Before the school year started, I decided that it would be a good idea to build my own computer. I came to this conclusion for multiple reasons: getting a better computer for a lower price, being able to customize nearly every aspect of it, learning how it's done since I'm a Computer Science major, etc. I ended up spending a pretty penny to make sure this computer would be beneficial to me throughout my last year of school, as well as last me for a few years.
What I didn't realize was that in my classes, it would prove necessary to have a portable device with better specs than the Asus Transformer T100. It isn't a bad device, per se, but it was insufficient for my needs in class. After a few class sessions, I started to realize this fact, and began to stress out. I had just spent a significant amount of money on a desktop, and now I had to buy a laptop as well.
So, I did what I'm sure every college kid does: I started looking for the deals. I started with Dell because my university has an ongoing student deal with them. Even with this discount though, the prices just seemed too high. Then, I began looking at sites, such as Woot, Newegg, and TigerDirect. These sites, as always, had some very good deals, but either the price was good and the hardware wasn't, or the hardware was good and the price was too high.
Throughout this time, I had been looking at Windows laptops, because I "knew" them to be the cheaper option. Finally, my brother-in-law suggested I check out refurbished Apple laptops. At first, I was skeptical, especially when looking at the prices. I was hoping to not spend much on this laptop, but it was looking like that wouldn't be possible. This was ultimately the fact that helped me make my decision. I determined that if I was going to spend the money anyway, I may as well spend it on a trusted device with an operating system I am less familiar with in order to improve my skills in my field, so I went with a MacBook Air.
While this was a particularly frustrating experience, I do believe that greater forces are always at work. I know that this experience, though not ideal, will ultimately help me to, at the very least, learn some new things. It's been an interesting process to learn OS X after years of dealing solely with Windows. There's still a lot to learn, but this refurbished laptop is refurbishing me.
Macbooks are for suckahs. just sayin :)
ReplyDeleteI used to completely agree with you! But ultimately, expanding my knowledge is more important than my stubborn opinion.
ReplyDeleteTobymac's son saved up enough green to get a MacBook. Did you have to braid anyone's hair or teach your dad to crossover dribble? Way to branch out. -Kent Stader
ReplyDeleteWhat are the main aspects of your new MacBook Air you like the most compared to your previous and current (assuming your desktop is running Windows) machines? I would like to hear which operating system your are enjoying working on more now as well. Would you recommend making the switch to iOS? Why or why not? I have found that many people who have been working with Windows love the Mac when they opted to make the switch, my parents included. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
ReplyDelete-Neal
I was totally in the same boat as you this semester. I spent all summer building a monster of a desktop computer leaving very little room for a nice/powerful laptop. What I came to realize is that a light weight laptop would be just fine for all my classes. I can always transfer things from my laptop to desktop once I'm home for the day. I ended up putting this SSD in my laptop to help speeds things up. 240GB isn't much by today's standards, but like I said, just transfer everything from your laptop to desktop when you're done with classes for the day.
ReplyDeleteI can attest to the desire to make purchases an opportunity to try something new - I recently purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad, used, with Linux installed on it from the previous owner. I was, and still remain, skeptical as Lenovo has apparently been less than truthful about some of the software they've been installing on their hardware(http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887392/lenovo-hit-with-lawsuit-over-superfish-snafu.html), but am still eager to get my hands on a new experience. Hopefully your refurbished option works out well for you.
ReplyDeleteI know how frustrating it might get when you have to spend so much money to buy something you need. There are so many things that you need to consider specifically for laptop. If I were to save money, I would probably have trade the desktop since you were planning by Mac book air. I am pretty sure for Mac book air you paid more than $1000. Personally, I would have never bought Mac Book. I feel they are over priced when compared to other laptops with same specifications. I hope everything works out for you. I bought Lenovo ThinkPad in my freshmen year and it still runs without any problems. But I did upgrade my Ram and have SSD replaced my hard drive. Hope everything works out with your new experience.
ReplyDelete