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I would honestly wait till the last possible moment to ensure you get the best possible laptop for the money. The technology a year or two from now when you are looking to buy could be far superior for similar money.

Not in yet, but I am relatively computer savvy... maybe....

Hold off. Performance can change quite a bit in a year and a half. Today's laptop will likely be at 25% or more discount come law school anyways. You're better off having options later rather than forcing yourself into a bind. Also, you're assuming that the laptop will hold together for the next two years and then function in law school.

Personally, my planned law school laptop will be an active digitizer tablet, e.g. Thinkpad X. The ability to take handwritten notes and draw diagrams on a laptop was something I sorely missed in UG engineering.

I agree on waiting. Any laptop you buy today will prob be half that price in a year and a half anyway. FWIW, I've always had HPs, and I love them. I have a DV9820 now that's 2 years old and still seems new. Also, waiting until the last minute will let you use the laptop credit that most schools let you add to your financial aid loan. Most schools allow you up to $2500 I think.

Wait until the summer and get one with a USB 3.0 port.

You probably won't have to worry about computer performance that much considering it's just law school. It's not like you're an engineer or computer programmer so you won't be running any intensive programs or applications. A lot of laptops today are beyond the typical users needs anyways.

I've always been a PC owner and have used MACs quite a lot at my schools computer lab. I personally would never own a Mac just because of making that transition to a different interface and they are super overpriced! However, those small thin macs with the light up keyboard look awesome though...then again super overpriced!

You don't need a desktop, your laptop should be able to handle all your needs in law school. Unless you plan on playing some hardcore games, but who has the time?

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Wait.

Back to school sales FTW!

About 50% of student in my classes have macs. I've had a mac for about 9 months and haven't had any problems. During fall exams, someone's computer always had a problem with the software, crashed, etc. and it was always a PC. Get a mac.

I'd recommend getting it over the summer so you have time to get used to it before school starts. Also, your school may sell MS Office at a reduced price, so wait to buy that until you hear from your school.

yeah a friend of mine who works at best buy said one of the mac talking points is that people keep their macs on avarage 2 more years than the average pc....

This is only relevant if you want to actually keep a computer for six years. I replace my computer every two years, to keep up with new tech. If you play your cards right, it can be incredibly economical. Two years ago, I sold my two year old HP DV8000 for $300. I then used a bit of price digging and research to find the right computer for me, a 17-inch HP DV9820 that was juuuuust starting to go off the market and was sale-priced at most places for $950. Through the use of multiple promotions and some haggling, I bought it from an HP authorized seller on eBay for $650 after all rebates and cash back promos. After the $300 from "trading-in" my old HP, ~$350 total cost to me. I plan on reselling it in the next few months for basically that same amount to buy a new computer with Windows 7. Assuming I can play off another great deal, I figure I can parlay this trade-up at a cost of roughly $50-$100 per computer every two years. I'd be very interested in hearing if anyone has been able to do that with a Mac. They're great computers, you just pay out the ass for the Apple monopoly.

Also most of Apples hardware is the same shit you'd find in a PC. Intel chip, Toshiba hard drive, blah blah blah.

Pay for the mac if you want their software that badly, but lets not pretend they make better computers, they don't.

Some law schools are more Mac-friendly than others. A Mac is certainly fine for everything except maybe the exam software. Initially the exam software was only for PC, but they have it for Mac now. I'd wait until the summer before you start. You'll get the latest technology (in other words, won't have to upgrade during law school), and you'll know which school you'll go to and know if they fully support Macs.

I'm a Mac guy and will get a new one this summer (I only have a desktop). If there is an issue with the exam software, I have a POS PC laptop that will work.

Mac vs. PC is an endless debate. It really comes down to personal preference. I've had much better luck with Macs than PCs (fewer problems, crashes, etc.).

Macs run MS Office, so there is no problem sharing files with classmates with PCs.

I have a MacBook Pro that boots up in both OS X and Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. I probably use OS X 95% of the time, it's obviously superior and more secure. But Quicken on Windows is better and I have the flexibility to run any Windows program I might need.

To the OP, wait until summer and then decide.