If I can make this night light enough to move...

[obliviousally_lj]

Why do I have to have a Macintosh?
This platform is the industry standard, and our classroom instruction is based on Mac versions of the software.

How much do class supplies cost?
Required class supplies and equipment vary widely with areas of concentration.

Computer
First-year design students are required to buy a Macintosh laptop as well as specific software programs for spring semester. Software manufacturers update their products every 18–24 months, so students will probably need to buy an upgrade before they graduate. Most students find it helpful to have their own printer. A typical price for a Macintosh laptop is $1800. The three primary graphic software packages are bundled and sell for a total of $350. These prices are for products purchased via the KSUAppleStore.

Camera
First-year Photo Illustration students will need a single lens reflex (D-SLR) camera ranging in price from $1100 to $2000.
Second-year design students will need a basic digital camera ranging in price from $1100 to $2000.

FFS, college, you're going to be the goddamn death of me.

I want to do VCD. There's a lot of classes I want to take under the VCD umbrella.

I do not, in any way, want to buy a Macbook. Anything I'd need to do on a Macbook, I can do perfectly well on a laptop/PC. The "industry standard" label can suck my ass because as long as you have the industry standard applications, it doesn't matter what platform you're working on. The mere fact that I'd be REQUIRED to blow $2000 on a system I don't want to use is absurd.

Maybe if I could get a Macbook for $700 or UNDER, I'd consider it. but educational discounts are only $100 on Macbooks. Which is, like, nothing in comparison.

Yes, I know they have (pretty cheap) monthly payments. And, if I had to, I could pay half and half each semester. BUT IT'S A THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS FOR SOMETHING THAT ISN'T ANY MORE SPECIAL THAN A LAPTOP. I'm not paying for your BRAND, thankyouverymuch.

Plus, if I'm going to blow $1000 on something, it's going to be a Cintiq.

You know what else I could do with $1800?
- buy a car
- pay my rent for 3 months

At least, with the camera requirements, it's easier to get those sort of things secondhand that are still in amazing condition. Most photographers take excellent care of their equipment. I am, however, boggling at a $1000-$2000 digital camera. What are you doing with it? Contacting astronauts? Fuck.

Comments

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

On top of that, if you're working in programs like Photoshop and the like...what does using Mac's OS have to do with anything?

It's really frustrating. D:

[tune.livejournal.com]

haha, this is why i'm SO GLAD I didn't go to school for design.
I'm making good money, and doing all kinds of design and photography, not to mention videography and webdesign.

I can't stand the Mac mentality. It's not even the machines, it's just the ignorance that goes along with it - "it just works" sums it up completely.

[tune.livejournal.com]

oh, and seriously, just buy an intel based laptop and install OSX on it. It won't look like a mac but you can download a pirated OS probably and just toss it on there! :B
and i've worked on macs too (ugh working at the design firm, and even when i first started my last design job) the only real thing thats different are the keyboard shortcuts (And of course, the fonts) but really, once you learn to handle how the platofrms are different, it's no big deal to switch between the two. A lot of the professors are old and don't realize both platforms are equal now, and a majority of them are stuck up snotty artists who won't let go of their elitism *coughdesignfirmscough* a design career isn't so glam unless you can find a job that really fits with your personality- i couldn't stand all the hippsstterrrs omg.

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm mostly wanting to take some of the VCD classes just because I already have knowledge there. I'm really mainly going to school for the $$$ right now, I haven't decided if I want to actually commit to a major for some sort of career. I know I can learn all of these things on my own, but school makes me more determined to do so, I guess? It's weird.

I'm really tempted to just install OSX whenever I get a laptop and just get something in line with the specs they want on a Mac. I mean, it's not as if I'm using a different OS then.

I just don't find Macs all that impressive. D:

[mitsene.livejournal.com]

this is just them getting out of supplying you with necessary equipment. the school i went to had mac and pc labs, inside and outside the art department. if they -really- want you to use a mac, they should offer some kind of mac loan program.
i really don't understand why college-running people think that people going to college have all this money to blow on this shit. we go to school to eventually make more money, not because we're bored and rich and want to blow it on something [well, most people, anyway].
i can understand a couple hundred bucks a semester on supplies, even a camera, but no one should have to pay more than $500 for decent equipment, nevermind thousands of dollars out their ass. the money you'd end up spending on equipment is probably the same i took a loan out for to travel/stay in france for a month, for chrissake.

BLAGH school can be one never ending frustration sometimes. :C

[mitsene.livejournal.com]

by 'travel' i mean 'pay for room, board and tuition in a foreign country'. lol what

[obliviousally.livejournal.com]

Apparently, there are PC/Mac labs on campus. So the REQUIREMENT for a Mac is absurd.

I don't understand why, as you suggested, the main campus here doesn't have a laptop loan/borrow program. The campus I'm going to (still the same university, mind you) does. You'd think it wouldn't be difficult to do it on the main campus.