I've got a soon to be freshman in need of a laptop for school this fall. Will be mainly taking business/finance classes. I've told him he needs to go with a PC vs. the MAC because he is going into the business world after graduation and most companies still us PC's.

Any suggestions on what to look for or stay away from? I haven't purchased a new laptop in probably 12 years, so no clue what specs I need to be looking for now days.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't sweat the PC/Mac thing. I have a hard time believing a college kid these days would have difficulty jumping between the two. If he has an iPhone, I think a MacBook Air is a no brainer. You can probably get the cheapest option since he isn't a power user. If he has an Android, maybe PCs because they are less expensive? I'd probably still go with a Mac. I was a dedicated Windows person for two decades. I took a plunge on a MacBook when the company I was joining was primarily Mac users and I'll never go back. It's just a more solid hardware and OS. I've had zero issues, and I am now on my third MacBook. For non gaming purposes, the only way I would ever consider a PC is if Mac was cost prohibitive.

It's honestly best to go with what most students/professors are using. I got my daughter a Macbook because that's what people in her degree were using (RHIM major at Tx Tech). She had no problem using it after only using PCs at home.

There is so much note trading and information passing back and forth electronically between students and professors... if your kid is on a PC and everybody else is on a Mac they are probably going to be the odd man out. It's going to be really frustrating always having to be the person asking "can you send that in another format, I can't open it".

You should be able to call/email the advisors office and they can answer if one tends to dominate over the other. I'd be surprised if Macs weren't the majority.

If you are looking for a Macbook Air in mint condition I'm selling my in the Classified section.

Here are the specs:

Silver Color
13.6 inch screen
8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD
Model A2681

Battery Health at 97%. In excellent condition. Selling due to needing to switch to Windows laptop for work.

Located in Dallas.

Asking $575 but happy to drop the price for your soon to be freshman.

Email me at aarjunan AT gmail dot com

Happy to send pictures on request.