Hi everyone,
This is for current law students if there any still lurking around.
Are you using a PC or Mac laptop for law school? What are some of the things you have liked/disliked about each one? What do you see more of your peers using?
I have been a PC guy for life, but if Mac is better for law school then I will change over.
Thanks!
Omar
Comments
I'm not a law student (yet), but have several friends in law school, or that are lawyers. Most of them swore on their Macs throughout law school. A friend of mine said that he felt that with the durability and quality of his Mac, he never had to worry about buying a new one or that it would crash on him. He said it was reliable throughout all three years. I took his advice and bought myself a new Mac which I will eventually use in law school as well.
Honestly I think it comes down to personal preference though. If you are a PC guy, and know that your PC has great durability and you are most familiar with its functions, that might be the way to go for you.
Anyhow, I prefer Mac over PC. They're simply to use, versatile, and if you treat them well, reliable.
If you decide to go the PC route, be sure to purchase a reliable one. Dell comes to mind.
Outside of actual slopfest bargain-basement computer companies who do things like not using thermal paste correctly or design their computers to blow heat directly over all of the internal components, parts failure is largely a numbers game. Apple doesn't manufacture its own parts - it gets its processors from somewhere, its motherboards from somewhere, its RAM from somewhere, same as every other computer company on the planet. They make their bones on design, not component quality. Even the most reputable parts companies have non-negligible fail rates, because that's how computer parts are. Apple laptops use all the same stuff Windows computers use nowadays; they're basically midrange Windows laptops. It's their software that sets them apart.
You also can't forget that Apple computers barely make up a quarter of the total market, so even if you hear 3 times as many failure stories on Windows computers, that's entirely expected. And, anecdotal evidence is subject to confirmation bias, selection bias, etc...this is a big LSAT flaw question just staring you in the face.
There's literally no difference if you're looking at law school requirements - all you need is a word processor, a web browser, and SofTest (which has both Windows and iOS versions). The rest of this is just the ancient Mac vs. PC debate that goes around in circles because of pure tribalism. If you're a Windows guy, there's no reason to switch unless you're just looking for an excuse to switch anyway. Within my group of friends in law school, the guys all used Windows and the girls all had Macs. We all did just fine. Mine was the only computer that died out of maybe eight or nine of us, and that was because my building was literally struck by lightning and the resulting surge fried an entire power strip's worth of electronics, including my computer, three days before my family law final.
tl;dr - completely irrelevant.
+1 for PC from me. I've had a Toshiba laptop that I used through 4 years of university, never once failed me.
That is all.
In my opinion (one datapoint, one opinion, don't kill me), the Macs always have much worse specs than PC's that cost half the price. They are also incredibly difficult, nearly impossible to upgrade even with basic things like new memory sticks and new hard drives, which allows them to charge an arm and a leg for machines that have sufficient power and storage for all but the most basic needs.
I also find the OS very unintuitive, controlling and restrictive (Apple's philosophy that they know better what the consumer needs). I cannot for the life of me understand how Apple got this "intuitive" reputation, cause I've used them for ages and still can't figure out how to do anything but the most basic things like e-mail, web, movie watching and word processing. Granted, as a student you wouldn't need to do much more, but occasionally you might want to troubleshoot an incompatibility and seems like even the IT people have a lot of trouble doing that on Macs.
The 3-4 machines I've personally used, and the Airbooks my bosses get seem to also freeze constantly and crash whenever certain programs are used.
They do have lovely screens - I believe they might be the only major manufacturer that still uses IPSC screens. Not an issue for law school, though - you're likely to use the computer for word processing.
I've never had a PC get infected with a virus, and they are protected with a program that cost less than $50. The only PC's that have been unreliable hardware-wise were consumer cheapo ones from Toshiba and one low end Dell, but I've had great experience with Dell's professional line for home (bought refurbished and upgraded with memory and storage) and Lenovo at work in terms of reliability and capacity to take abuse.
If you're used to a Mac and found one you can get along with, go ahead and use it in school. But don't feel like you need to because "everybody else does it ".
Remember also that your charger's weight will factor into the equation. My current laptop is really an engineering marvel: 14", ~3.5 pounds, fully loaded - i7 processor, GeForce 965M graphics, full HD IPS screen, SSD + HDD. It's super light for the components it carries. But the charger. The CHARGER! I wouldn't be surprised if that damn thing weighs more than the laptop it's charging.
Finally, consider your usage profile. If you're not a gamer, you don't need dedicated graphics. If you don't do processor-intensive work like Photoshop, huge Excel spreadsheets, or video processing, you don't need an i7 or even an i5, really. If you don't need to keep more than like 2 things on your screen at once, you can probably get away with 1600x900 resolution (or even 1366x768...though really, yuck). Point is, a lot of people waste a LOT of money on computing power that they barely even utilize. If all you do is browse Facebook, watch Youtube/Netflix, and take notes in class, you'd be just as well served with a $600 Ultrabook as you would with a $1800 Macbook Pro.
I love my surface, and it's easily one of the best pieces of tech that I've ever purchased. I don't have a problem with the keyboard.
I do processor intensive Photoshop and video processing/rendering on my home computer, which is why I have a 17in beast with all the goodies, but I don't need (or want) that for a school computer that will be used to type notes and check e-mail.
@"Accounts Playable" thanks for the feedback, that's good to hear. Maybe I'll practice answering forum questions on the Surface and see if there's any difference in comfort.
Anyway, it sounds like from a reliability standpoint, the results are about the same. I am an iPhone user and I do love the great support Apple has versus other companies. However, like someone else mentioned, Excel on a Mac is literally the worst thing ever (especially if you studied accounting in undergrad and had groupmates with Macs). I guess my main reason for thinking Mac was reliability and customer support, but seeing a lot of your responses kind of makes me think it really doesn't matter. The school I'll be attending has support for both. From personal experience and from Apple's great marketing, PCs do have the unreliable, virus infested stigma attached to them. I guess I'll just have to see what deals I can find and go from there. Really I just want the peace of mind that a lot of Mac users seem to get. Last thing I need a laptop crashing during finals. Thanks again for everyone's input, this was very helpful!
Side note: I used 7sage from July to October for the October LSAT and ended up getting a full scholarship to several schools, but picked Seton Hall. I'll be moving there sometime between now and July from Las Vegas. For any noobs in here, 7sage and LSAT Trainer by Mike Kim (I used it for LR only) are literally ALL you need to nail this exam. I scored a 162 working a full-time job and recovering from post concussion syndrome symptoms, so imagine if you're a student or just graduated with all kinds of time, 165+ is easily attainable (I was PTing in the 165 range with several 170+ scores).
Good luck and thanks again!