Is it worth joining the student developer program?

[cheekyspanky]

Hiya, at the moment I'm a student studying computer aided product design, and as a result I have a general interest in how programs and computers work etc. My main interest is CAD stuff, but I was looking at the student developer program and it sounds like a good deal - but how committed to developing programs do you have to be? I'd be only at the hobbyist level - nothing too good, so would this be good enough for me to join - and if you don't end up developing much (if it proves to be too hard/time consuming/boring etc), are there any repurcussions?

[bousozoku]

While they would like you to experiment and possibly, produce applications, they are pretty content to let you explore unimpeded.

A current class schedule and a student i.d. card are pretty much enough to get you and keep you active in the programme.

The benefits are the mailings, including Mac OS X. There is quite a lot of information that is sent each month. It's all worth much more than the $99 they charge.

[cheekyspanky]

Well I've signed up, just as a free member at the moment so I can see what it's about. I'm currently a Windows user, but I'm in the market for a notebook with a 12" Powerbook combo drive within my budget, but it's said that a "significant" discount is offered for hardware bought to use for development - but how much is this? Would it bring the price of a 15" down into the 12" catergory?

[bousozoku]

If I remember correctly, there is a one time discount that exceeds the standard, recurring student discount. The recurring student discount now takes $200 off the price (now $1599) of the 12 inch PowerBook with combo drive.

Obviously, it's good but you must choose wisely. They apparently don't expect you to be a student forever. ;)