The Perfect Apple Dorm Setup for Under $1,000

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SmittyRedcard

August 14, 2011 at 7:43pm

While wifi access for laptops and iOS devices is usually not a problem, most schools block or actively prohibit connecting printers to their wifi networks - or even to their wired networks. Since students don't always rename them properly, there is no end of printing stuff to the wrong printer, or having your printer spring to life in the middle of the night spewing out some other student's work.

It's a nice list of kit, though, but that printer would not be allowed in most dorms.

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Geoduck

August 12, 2011 at 6:53am

At first I thought his "Perfect Apple Dorm Setup" was missing something, namely the computer.
Then I thought about it more. Writing papers? The iPad with Pages and the BlueTooth keyboard is all you need. You can print wirelessly. You can send the documents. That's about all a entering college student has to do. In short IMO this IS the perfect setup for an incoming college freshman. Sure in later years most will need more power, especially if they are in a technical field, but this will do for a term or two. It's far better than shelling out a couple or three thousand for a laptop only to find by Christmas that it isn't what you need.

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chauncey007

August 11, 2011 at 9:45am

You forgot the iPhone, which is about $2k over a 2 year contract... so you can add another grand to your article. And the TV you mentioned for the AV adapter, add another $500.

What exactly is this person going to sync their iPhone and iPad to? A cheap hp netbook? Add another grand for the lowest-end Air.

Great article!

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DanR

August 11, 2011 at 10:35pm

Chauncey, I think the author assumes that mommy and daddy have provided their little darling with an iPhone since they were in middle school. Heck, 3rd graders are now walking around school with them. However you are correct about the TV, unless the parents let him/her take the flat screen already hanging on their soon-to-be vacant bedroom wall.

That leaves us with syncing. iOS 5 solves this problem shortly after school starts this fall, or so we are promised. Therefore, it's a pretty nifty little article, even if it is just a couple months premature - but right on time for freshman move-in.

Holmes, I don't think you've spent enough time on an iPad or other tablet. Unless you're a computer science, engineering, or similar major requiring full OS and maybe multiple VMs, I don't see why an iPad wouldn't be sufficient with all the goodies listed in Hayward's article. Notice I said "sufficient". Maybe even bare bones. But for most beer pong majors minoring in business, arts or education, a tablet could be just fine. And in the few instances it's not, borrow the roommate's machine or, God forbid, hoof it over to the Mac Lab in the student center like I had to 25 years ago.

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jmholmesjr1967

August 11, 2011 at 3:31pm

I've gotta agree with chauncey007... It seems to be a very confusing set of items... I'm as Apple as anyone can get (although I do own and use Windows machines as well) but an iPad is not going to get someone through college.

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