My nephew, Tyler, starts University classes next week. I love to see how people view and use technology from all different angles. Because I do what I do, most of my insight is from the perspective of business. I asked Tyler to give us some computer use and buying advice from a student's perspective. With school already in session for some, and starting soon for the rest of us, now's the time to start thinking about your student's technology needs.
Take it away, Tyler!
"Apple products have been the go-to products for my family for years. From iMacs to iPhones to MacBook Pros for all of us kids going to college. Growing up I never really made the decision to buy them myself but I was always a fan of the simplicity and ease-of-use. Not to mention the designs were always beautiful and fun to show off to my friends. My high school graduation gift was a late 2011 MacBook Pro 13” that I used for about 3 years and loved every bit of it. I never had any viruses, computer failures (software of hardware), or any shortfalls with the hardware.
For the average student the 13” model is perfect. Ample screen room for simple applications like Word, Excel, or web-browsing and small enough that it fits comfortably in even one of my smaller Jansport backpacks. However, I had plans to install Avid’s ProTools software and needed heftier specs to run that without problems.
For work purposes and to ensure that I future-proofed my laptop for the next 5 years or so, I decided to upgrade to a mid-2014 MacBook Pro 15” with the Nvidia graphics card and 512 GB SSD; not to mention the 12 gigs of added ram for a total of 16! Maybe a little overkill for standard student uses, but the time was right for me and work applications demanded more processing power.
For those considering a 15” model or even a 13” model, the price tag can be a bit steep, especially for students. The retail price for the model I purchased was about $2400! Even with the education discounts that Apple offers I couldn’t bring myself to pay that. Then I found out about the refurbished section of the Apple store. This is where Apple performs in-house refurbishments of all returned products, so you know you are getting top quality and a renewed warranty. I was able to save $400 on the retail price of my new MacBook because I chose to buy refurbished. I know you might be thinking, “well, won’t the computer be used or have wear-and-tear?” Yeah this is a possibility, but the large portion of the inventory sold in the refurbished section are simply unopened return orders from corporate clients. My computer was in this category. Not even turned on by anyone other than the Apple employing checking to make sure everything worked properly.
If you are looking to save hundreds of dollars on a new to like-new Apple product, check the refurbished section of the Apple store before you go anywhere else! The design, reliability, and ease of use of Apple MacBook’s is unparalleled by any other computer on the market."
