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45% of computers bought at Princeton this year were Macs

dailyprincetonian.com — Dude, you're getting a Dell! Well ... maybe not any more. According to the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Princeton, 45 percent of computers purchased this year were Macs, more than in any previous year.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 14, 2006

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  • EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41I'll get flamed for this but it's the truth.

    Our University bookstore doesn't even sell PCs anymore. Is it because everybody at the school wanted a Mac? No, it's because the school bookstore can't compete on price or selection with Best Buy and Dell. They bookstore was the most expensive place in town for PCs, so everybody went someplace else.

    On the other hand Apple gives the bookstore an educational discount, and it's otherwise impossible to find discounted Macs. The bookstore is the CHEAPEST place in town to buy a Mac. Anybody who wants a Mac buys at the bookstore. On top of that Apple pays the bookstore a significant amount for promotions and provides a steady stream of giveaways for contests.

    I have no doubt it's a banner year for Apple with the new Intel Macs and iPods, but the 45% statistic is meaningless for the big picture.
  • smcavoy, on 10/12/2007, -15/+42well thanks for sharing that. The world is a better place now.
  • wphj, on 10/12/2007, -8/+30When will this same faulty argument stop?
    Look around at the REAL WORLD price comparisons that take all costs into account
  • Devoboy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+29Yeah, those Princeton degrees sure aren't worth the paper they're printed on, right?
  • catullus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20not surprising at all. i go to Dartmouth and EASILY more than half the computers here are macs
  • schlurp, on 10/12/2007, -8/+27Well at my university Macs sell well too, but I suspect the main reason for that is that Apple gives large discounts through the university computer store and Dell doesn't.
    Might be the same at Princeton.
  • colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21"Yeah, I've noticed Macs are getting more popular at the University of Melbourne too. I've never seen one that isn't scratched/bashed to smitherines, stained, slow or whirring madly though, so I'm sticking with Dell on my next purchase. (the M1210 is freaking sweet!). "

    I don't know what students at your University do to their computers, but when I was a computer technician for a University, a lot of students had Macs and they were all holding up fine (most house calls were for software related issues). In fact, the only issue I've seen was my girlfriend's Macbook recently had the sudden shutdown issue.
  • 1021, on 10/12/2007, -33/+50Title is inaccurate because this only includes students who buy through the school program. The real percentage between mac vs windows at Princeton is probably more favoring windows.
  • ehMac, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18Have a friend who works at the University of Waterloo (Huge Computer Science program where companies like RIM, Microsoft and Apple get tons of employees from). He works in the Campus Tech shop that sells computers.

    He tells me, sales of MacBooks were completely through the roof and that a casual observation was that about half of all sales were MacBooks.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I don't know the exact numbers, but the % of Macs at Columbia University is extremely high. In fact, NYC in general seems to be a Mac haven.
  • vocaro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16wisedude: "Title is inaccurate because this only includes students who buy through the school program."

    How is my title inaccurate? I said "at Princeton", not "by Princeton students".

    "The real percentage between mac vs windows at Princeton is probably more favoring windows."

    Why? What leads you to this conclusion? The article shows a clear historical upswing in the number of students purchasing Macs through OIT. It stands to reason, then, that there's also an upswing in the number of Macs purchased outside of OIT. In fact, the percentage purchased outside OIT could be even *higher* than 45%. We just don't have that data, so don't try to make any claims about the "real" percentage.
  • titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -8/+20I never knew PC was an OS, when did that come out?
  • Sefirosu, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18Well, not everyone wants an underperforming low cost and single-core Celery.

    You get what you pay for.
  • FireJin3, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16That a 100% of people who go to Princeton like to choose their own computers.
  • TheWriteGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I'm pulling this assumption outta my ass admittedly, but I'm guessing that there's a whole young generation now (teen years to traditional college age) who were brought up on the iPod and, thus, have a very favorable view towards Macs. I wouldn't be surprised if the demographics for Windows PC users now skews slightly older.
  • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13First you have to find a PC comparable to the Mac mini. Ready, set.... go!

    The biggest problem with comparing these machines (now that the hardware is the same) is finding a manufacturer that puts the same quality, planning and thought, and parts into a box in a method similar to how Apple does it.

    You can compare the Mac Pro, but once you get into their other machines there just aren't other people making machines with the same specs in the same form factor.

    I'll pay $100 for a sleek Mac mini over a $500-special Walmart tower and I'll have a wicked little media center to boot.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"an OS that has a tiny library of programs compared to windows, unix even."

    You've obviously have never used any variant of Unix. Linux/Unix has a humungous library of applications. The difference between my Unix Programs and your Windows Applications is Mine are Free and OpenSource. Also while you have to get alot of your programs from the Store Shelves all I have to do is go into the shell and 'apt-get install free and opensource program' or 'yum install'
  • xjeffx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I go to Cal State Long Beach (one of the cheapest schools around) and while I haven't done a census, I would venture to guess that at least 60% of the new computer purchases are macs. Our bookstore sells macs and dell's (maybe another brand of pc laptop, I can't remember), but most students are walking around with their Macbooks. Same thing last year with the iBook.
  • MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13100% of the computers purchased at my school this year were HPs....

    (The school includes a laptop as part of the tuition.)
  • dinonion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7They should be giving Macs to all their students for the cost of tuition
  • antigoogle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Princeton has always been full of Macs inside and outside, but in our labs we were using Solaris!!!
  • Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13"And this tells us what, exactly?"

    That students (and even faculty members) in general are more commonly using Macs than before, and that Windows is problematic to use in some environments like these due to their history where you want high reliability. But this is just from reading the article, maybe you should try that too.
  • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Well, you seem to care enough to reply.
  • thebiscuit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Mac IS UNIX. The underlying core to OS X is Darwin, which is based on FreeBSD. Also, on a Mac you can run Windows through Boot Camp and Parallels.Also variants of UNIX and Linux. And there's a lot of great software eg iWork, iLife, and the apple Pro Apps that only run on OS X. So, on an Intel Mac, you can run the most software - anything that will run on the x86 processor, as long as the OS is installed. You can't run Mac programs on a windows box (unless you hack OS X which is buggy and unstable)
  • cathars1s, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6When my friend was entitled to a free laptop from Princeton (via a scholarship), he chose a mac, not because he liked it, but because the alternative was a pretty crappy Dell laptop.
  • mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9"Yeah, I've noticed Macs are getting more popular at the University of Melbourne too. I've never seen one that isn't scratched/bashed to smitherines, stained, slow or whirring madly though, so I'm sticking with Dell on my next purchase. (the M1210 is freaking sweet!)."

    I'm with you on the Macs, but Dell!??!!? Apple makes a higher quality product than Dell does (at least for the consumer line). Spend a few extra bucks and get a Thinkpad. You get what you pay for.
  • ohmar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I have seen the same trend at my school. Of course, that is what happens when apple makes a nice notebook computer and nobody else can get their stuff together for the portable market.
  • Terc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6400mhz? What century was the last mac you looked at from?
  • EochaidRiata, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"These statistics aren't comprehensive, because some students choose not to buy their computers through OIT."

    These are only figures for the school store where it is cheaper to purchase a Mac than from the Apple Store. Most students who want a PC probably go straight to dell.com.

  • stuartjmoore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7seeing as how PC means personal computer, they've alway been PCs
  • Terc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5at Princeton? Yes.
  • UnoriginalMind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Macs have always been popular at colleges. So what'd the big deal? They some with great software, and for a lot of students, that's all they need.
  • aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Instead of ragging on the title or going on a Pro or Anti-mac tirade, why don't you people RTFA.
  • Markie1006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"make us look cool
    raise the worlds kids on us
    make the other guys look bad and make your followers hate them irrationally"

    That sounds an awful lot like all those Microsoft sponsored Colleges - isn't that exactly the same principle?

    "Hey Kettle... you're black.", from your friend Pot
  • senorBojangles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Apple is clearly using colleges as an entry point to gain market share. With the student discount, the "cost factor" of going mac is minimized.
    I am a Windows/Linux admin for the local community college, I have noticed this trend at colleges towards macs as well.
    I'm writing this on a new MacBook, and in the few weeks I've had it, I've noticed I spend much less time using my Wintel box.
    One thing that hasn't been mentioned is how Apple actually improves its products, with XP with each passing week you get kludgey patches from MS and XP gets crufty. In the month or so I've had my mac, the software updates have improved functionality and made interaction with my computer much more pleasing.
    Use what you need to, but I've got to say that Mac is best of breed right now.
  • eatrains, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Actually, Princeton has one of the most generous financial aid packages in the country.
  • heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3you can get a mac just as easy online with student discount, for around $300 cheaper in most cases.
  • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4He meant $100 over the $500 WalMat computer... Not $100 total. And he's right, I have just such a Mac mini as my media PC.
  • kingygk, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10Id have a mac book pro if i could afford one. :)
  • Decepticon217, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I love how people can clearly understand what I'm talking about, pick apart the comment and reply in a way that completly has nothing to do with said topic.
    The term "PC's" have been linked with Windows for YEARS.
    Explain to me douchebag, if I'm using the term incorrectly...why does Apple have commercial's "pc vs mac".

    And apparently, beacuse they use Intel processor's that's what made them personal computers? So I dont have a computer beacuse It's an AMD? Maybe you should call up Steve Jobs and tell him that his marketing campaign is all wrong.
  • Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Are you still living in 2004? I've heard in 2004, there's also rumours of a "mini" Mac coming soon...
  • kolywater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ditto for university of california, irvine.

    at a seminar last week, all 25 of us had macs. it was actually kinda creepy..
  • trongod05, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9"I never knew PC was an OS, when did that come out?"

    Thank You! I was wondering when these idiots were going to stop calling PC and OS. Mac is a model, Apple is a company name, and guess what? Macs are ***** PC's now if you didn't hear about the move to Intel processor platforms in January of 2005 when Steve Jobs announced it. And another interesting tidbit, Macs can run Windows XP too but they are still PC's. So either way they are PC's just like HP, Dell, Gateway, and the list goes on. Should I continue ranting or do they get the point now?
  • DocNo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All you have to do is go to your digg preferences and un-select the Apple category...

    So simple I'm sure even you could do it!
  • i440, on 10/12/2007, -21/+22Ah. It looks like Princeton students really are intelligent, after all.
  • DyDx, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8Oh, really? And where did you hear this?
  • Sp0rAdiC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2whackly: Screw a Prius. A better use of the savings would be CFLs. Think of all the light bulbs.
  • mikev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Smart kids...
    (I mean both ways)
  • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Murdats: What do you think the XBox is about?
  • hls1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i went to princeton, and in fact i now work at company where almost everyone uses macs. i used a pc at princeton but i gotta say, os x is fantastic. i don't like the idea of being tied to one hardware provider - but for me, this is definitely worth it.
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