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Worst way to spend the economic stimulus check

A

anubis26

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
37
0
Let's see:
- I can't wait to buy my first mac (15" mbp)
- $1500 is coming in the mail from Uncle Sam
- The back-to-school deal is supposed to be great
- I can get the education discount

Everything's perfect, eh?

If only...

I just found out that my school is making everybody buy a laptop, except it has to be a windows tablet. Bleh! Even worse, their specs essentially demand spending $1600+ on a computer that has less power than an entry level macbook. I've already tried to talk to them about slapping a touchscreen on a mac but no, THE SCREEN HAS TO ROTATE. Gaaah! Does anyone have any ideas on how to get out of this? I'm going to try to make enough dough over the summer to get the mac aswell, but still. Help!

BTW: I'm definitely NOT getting the modbook, as I dont want to spend thousands on something that might ship within twelve months.
 
Just curious, what kind of program are you in? I've never heard of one that requires you to outlay $1600 out-of-pocket as a requirement... That additional context might also help the responses here.

Whatever the case, it sounds pretty sucky. I'm not entirely sure how they can commandeer everybody's individual financial decisions, though..?
 
lol, sorry, that sucks. you just gotta live with it if they absolutely require it. try to convince them that your mac will be good enough...
 
esaleris said:
Just curious, what kind of program are you in? I've never heard of one that requires you to outlay $1600 out-of-pocket as a requirement... That additional context might also help the responses here.

Whatever the case, it sounds pretty sucky. I'm not entirely sure how they can commandeer everybody's individual financial decisions, though..?
Click to expand...

It's a place called IMSA; a state funded math/science school. They're getting away with it because its about the only money (laptop) you have to spend to go there. Ironically, the student who is essentially in charge of the tech stuff there is an avid mac user, but the school's CIO decided that tablets were the new thing and there you have it.

queshy said:
lol, sorry, that sucks. you just gotta live with it if they absolutely require it. try to convince them that your mac will be good enough...
Click to expand...

The first thing I'll do is set up a linux dual boot, so it won't be that bad... except they're forcing us to use One Note so I unfortunately have to keep windows on there.

At least they upgrade the tablets to XP from Vista for free :/
 
anubis26 said:
It's a place called IMSA; a state funded math/science school. They're getting away with it because its about the only money (laptop) you have to spend to go there. Ironically, the student who is essentially in charge of the tech stuff there is an avid mac user, but the school's CIO decided that tablets were the new thing and there you have it.



The first thing I'll do is set up a linux dual boot, so it won't be that bad... except they're forcing us to use One Note so I unfortunately have to keep windows on there.

At least they upgrade the tablets to XP from Vista for free :/
Click to expand...

lol @ "upgrade".

What's so good about One Note? No Mac alternative?
 
Well... one of my friends does have a toshiba tablet PC... with Vista/*ahem*Mac OS X*ahem* in dual boot... the tablet works pretty well on the mac side too...........
 
Agurri said:
Well... one of my friends does have a toshiba tablet PC... with Vista/*ahem*Mac OS X*ahem* in dual boot... the tablet works pretty well on the mac side too...........
Click to expand...

I was just wondering, do you know how he got OSX onto the tablet? My dad just inherited a messed up tablet and I'd love to put leopard onto it. I'm not sure about where to start though.
 
alexlovesmacs said:
just buy a used tablet at ebay then buy a new or refurb macbook or macbook pro
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but apparently they want the tablets to have a 4 year protection plan for them (it comes with it when you buy it through the school/cdw).
Agurri said:
Well... one of my friends does have a toshiba tablet PC... with Vista/*ahem*Mac OS X*ahem* in dual boot... the tablet works pretty well on the mac side too...........
Click to expand...
Even if I *cough*wanted to*cough* do so, I doubt my non-existant mac skills could pull that off.
Tallest Skil said:
Don't go to Oceania. Find somewhere that lets you be who you are.
Click to expand...
That would be great if Eastasia or Eurasia actually existed...*
queshy said:
lol @ "upgrade".

What's so good about One Note? No Mac alternative?
Click to expand...
From what I know I think that One Note integrates well(?) with other computers running One Note. I guess?
 
I'd just buy the MacBook, a Wacom Bamboo tablet, and give the school the finger.

edit: yes you should buy the tablet though.
 
wordmunger said:
Buy the Tablet PC. I'm sure that they have a good reason to require it.
Click to expand...

Two people at my company has touchscreen tablet with rotating screen. They show that the screen can rotate. But the thing is, it's actually faster to rotate the whole laptop or have the person sit next to you. In daily use, they NEVER use the "features" they paid extra for, except to show someone new that the laptop has the "features".

Just the standard windows user, people with low technical understanding's rational that incorrectly thinks more features is better,
when in actuality, features that work, and features you would actually use (like to use) would actually be a better gauge of better product.
 
Consultant said:
Two people at my company has touchscreen tablet with rotating screen. They show that the screen can rotate. But the thing is, it's actually faster to rotate the whole laptop or have the person sit next to you. In daily use, they NEVER use the "features" they paid extra for, except to show someone new that the laptop has the "features".
Click to expand...

They're working for a business, not attending a math/science school. In math/science, tablet PCs are essential because it's faster to write out equations and sketch graphs by hand than it is to type them on a keyboard.
 
wordmunger said:
They're working for a business, not attending a math/science school. In math/science, tablet PCs are essential because it's faster to write out equations and sketch graphs by hand than it is to type them on a keyboard.
Click to expand...

We write plenty of equations. We use a software that makes input easy.

But you raised a valid point, certain apps are windows only, but you can of course run it in VMWare or bootcamp. I wonder how the touchscreen MacBook works in windows...
 
wordmunger said:
In math/science, tablet PCs are essential because it's faster to write out equations and sketch graphs by hand than it is to type them on a keyboard.
Click to expand...

As opposed to spending $2-3 on a pen and a pad of paper, maybe $80 on a good calculator. Of course I only went through calculus, and I could see some problems and equations taking many pages and edits (screw ups) to complete in the higher echelons of mathematics. I just do not see the rational in requiring a Tablet computer when for the several hundred years students managed without, rather it should be strongly suggested with a thorough explanation.

But to the OP your only real choices is to accept this rule or change schools. Frankly I would just just file a formal protest and buy the Tablet computer if absolutely needed.

They could have said stone tablets, chisel, hammer and abacus only:eek:.
 
I think there's not much hope in changing the rule, as about 400 students have already bought them... and I'm definitely not going back to my old school (went through 4 math teachers in one semester, 2 of which didn't know even basic algebra). So I think getting both a mac and a tablet is the best option, considering that I could sell the touch that (will hopefully) come with the mac, knocking an extra $300 off the price.

btw I totally agree that tablets are just very expensive toys for windows users.
 
For me this is straight forward: if you want to attend the school then you have to follow their 'rules' and that means you need a tablet PC running Windows / One Note. If you want to spend the cheque on a Mac then you'll need to find a different school.
 
Tell them to shove it. Surely if you couldn't afford the money then what would you do? They can't force you to buy one if you have no money?

Just get the modbook, its shipping IIRC.
 
anubis26 said:
Let's see:
I just found out that my school is making everybody buy a laptop, except it has to be a windows tablet.
Click to expand...

Will they let you run the infidel world as a virtual image on a Mac instead? I run two of the heaviest Windows apps, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2005, on my MBP in one VMWare image.
 
agore said:
Will they let you run the infidel world as a virtual image on a Mac instead? I run two of the heaviest Windows apps, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2005, on my MBP in one VMWare image.
Click to expand...
But the screen has to be rotateable!
nick9191 said:
Tell them to shove it. Surely if you couldn't afford the money then what would you do? They can't force you to buy one if you have no money?

Just get the modbook, its shipping IIRC.
Click to expand...
I think they look at your income and rent you one if you can't pay up.
 
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