Daughter starting in the fall, what do y'all recommend as a laptop or similar for her?

Congratulations on your daughter's acceptance at Texas A&M University! The best way to figure out what your daughter's computer needs are is knowing what major she is going into and her current computer habits. Please visit us online at www.mac-resource.com/shop-by-major/ where she can pick her major and it will give her a list of recommended Apple Computers. Also, we are located in the Lower Level of the Memorial Student Center where she can visit us and test&play on different computers to find which one works best for her. We can also be found at New Student Conferences interacting with parents and students, please look for MacResource@MSC and we can help you find a computer that meets her needs. Thank you, and Gig'Em!

Elem Ed.

Thanks,

Is she more comfortable using a PC or a Mac?

PC

If there is not going to be much more than web surfing/email type activities (meaning her majors don't have specific PC requirements) then I would go with a Chromebook and use Google Docs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations ,etc.

I have a Surface Pro that I use for my home computer and I think it would be ideal for college. It is very light weight, has a decent battery life, and runs full Windows operating system. With the Pen you could hand write notes on it like you would normal paper (ideal for math classes where you'd run into a lot of equations and they would be hard to type out) or type them out with the keyboard. Using the tablet mode would also be ideal for reading textbooks. You can rent textbooks for kindle digitally for ~$40 dollar a semester now.

The only downside might be that you need a flat surface to really use the Surface Pro in "laptop" mode. You can't work with it that well in your lap with the keyboard cover. I'd think it would be ok for class but you might run into the lecture room desks being too small for you to set it on to work on (I've used it on a airplane tray table without issue so i'd think you'd be fine in a lecture hall).

Having used a Surface for a couple years now there have definitely been a few times I've thought to my self how I would have killed to have something like it in college.

Surface Pro is the ultimate college laptop. You can highlight and write notes with the pen just like paper. Way easier and faster then trying to make a pop up box for notes. Also easier to study just seeing notes written in margins.