Should I get a Windows laptop or a Mac laptop?

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Macs work with stuff at the university - eg ResNet & wireless. Most of the computers around the university are Windows ones though.

Many students find Macs are a lot less hassle than a Windows laptop but are also a lot more expensive. With a university discount the cheapest Apple MacBook is £729, £849 without. A windows laptop is £300-£400. The main advantages of a Mac are:

- far lower risk of getting a computer virus than Windows.
- as the software and hardware all comes from the same manufacturer it's guaranteed to work together well
- Time Machine backup software. With a USB hard disk this backs up data for you in an almost foolproof fashion.
- Apple Stores all over the UK (including Bristol Cabot Circus) with the Genius Bar for after sales support.
- three year warranty included (only if purchased under the National Higher Education Agreement).

I've owned both a windows machine and a mac laptop since being at uni.

The most troublesome has been the windows setup. I managed to attract viruses and system failures (partially due to Dell's terrible build quality) throughout the year.

I then switched from using windows machines to linux. Linux is harder to use than windows and less intuitive so I don't recommend it for the standard user.

A couple years down the line and the windows machine broke down so I dug deep and found enough cash to buy a Macbook. It meets somewhere in the middle of linux and windows.

Apple kept their interface easy to use and has some similar features to windows but the stability of linux. Also the battery lasts about 12 hours which really useful if you've got a day at uni and don't want to carry around a charger everywhere.

I would definitely choose the macbook again, its more expensive but its mostly hassle free. You can even install windows on it if you really need it to run some software.

Having seen a huge number of windows installs that are unbelievably fubared, I would not hesitate in recommending a macbook to any user who doesn't class themselves as computer savvy.

They're easy to use, intuitive, stable and don't have the same tendency to break themselves over time that windows has. Oh and did I mention that they're shiny :-)

A note on Mac pricing; Apple releases models then generally keeps them at about the same price until they are replaced, whereas Toshiba, Viglen, Dell and other PC vendors will reduce their prices (and/or or improve the specification) as their models age.

If you compare the price of a brand new Apple model with a PC of comparable specification from a quality vendor, you will find very little difference in price. At the end of the Apple model's lifespan, however, the discrepancy can be quite large. Wait a while for the next Apple models to launch!

MacRumors has a page saying when Apple models are new, and when they are due to be replaced: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com