Powerbook Shopping

I've been reseaching different laptops for quite some time now. I'm looking for a laptop to bring with me to college next year. At first I looked at Apples but was turned off by the price, so I started looking to HPs and other manufacturers. Today I took a little field trip to CompUSA to look at the HP model I was going to buy in person. On the way to see HPs, I passed the Apples and needless to say after seeing the quality that Apple provides, I wasn't too fond of the HP. SO, now I'm back to looking at Apples, but price is still an issue. Oh HP I was getting about a $100 student discount. Here is the setup I am considering...

PowerBook 1.33GHz (15.2" TFT) Z0A2 1 $2,041.00 $2,041.00
512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM 065-4861

AirPort Extreme Card 065-4820

1.33GHz PowerPC G4 with 64MB Graphics Memory 065-4811

Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English 065-4819

Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) 065-4824

60GB Ultra ATA drive @ 4200 rpm 065-4822


APP for PowerBook (w/ or w/o display) - Enrollment Kit M8853LL/A 1 $239.00 $239.00

Office 2004 for Mac - Student and Teacher Edition T9188LL/A 1 $149.95 $149.95

= $2,429.95


My question is, what kind of a student discount would I get from Apple? Nothing's coming up and I'm curious as to if there even is one at all. Any other advice you can offer me? I'm to be a first time Apple and first time notebook owner. I'm looking for a reliable, durable notebook, a "desktop replacement", something that's not constantly crashing with a comfortable screen and that's going to last me some time, I would also like to know there's solid support should something go wrong. I'm willing to make an investment here just so long as it's for a quality system. Also, are there any deals, promotions or anything new that Apple's coming out with that I should wait til later in the Summer to buy? Sorry for the long post, I've got a lot of questions.

-Molly

 

Molly,

You should definitely check with the school you're going to to see if they have a deal worked out with a manufacturer to get student discounts on laptops. For example, I went to Ohio State and could get a 35% discount on any IBM laptop purchased through the school bookstore or via an Ohio State branded IBM site. Apple also had a deal worked out with the university. So, if your school is big enough it's likely that one of the big manufacturers have some type of deal worked out. Give the school bookstore a call, find out.

/andrew

 

Through the Education portion of the website my school as listed and I slected it. Is that enough to get me the discount or do I have to do something more?

 

To qualify for the discount you probably have to provide some sort of student/teacher id. It's pretty easy beyond that, just select the model, options you want and buy. If you want to save a bit, try out the 12 inch Powerbook. My wife has one and loves it. They are more portable than the 15 inch model, with most of the same features the bigger ones have except for the backlit keyboard. Do add plenty of RAM to the Powerbook you buy. Mac OSX likes it and your experience with the notebook will be better.

Small Dog Electronics (http://smalldog.com/) may have refurb models available for a decent price. Plus you would save on sales tax unless you live in Vermont. Buy AppleCare (three year warranty) for piece of mind and excellent tech support over the phone. Again, Small Dog will have this at a discount over Apple's retail price. Your student discount may be better.

look twice : save a life : motorcycles are everywhere

 

Hi Snorty,
I saw the 12 in Powerbook when I was shopping and although it was very cute, this will be the computer I do all my work on, and I think the small screen would bother me. The 17 in, however, is much too big, so I think the 15 in would be perfect.

You don't think 512 of memory is enough? It's only one stick instead of 2 x 256 so I can have more installed if I have to. While we're on the subject, how much would it ccost me to get another stick of 512 later and have it installed at like a CompUSA or an Apple Store (if they do that).

Other than that, do you think an Apple is a good idea?

 

Hi Molly,

The 12in is great for its portability. If you need a larger screen for work at home, consider getting an LCD or even a cheap 17in VGA monitor. My father-in-law has his PowerBook set up this way with an older 15in Apple LCD. The PowerBook can be connected giving you two screens. This is really handy if you need to have email open on one and a web page on the other. Of course, with Expose (part of Panther/OS 10.3.x) you can use the PowerBook in a similar fashion. Just push the correct function key and all open windows zoom out to show all open programs at one time. Then you click on the window you need and that one jumps to the front.

Shop around and see if one of the Mac online stores will throw in free RAM. Sometime they have deals where all you have to do is pay for "installation" which is a rip, but the RAM may be much less. Alternatively, buy the correct RAM for you PowerBook after the purchase from a place like New Egg (www.newegg.com). You can add it pretty easily. I added a 512mb SODIMM to this IBM Thinkpad. It wasn't that difficult.

If you do buy the notebook from a local store, talk with the sales person about installing extra RAM as part of the purchase. They can do this at both the Apple store or CompUSA. The Apple store guys will be much more familiar with your notebook since that's all they sell. Still, it's a simple operation and any tech worth their salt can do it.

The Reason for RAM is that it allows you to run more programs at one time. Some of the iApps like GarageBand are CPU/RAM hogs so it makes sense to help them where it's possible. Think of RAM as adding a larger gas tank to your car.

Hope this helps!

look twice : save a life : motorcycles are everywhere