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college soon

R

rust.puppet

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2008
233
0
Ashtabula, OH
hey guys, im about a day away from buying my imac and i just decided im going to college in the fall. that will mean that ill also need a new laptop for classes. i decided on a macbook so can you guys help me think of an excuse to get my dad to help me buy one(or buy one for me) before school.

i was thinking of just saying:
"I need a macbook for school, its required for online classes over ichat and i need iWork 09 for my writting/math classes."

also, ive always been partial to white mac products but i didnt know if it'd be smarter to go with the lowest alluminum referbed if i could ever find one on apples website. please post all opinions, but please no "just go with a macbook you dont need both a macbook and a imac" because i truely NEED the imac.
 
Here's an idea... instead of asking to shell out enough for 2 machines, why don't you go for a MacBook and an external monitor. I assume that the reason that you need an iMac is for the screen size. iMacs are nice machines but to me, a MacBook + external screen = kind of an iMac..... even more so when you add an external keyboard and mouse. This idea provides for a portable situation. If you get the iMac and no MacBook, you're not very portable.

I like the classic WhiteBooks myself (since May '06) but the new AlumiBooks are the future. It's kind of like classic vs. state of the art. Again, to me, the 2.0 AlumiBook is the better choice.

Don't go asking for a 24" Cinema Display... that would be pushing it.
 
oh no, im paying for the imac, which we need as a home computer in general, we currently have 4 pcs on on there death bed. so i needed a new one for everyday use. i only wanted my father to help pay for a macbook since he refuses to help with any college since "he didnt go to college and he was fine" the least he could help me with is a macbook so i can take notes and other basic stuff at school. i'll probably go for the aluminum 13" but thats if i can find one refurbished.
 
rust.puppet said:
oh no, im paying for the imac, which we need as a home computer in general, we currently have 4 pcs on on there death bed. so i needed a new one for everyday use. i only wanted my father to help pay for a macbook since he refuses to help with any college since "he didnt go to college and he was fine" the least he could help me with is a macbook so i can take notes and other basic stuff at school. i'll probably go for the aluminum 13" but thats if i can find one refurbished.
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Oh I see. If you have your mind set on an iMac for the whole family, then a new suggestion might be to get dad excited about Mac OS on it. Once he loves the iMac, which is inevitable, he won't mind helping you out for your college purchase.

Meanwhile, you might gather up those old machines and put together a decent operating second machine with Ubuntu on it so there isn't too big a line at the iMac station.
 
yeah im pretty set i think, my dad isnt computer litterate at all besides buying cars on ebay and i dont live with either of my parents, i live on my own with my fiance'. we'll only needed 2 computers (imac and macbook at home would be enough to keep us happy)

but i assume he'll help me if i say i really need it for school but i wouldnt be suprised if he didnt. (ill post again once i find out)
 
Xapphire13 said:
Why does/should your Dad still pay for your stuff?
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i just figured if he's not willing to help me with any college (i believe parents should help out atleast a little (he makes 200k+ a year) the least he could do is buy me a laptop for school.


my parents are divorced and he owes ALOT of backed child support anyways.
 
rust.puppet said:
i just figured if he's not willing to help me with any college (i believe parents should help out atleast a little (he makes 200k+ a year) the least he could do is buy me a laptop for school.


my parents are divorced and he owes ALOT of backed child support anyways.
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Ahhh, fair enough then. Sorry
 
rust.puppet said:
i live off of like 12k to 14k a year.
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Ya know what's cheaper than a MB Air? Pencil and paper. Seriously! When I first got to college I got a new laptop because it seemed like it'd be really helpful to be able to bring all over the place, but that turned out not to be true. I enjoy having a laptop for other reasons, but now more than ever there's really no reason to have a laptop for school. You can set it up so all of your documents are always available online, and there's a computer practically every 5 feet in most school. And as far as taking notes in class, I only know one person who did that for more than a few days. For most people, taking hand notes in class is superior to typing. But even if you really do need a laptop to take class notes on, if you're on a budget then you should definitely just get a netbook, which costs $300 and is totally adequate for typing class notes on. Sure, you wont get OS X (you'll either get Linux or WinXP), but OS X is completely unnecessary for this usage.
 
motulist said:
...now more than ever there's really no reason to have a laptop for school.
...
there's a computer practically every 5 feet in most school.
...
And as far as taking notes in class, I only know one person who did that for more than a few days. For most people, taking hand notes in class is superior to typing.
...
But even if you really do need a laptop to take class notes on, if you're on a budget then you should definitely just get a netbook, which costs $300 and is totally adequate for typing class notes on.
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I disagree completely with your first statement - more schools than ever are requiring laptops for certain programs today. When I was an undergrad nearly 20 years ago nobody required you to even have your own computer, portable or not.

Yes, we had computer labs - with woefully slow and ill-maintained machines, and there was always a wait for one. I much preferred having my own at home.

In graduate school ('99-'02) I used a laptop in every single class for taking notes, every single day. I met tons of people who would ask if they could get a copy of my notes to compare to theirs. I can type much faster than I can write with a pen or pencil (my first economics professor can talk even faster than that - hence the reason for my buying the laptop), so typing on a laptop made perfect sense for me. The OP may be a fast typist as well.

And I don't know what kind of netbook you're talking about, but the ones I've seen have keyboards roughly the size of a book of checks. Not practical at all for taking notes, IMO.
 
motulist said:
Ya know what's cheaper than a MB Air? Pencil and paper. Seriously! When I first got to college I got a new laptop because it seemed like it'd be really helpful to be able to bring all over the place, but that turned out not to be true. I enjoy having a laptop for other reasons, but now more than ever there's really no reason to have a laptop for school. You can set it up so all of your documents are always available online, and there's a computer practically every 5 feet in most school. And as far as taking notes in class, I only know one person who did that for more than a few days. For most people, taking hand notes in class is superior to typing. But even if you really do need a laptop to take class notes on, if you're on a budget then you should definitely just get a netbook, which costs $300 and is totally adequate for typing class notes on. Sure, you wont get OS X (you'll either get Linux or WinXP), but OS X is completely unnecessary for this usage.
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Agreed.

You can buy an MSI Wind and Hackintosh it if you really want OS X. Truthfully, if you're fishing for answers to buy a MB, then you probably don't need one. Waiting for library computers is a pain, but so is spending $1300 when you don't have to.
 
Depending on your school size it is ludicrous for a school to 'require' you to have a laptop for certain programs. That's what a computer lab is for. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a program to use it a hand full of times instead of just using the computer lab.
 
cerhard said:
Depending on your school size it is ludicrous for a school to 'require' you to have a laptop for certain programs. That's what a computer lab is for. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a program to use it a hand full of times instead of just using the computer lab.
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I agree and I also don't think it's up to the parents to pay for college. You're over 18 and an adult. I have a friend in college and is paying it all herself and her parents are loaded. She works 3 jobs in the summer and 1 during the school year. I think her college is 25,000 to 30,000 a year also (for everything). If she can do it on her own anyone can.
 
Primejimbo said:
I agree and I also don't think it's up to the parents to pay for college. You're over 18 and an adult. I have a friend in college and is paying it all herself and her parents are loaded. She works 3 jobs in the summer and 1 during the school year. I think her college is 25,000 to 30,000 a year also (for everything). If she can do it on her own anyone can.
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your friend is probably in the same situation as I was, and she's most likely racking up what will be close to $100,000 dollars in student loans. you're not "doing it on your own" until you start paying off the loans.
 
bozz2006 said:
your friend is probably in the same situation as I was, and she's most likely racking up what will be close to $100,000 dollars in student loans. you're not "doing it on your own" until you start paying off the loans.
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So far she taken a small loan for her last year. So she has been "doing it on her" own for the 1st 3 years of college. She was telling me she has money saved up still but wants to save it to buy a car when she graduates and have money when she gets her own place. Like I said 3 jobs in the summer and 1 during the school year. Shes like a little sister to me and I am very proud of her.
 
bozz2006 said:
that's awesome. You should be proud of her!
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This is one reason why I have a hard time people getting mad because their parents won't buy them stuff. I also grew up that I had to buy my own stuff and my parents were not cheap or anything, but wanted to teach me the value of owning stuff on my own.
 
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