Vista is a lost cause and always was. (notice the period LOL)
You can request XP on laptop no matter the brand.
One major keystroke difference is $.
You better ask what are you going to use this laptop for?
College as in - word and powerpoint presentations, viewing 2-3 docs in excel? Or as in graphics desing college running Autocad or some beast? Or as in you need to look cool at the coffe shop?
What is your lovel of support need should something go wrong?
Bottom line buy what you need, chances are this laptop will get obused and will be worthless in a 2 yrs anyhow. Not to mention whole college (on campus) life that can take toll on your possesions…
A few things I have repeatedly heard from die hard mac users:
- I love my mac
- They run forever and barely crash
- I don’t care you are my dad,I am not giving you a copy I paied $xxxx.xx for this software
You also want to check that your classes or computer labs can accomodate your OS needs.
Mac makes nice products...and if you make nice income you should live happily ever after.
All the best!