Laptop for college student

[Pars]

Sorry if this has already been posted...

My oldest son is starting college next fall and we need to get him a laptop, preferably a Mac. I don't need a $2K PowerBook Pro or whatever, just something decent. I'm not opposed to used also, although it would need to be something reliable.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Chris

[n_maher]

I'd go w/ a refurbished Macbook ($1000) or 15" Macbook Pro ($1500) and definitely get the warranty for a college kid.

[JBLoudG20]

definitely get the warranty for a college kid.

Beer and laptops don't mix.

[grawk]

Seconded. Refurbed macbook, upgrade the memory and hard drive on your own (it's simple) rather than paying apple to do it.

[Voltron]

Macbook (refurb) thirded.

[Pars]

Thanks. The Apple Store refurbs the way to go for this? I bought my PowerMac G5 desktop there and have never had a bit of trouble with it...

[n_maher]

Thanks. The Apple Store refurbs the way to go for this?

It's the only place I'd buy an apple refurb if only for the Applecare option.

[Pars]

I didn't bother with Applecare on my home machine... this I might however.

[Voltron]

I didn't bother with Applecare on my home machine... this I might however.

Absolutely. My kids both have Macbooks and neither has had a problem but you never know.

[Dusty Chalk]

did anyone mention refurb macbook? if not, refurb macbook.

Malkovich malkovich.

[Pars]

I've decided to go an entirely different route... how about a Macbook, perhaps a refurb from, oh, lets say... the Apple store?

[thrice]

I've decided to go an entirely different route... how about a Macbook, perhaps a refurb from, oh, lets say... the Apple store?

Get him a mac mini, great home entertainment server.

refurbed of course.

On another note, I got a great little 2.5 Western Digital internal drive (320GB) for my MacBook, super easy to install.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

It won't void your warranty if I remember correctly, whereas a user replacing the hard drive for a macbook pro will void the warranty.

[Pars]

Might be kinda hard to deal with a mini in class...

On a related note, I will probably need to add another drive to my G5 PowerMac... any recommendations? I know I've seen posts where you and Grawk and ?? have been discussing drives (RAID, etc.), so that's why I asked.

It has an 80Gb stock... maybe add something 250G or maybe larger?

[thrice]

Yeah, just kidding about the Mac mini....it was a thing a little while ago.

People tend to like Western Digital and Seagate. I've been using Western Digital drives in external cases for a couple years now without problems.

I'm guessing it needs a 3.5" drive? I don't know the specs. Best Buy will have some good sales every now and then on hard drives as well as Buy.com.

Newegg.com is another place to look.

[Salt Peanuts]

On another note, I got a great little 2.5 Western Digital internal drive (320GB) for my MacBook, super easy to install.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

It won't void your warranty if I remember correctly, whereas a user replacing the hard drive for a macbook pro will void the warranty.

Really? I may have to give it a go on my MacBook then, as voiding warranty was why I hadn't upgrade the hard drive.

[Dusty Chalk]

the unofficial word from Apple on upgrades has always been "do what you will, but if you break it you're fucked" on everything.

How is that any different from voiding your warranty?

[grawk]

It only voids your warranty for the things you specifically damage if you damage anything. Since that's always true, it's not that your warranty is voided, it's that apple doesn't warrant their product is free from user caused damage.

I don't think that's even an apple thing, I think it's covered in US law. They can only exclude damage caused by the user, they can't refuse a warranty repair unrelated to that.