email, every little graphic, seems to have issues on both my PC at work and my PC at home. This is using the native Mac stuff that came right with they OSX system. Meanwhile, if they send it to my Marquette address, which I read on a Mac, I have zero issues. VERY PROPRIETARY EVEN THROUGH ALL THE COMPATABILITY HYPE.

Not sure how web apps, etc. will treat a Mac. The OS X boxes in my department at Marquette don't like web based MS Outlook and have significant issues with FTP transfers in both fetch and browser windows. There are definite font and compatability issues in Word, Excel and all the populate MS software when moving between Mac and PC. (Macs and PCs have completely different architecture as to how they handle fonts.) My Mac lab at Marquette won't print anything to the network printers unless the file has been converted to a PDF first.

Macs have been, and probably always will be, the best machines out there for graphic design, video, audio, etc.
Apple is trying to take over some of the home market with some success, as a home setup can be limited to just macs and just mac networking stuff.

Interacting with the University is another matter completely.

I have zero experience with Macs running XP as native. However, I do know it's pretty new, and in general my experiences with anything new from MSRedmond is that it takes a while to get patched up to stable.

Truthfully, and waaay back to the original question, talk to your University, and in particular the Law School. What they recommend as optimal is probably best for what you will run into in their program.

Marquette's IT department SUCKS. This is what the problem was. Have you ever used an on-campus comptuer there? They suck too.

I could see that. I teach design at MU, so I use the Macs all the time...

Never used a PC there other than my laptop.

I can't say for sure. One of my employees can WiFi fine here at work, but my mother-in-law's boyfriend has issues with my WiFi at home. Even with the network key he can't get in WiFi, but does OK when plugged in directly to the router.

(Both on Macs, by the way)

I'm getting really frustrated with the geek advice that's supposedly being given.

Donna, buy a macbook. It's cheaper than most other laptops out there for that performance level. Then install Windows XP on it. You now have a PC. Your husband can't say anything.

And I have never had an issue logging into networks around the world with my powerbook. I have done wifi off of a/b/g networks everywhere. Go to any starbucks and you'll see mac users on the web. I can log onto MS Outlook servers using just OS X and if I was worried about it, I could log in using Outlook since, once again, Macs run Windows. You do not need separate and special routers.

And to the guy from Marquette, your IT department makes no sense if they don't know what's going on. I even googled it and found support for Panther up on their site: http://www.marquette.edu/pages/home/its/help/cm/datemac and I bet they are running macs in quite a few of their labs and I would almost bet that they are not running most of their servers off of Windows. If they are, then they are stupid morons. I don't know what files you and your friends send to each other, but I can open everything from Adobe files to music files to Word files to Quicken files without a single problem just like anyone else I know when going between macs and pcs. Also, running Windows on macs is not unstable or new or scary. Windows uses BIOS still and bootcamp essentially allows Window to run without that. Other than that, you have an Intel chip and the hardware is not different from any other PC.

-Rudey

What's the out-of-the-box cost on the MacBook with XP Pro?

I'm currently sitting at a Dell Dimension laptop, using the office WiFi connection.

The proofreader is sitting 40 yards away. He is using a Dell XPS using a wired connection to the same network. He also has a PowerBook that he is running through the WiFi (and also works when wired) - and he has an AirPort setup too, if he so desires.

Any problems are just that - problems, something that is f-ed up, and not something that should be endemic or "just because I have a Mac" . . . and I'm a total PC homer.

$1,049 for the macbook. You install your own version of XP on it and you can take a copy from your old computer, get it from your school for $10 or some ridiculously cheap price, or just jank it off of a friend.

That $1,049 gets you great dual core hardware (with all the extras like a remote control and a built in camera) and comes with great software. That's why it gets rated so highly and why experts constantly talk about how it's definitely worth the money spent on it.

Plus the education/back to school discount gives you money or an ipod.

-Rudey

YAY!

The Mr. made a huge deal back when I bought my PowerBook about how he wouldn't be able to help me out. Well...three years later, he's looking to get that MacBook in black. He just realized that Macs are far superior. :)

YAY!

The Mr. made a huge deal back when I bought my PowerBook about how he wouldn't be able to help me out. Well...three years later, he's looking to get that MacBook in black. He just realized that Macs are far superior. :)

I got the back-to-school bundle or whatever it is...instead of getting an iPod, I got a really nice HP printer that allowed me to print some of the stuff from my design classes and a $99 rebate.

Trust me. You will not regret this.