At university, it is currently the exam period, which has resulted in a higher number of students studying in the libraries. A lot of these students have MacBooks or MacBooks Pros, and it’s so common for me to walk past a row of study carrells and see an extremely expensive laptop just sitting there, unattended. And this is with the warnings that thieves are active in the library! Sometimes, I even poke around the surrounding areas to see if someone who owns one of these could be nearby, e.g., looking for a book in shelves a few metres away. But I rarely see anyone! If I wasn’t so nice, I’d totally do a grab ‘n’ run.
I also wonder why so many students have MacBooks in comparison to the rate they appear in the general population. At least half the laptops that pop up in my lectures are from Apple, which I figure is much higher than the proportion seen in the Real World. I suppose it’s because they’re super cool, fashionable, trendy, amazing, status symbol-y, or some such?
Also! Since we’re talking Apple, what’s with people who buy a new Apple product, who feel the need to buy a new one, whenever a new one is released? I’ve seen many people with perfectly-functioning iPods who have immediately spent (wasted) money on a new generation.
I’m not sure, but doesn’t Apple have some discount for students that makes MacBooks more affordable? I don’t know about how affordable they are compared to non-Apple laptops, but maybe people buy them because they know once they’ve graduated they’ll have to pay a lot more, and they want to make use of the bargain.
I don’t get the people who buy new iPods every generation, either. My iPod is two and a half years old now, and I have no real problems with it other than the storage capacity being too low (at 3.6GB, it’s got to the stage where I have to delete music I really like off it to make more room). Oh, and it sometimes fails to turn off when I try to make it. It won’t be replaced until it really, really starts failing me, though.
@Jess: They have a discount but I wouldn’t really call it substantial…
My friend Heather has a Macbook that she’ll leave unattended for a few minutes. I have a laptop that, although under a year old, barely functions, and I still wouldn’t let it out of my sight. I mean… nobody would even want it, but I’m still paranoid.
I see a lot of Macbooks, maybe because I live in a big city? I don’t know. I like the way the OS works – it’s simple and intuitive, but they are SO expensive. I’m a pretty cheap person, which is why I ended up with a crappy laptop and not a $2000 Macbook. I can only see myself having one if it was a gift or if I won the lottery.
I’ve had 2 iPods in about 4 years. The first one was the 2nd generation Nano, which I gave up simply because I ran out of space (2GB is NOTHING). I now have the 1st generation Touch, which I love. It may not have some of the features that the new version has, but it’s more than enough for me. My only problem is that I’m slowly running out of space again…
@Jess: Oh yeah, there is a discount. There’s an Apple Store on my uni campus and I’ve often seen flyers and stuff advertising this. I’ve actually looked on the website though, and as @nadine says, the discount actually isn’t that much :/
@Clem: Running out of space is a bother! I’ve had my fifth generation for about two and a half years now, and I’ve gradually made it to about 90% capacity. Eventually I won’t be able to have it automatically sync everything…
I’ve owned several Apple products over the years, but never a computer. I’ve had the iPod mini, the fifth generation video iPod, an iPod shuffle, a first generation iPhone, and the iPhone 3G. The video iPod was a gift, as well as the first generation iPhone. Sadly, my video iPod was stolen earlier this year so I bought myself a shuffle. I wasn’t about to spend an insane amount of money to replace it. I also had to upgrade my phone because the screen’s pixels began dying after two years. I’m not upgrading until my plan with AT&T is up again. I love Apple products, but I’m not about to drop money that I could otherwise be using to pay my bills just to keep up with the latest technology. If it’s still working perfectly, I see no reason to toss it out just because there’s a newer model. That’s lame.
I see people at my university do this too. And I joke with my friends that if I had less of a conscience I could just take their laptop and they’d never know. I mean they pack up everything else to go to the bathroom, but leave the laptop there — the most valuable thing I’d imagine they’d be carrying around! Also — I find the prevalence of MacBooks is particularly high in people doing a B Arts, or at a Fine Arts college. Whether that implies those students are swimming in their parents’ money, I’ll leave to you to decide.
I have a 30gb iPod and its almost full, but I find I don’t listen to 80% of the music I have on it — I just like the idea that if I wanted to listen to an obscure song, I could. Hrmm. I could probably do with an 8gb.
@Jen:
Macs are better for graphic design, so many art students would have them (My friends that go to design school are required to use a macbook)