Each Sunday our local rag has a column in which readers post questions which are answered by the technology guru for the newspaper. This Sunday a reader asked which computer they should purchase for their son who was heading off to college. They were undecided whether to get a laptop or a desktop, whether Dell was a good brand, if they should get Vista since they were leary because of the bad press it has received and the difference between the Intel or AMD processors and which was the best.

After reading what the reader was asking, I kind of laughed to myself. This should be interesting since no matter what the guru said, there were sure to be varying opinions in computer land. The first question was easy. Laptops for a college bound student would most likely be the best because of its portability. The student can take it to class, use Wi-Fi to connect from anywhere on most campuses and bring it home to do work on during semester breaks. The guru from the paper agreed.

The Vista question. This is a tough one. I’d worry about software not being compatible with Vista. Some of those college programs can get very expensive. I’d lean towards a Dell laptop which is still available with Windows XP. You would be pretty safe doing this. The newspaper guru stated a big NO to Vista as well. Stating that Vista will need at least one year to mature and get the bugs out. The paper guru also stated that Dell was a OK machine and didn’t recommend any other brand.

Intel – AMD question. To me it comes down to personal preference. I have used both and both have performed well. The paper guru ran around in circles citing claims and dubious test results, which to me really don’t amount to a hill of beans. But in the end stated they were both good processors.

But towards the end of the story, the paper guru stated why not just by an Apple? Than went on to state since Apple was now using the Intel processor, you can install a copy of Windows XP on the Apple system. Though it wasn’t specifically stated my guess was that this was in reference to Boot Camp that Apple provides so the system can dual boot the Apple OS and Windows XP.

So this is my question to you. Has anyone out in computer land tried doing this? How well does it work?

Comments welcome.

[tags]dell, intel,amd, vista, windows xp, apple, [/tags]