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JoeD · 06-13-2012, 10:38 AM

I've only skimmed the entire thread, but my line of thinking would be

If you don't want to spend a lot, get a cheap windows laptop, light weight preferably since it is going to be used portably more than anything else. £300-500 will get you a laptop that can handle the basics all the way up to gaming (reasonable gaming, not latest/highest settings etc), more than ample for uni courses. If the main usage on a course is email and writing docs, even a netbook would do and the cost would then fall dramatically. Depends on the course and what she'll want/need to do with it.

If you don't mind the Apple premium though, a mac book or air would be my choice. Air ideally for the added portability. You mention the school doesn't require a PC, but even if they did, she could install bootcamp and a copy of windows 7 on the mac for dual booting to use the odd windows only app that might be required for course work.

Mac vs Windows is a really personal choice though. I've been pro PC/Windows since the 90's and hated early Macs. However, the last two years as a Mac user has changed my view totally. As long as the course doesn't require one or the other though, it's really a personal decision and cost.

I'd still favour taking notes in lectures with pen and paper rather than typing away and trying to annotate/draw as the lecture goes on. Part of that is I don't find the freeform note taking apps on ipads/macs usable enough compared to p&p, but also it's useful to go back over your notes after a lecture by typing them up as it'll help the material sink in.

Again though, personal preference.

In terms of backup, vital. Download the free version of Crashplan for Mac or Windows. Couple of settings needed to select which folders to backup and then you can forget about it. Anytime the external USB drive is plugged in, it'll backup to it. OR, you can setup crashplan on the same (or different) account at your house and it'll backup seamlessly over the internet. It also versions and retains deleted items for a configurable amount of time, so covers "user error" as well as hardware

tl;dr if she like's Macs and the cost isn't an issue, Mac + iPad. Otherwise, windows. Both are equally suitable, just favour lightweight/portable imo. I'd go with laptop over iPad if it's one or the other though, much more flexibility with a laptop.

06-13-2012, 10:38 AM	#58
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	I've only skimmed the entire thread, but my line of thinking would be If you don't want to spend a lot, get a cheap windows laptop, light weight preferably since it is going to be used portably more than anything else. £300-500 will get you a laptop that can handle the basics all the way up to gaming (reasonable gaming, not latest/highest settings etc), more than ample for uni courses. If the main usage on a course is email and writing docs, even a netbook would do and the cost would then fall dramatically. Depends on the course and what she'll want/need to do with it. If you don't mind the Apple premium though, a mac book or air would be my choice. Air ideally for the added portability. You mention the school doesn't require a PC, but even if they did, she could install bootcamp and a copy of windows 7 on the mac for dual booting to use the odd windows only app that might be required for course work. Mac vs Windows is a really personal choice though. I've been pro PC/Windows since the 90's and hated early Macs. However, the last two years as a Mac user has changed my view totally. As long as the course doesn't require one or the other though, it's really a personal decision and cost. I'd still favour taking notes in lectures with pen and paper rather than typing away and trying to annotate/draw as the lecture goes on. Part of that is I don't find the freeform note taking apps on ipads/macs usable enough compared to p&p, but also it's useful to go back over your notes after a lecture by typing them up as it'll help the material sink in. Again though, personal preference. In terms of backup, vital. Download the free version of Crashplan for Mac or Windows. Couple of settings needed to select which folders to backup and then you can forget about it. Anytime the external USB drive is plugged in, it'll backup to it. OR, you can setup crashplan on the same (or different) account at your house and it'll backup seamlessly over the internet. It also versions and retains deleted items for a configurable amount of time, so covers "user error" as well as hardware tl;dr if she like's Macs and the cost isn't an issue, Mac + iPad. Otherwise, windows. Both are equally suitable, just favour lightweight/portable imo. I'd go with laptop over iPad if it's one or the other though, much more flexibility with a laptop. Last edited by JoeD; 06-13-2012 at 10:47 AM.