ITS Computer Buying Guide

Table of Contents

• Step 1: Types of Use
• Step 2: Laptop vs. Desktop, PC vs. Mac
• Step 3: Individual Platforms
  • Laptop - PC
  • Laptop - Mac
  • Desktop - PC
  • Desktop - Mac
• Step 4: After your computer arrives
  • PC
  • Mac

Step 3: Laptop - Mac

Please note: It is not necessary to read all of this section. The only thing you really have to decide is the size of the laptop you want to buy. For that, we recommend visiting the closest Apple Store and comparing the laptops there. Besides, you can see all the neat toys that Apple has on display!

*Academic and Other Discounts: Apple offers Academic discounts to Pomona students. This includes incoming students. If you're going to order from the Apple Store website, then you should visit the education section to get the discounts. If you want to order from a physical Apple Store, you should take something to prove you're enrolled at Pomona with you to the store. You can also get a discount by ordering a refurbished laptop. You can find the link to their refurbished computers under "Special Deals" on Apple's online store.

The information provided here exists for those people who want to know exactly what it is that they are buying. If you want a quick summary, look at our configuration summary.

Remember that there's no rush - you have all summer to decide. So do your homework and some soul-searching (or contact the ITS Helpdesk and ask us for advice) and make sure you're happy with what you're buying.

Once you've finally ordered your machine, go on to Step 4.

Step 4: After your computer arrives >>>>

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#IBookVsPowerBook

Which type of Mac should I choose?

Normal:

MacBook

Extended:

MacBook or MacBook Pro

Power User:

MacBook Pro

Apple currently sells two "families" of laptops: the MacBook line. and the MacBook Pro line. The MacBook line is sufficient for the needs of most college students: word processing, internet, e-mail, and basic media interaction (iTunes and iPhoto). The MacBook Pro family has more powerful features in basically every category: processor speed, graphics capabilities, screen size, DVD drive capabilities, storage space, etc.

There are also asthetic differences between the families. MacBooks have a nice white plastic case. (There is also a black MacBook available for $200 more. The black option includes a slightly larger hard drive but is otherwise an identical system.) MacBook Pros have a brushed-aluminum case. Also, the MacBooks and MacBook Pros have built-in iSight cameras for videoconferencing and each comes with an Apple Remote Control to control its built-in media-playback software, called Front Row.

For "Normal" users, the MacBook family should offer everything you need. For an Extended or Power User, you may want to look at the MacBook Pro family.

The best way to decide between the families of laptops is to visit an Apple Store (or CompUSA--they usually have an Apple section).

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#LaptopSize

Laptop Sizes

The other big thing you must decide about your laptop-to-be is the physical size. The MacBook comes in a 13" size while the MacBook Pro comes in 15" and 17" sizes. Typically, the larger sized laptops come with better features and a higher price tag while the smaller laptops offer better portability.

Again, this is a good reason to visit your local Apple Store and handle the laptops for yourself so you can decide.

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#LaptopProcessor

Processor

Normal:

Intel Core 2 Duo

Extended:

Intel Core 2 Duo

Power User:

Intel Core 2 Duo

With the possible exception of RAM, the processor is the most important part of your computer with respect to its speed and performance.

All of Apple's current laptops use Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The primary difference between them is the clock speed, which currently ranges from 2.0 GHz to 2.4 GHz. Even the lowest clock speed will be more than fast enough for a "Normal" student, but you will see a noticeable speed boost in many day-to-day activities if you buy a Mac with a faster processor.

It's worth noting that Macs now use the exact same Intel processors available in Windows-based PCs, so an Intel-based Macs will be just as fast as an identically-configured PC. ( Note: You can only compare processor speeds within a family of processors.)

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#SystemMemory

System Memory (RAM)

Normal:

1 GB

Extended:

1 - 2 GB

Power User:

2+ GB

Memory comes in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB), and, typically, the more the better. For those who are interested, you can read a discussion of what RAM actually does for your computer.

If you order from Apple's website, they will charge a premium to customize your laptop with extra RAM. If you feel up to it, you can order RAM sticks separately from another vendor and install them yourself (Apple provides detailed instructions - with pictures - on how to do this). We recommend Crucial.com for reasonably priced, high quality RAM.

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#OperatingSystems

Operating System

Normal:

Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"

Extended:

Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"

Power User:

Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"

There's only one option for Operating System. Apple's laptops currently ship with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger".

Boot Camp

With a utility released by Apple called Boot Camp, you can set up an Intel Mac to run both OS X and Windows. The good news is that Pomona can provide Windows XP Pro to students for free, so you don't have to worry about purchasing it.

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#HardDrive

Hard Drives

Normal:

80 GB

Extended:

80 - 120 GB

Power User:

120 - 160 GB and a large (~200GB) external hard drive

Hard drives are your main storage area for all of your data. This is where all of your papers, presentations, music, and digital photos will be stored.

Laptop hard drives have varying capacities, measured in gigabytes (GB). For Apple laptops, you can get drives that can hold anywhere between 80 GB to 160 GB. Keep in mind that Mac OS X will take up about 4 GB. Add in other commonly forgotten things like your browser cache and other random "stuff" that tends to accumulate over time and this number grows to about 10 GB.

Things like Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations take up very little space. The largest files tend to be digital photos, music, games, and movies. Raw digital photos (fresh off your camera) tend to be extremely high quality and run about 700 KB - 1.5 MB each, meaning you can fit about 20,000 pictures on a 30 GB drive. Music .mp3s tend to run between 3MB and 5MB, so a typical music collection (~2,000 songs) will take up around 10 GB. Movie sizes can vary wildly depending on their resolution quality, but a decently compressed full-length movie tends to run around 1.5 GB (an uncompressed full movie can vary between 4 and 8 GB).

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#OpticalDrive

Optical Drive(s)

Normal:

DVD/CD-RW "Combo Drive" or DVD-R/RW burner "Superdrive"

Extended:

DVD-R/RW burner "Superdrive"

Power User:

DVD-R/RW burner "Superdrive"

Optical drives read (and sometimes write to) optical media, which means CDs and DVDs. The bare minimum drive you can buy in an Apple laptop will support reading DVDs and CDs and writing to CDs.

• DVD/CD-RW combo - This drive is only available on some of the MacBook line of computers. It can read and burn CDs and can read DVDs.
• DVD-R/RW burner "Superdrive" - This drive is the standard drive on most Apple laptops. It can read and burn both CDs and DVDs.

Typically, the main reasons you will want a DVD burner are if you're frequently making movies or need to back up large amounts of data. In those cases, you may find that burning lots of CDs (CDs hold about 700 MB of data) is not as easy and quick as burning a few DVDs. Normal DVDs hold about 4.7 GB of data. However, the very newest Apple laptops contain double-layer DVD burners, which can burn onto special double-layer DVD discs that hold twice the amount of data. (However, these discs are currently somewhat expensive.)

Optical drives also tend to have a lot of technical jargon associated with them. However, Apple simplifies all this for you. You simply have the choice between the Combo drive and the Superdrive. However, the following general information about optical drives may be useful:

Speed: The speed of a drive reflects both its read and write speed. Almost all optical drives now read CDs at 52x. CD burners typically top out at 24x write speed. DVD drives/burners use the same "x" notation, but on a different scale: most DVD drives burn at 4x, 8x, and 16x. Note that even though these numbers look "smaller," than their CD counterparts, they burn CDs just as fast as the fastest CD burner.

-R vs. -RW: CD- and DVD-Rs can be written to ("burned") only once, while CD- and DVD-RWs can be written to many times (this number varies but approaches 1000 for high-quality media).

+/- compatibility (DVD-R/RW only): DVD-R/RWs come in two flavors: + and - (e.g. DVD+RW vs. DVD-RW). Most DVD burners are +/- compatible, meaning that they can burn both types. The - format is more compatible with more home entertainment (set-top) DVD players than its + cousin.

Double-layer (DVD-R/RW only): A typical DVD can hold about 4.7GB of data. Double-layer (a.k.a. "dual-layer") DVDs can hold almost twice this: about 8.5GB. Many commercial movie DVDs are double-layer. If a DVD-burner is dual-layer compatible then it can burn dual-layer DVD-Rs. Unfortunately, a single DL DVD-R costs about $10, and you will rarely (if ever) find need to burn such a large amount of data onto a single DVD (i.e. it can usually be split up amongst multiple DVDs). In other words, there's no reason to pay premium for this ability.

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#GraphicsCard

Graphics (card)

Normal:

Whatever comes with your selected laptop

Extended:

Whatever comes with your selected laptop

Power User:

Whatever comes with your selected laptop

As with most laptops, the graphics cards included in Apple's laptops are not as powerful as their desktop counterparts, but they still get the job done. Like all other laptops, however, you cannot buy a better graphics card after purchasing your computer, so it is important to choose a Apple laptop with the graphics card you want - you're stuck with it. Apple won't let you customize the graphics card once you select a laptop model.

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#WiFi

Wireless Networking Card (AirPort / AirPort Extreme)

Normal:

AirPort Extreme (comes default)

Extended:

AirPort Extreme (comes default)

Power User:

AirPort Extreme (comes default)

Every new Apple laptop comes with an Airport Extreme card installed. This card allows your laptop to acces the Claremont Colleges CINE wireless network. This means you will be able to surf the internet from outside your dorm, in the Smith Campus Center patio, ( cough in class cough), and anywhere else the 5Cs have wireless networking available.

Wireless networks come in a, b, and g flavors with both g and a supporting transfers up to 54 Mb/second and b supporting transfers up to 11 Mb/second*. The Airport Extreme card is compatible with a, b, and g networks. The Claremont Colleges wireless network is a b type network (although it has a few isolated g nodes.) (There is also a new standard under development, 802.11n. See our WiFi page for more details on the various forms of wireless networking.)

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#BlueTooth

Bluetooth

Normal:

Bluetooth 2.0 (comes default)

Extended:

Bluetooth 2.0 (comes default)

Power User:

Bluetooth 2.0 (comes default)

Bluetooth is a technology designed to allow wireless connectivity between portable devices over relatively short distances. It comes built-in to all new Apple Laptops.

For example, some cell phones come with Bluetooth headsets so that you can put your phone in your pocket, the headset in your ear, and not have to have an annoying wire running between the two. Lots of devices are starting to use Bluetooth connections, the most popular being cell phones, PDAs, PCs, laptops, and digital cameras. It is primarily designed to compete with USB and other short range connection standards, NOT 802.11 wireless networking.

( More information on Bluetooth)

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#SuggestedSoftware

Software

Normal

None: free from Pomona

Extended

None: free from Pomona

Power User

None: free from Pomona

The major piece of software that you would typically have to buy with a computer is Microsoft Office, which is quite expensive. Luckily for you, Pomona will give you Microsoft Office (as well as the previously mentioned major upgrades to the operating system) for free! Just note that you won't be able to install these programs until you get to campus. Luckily, all Apple laptops come with a "test" version of Microsoft Office 2004 that should last you until fall. If this won't last you, then you will have to buy a copy of Office from an Apple Store or other computer store.

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<<<< Step 2: Laptop vs. Desktop, PC vs. Mac

Step 4: After your computer arrives >>>>