CrunchGear goes back to (private) school

Published on September 2nd, 2006 at 6:17pm

CrunchGear is running a piece by John Biggs titled CrunchGear’s Back to School Cheat Sheet.

Normally, I’m all about these types of lists. Despite the repetitive nature of the blogosphere, not everyone reads the same material and if you haven’t been told to buy an iPod yet, you need to be taken out back and have the luddite beaten out of you. But in the case of this entry I don’t know whether to take it as a joke and laugh, or be completely disgusted by this author and my targetted generation.

Biggs’ “list” is composed of:

an mp3 player (iPod, duh)
a laptop and a desktop
4 types of TV’s
a bookbag
THAT’S IT. no, really.

Before I get into my opinion of his choices, what ever happened to the school purchases that aided experiences other than escapism? Crunchgear prepares today’s scholar with a music device so we don’t have to hear each other, a computer so we don’t have to talk in person, and a tv for when we are tired of staring at the lcd displays of our ipods and laptops, we can stare at the (mindless) blather of today’s television. He then caps it off with a bag big enough to carry 2/3 of the goods so we NEVER EVER have to be seperated from our digital appendages.

What ever happened to school being a social experience? Where are the digital cameras, and video game consoles? And who is still recommending PC’s for school? Jesus, that alone should be enough to be tarred and feathered. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 months (and hey, if thats your excuse then I apologize), several major news outlets – Seattle Times, ABC News, and PC Magazine amongst others – recommend Apple’s new macbook as the best “back to school” computer. Not only is it virus and spyware free, it’s good looking, relatively cheap, and CAN RUN WINDOWS. UH… hello?

But I digress. So CrunchGear lists an iPod which can’t really be debated. It’s a no brainer. But students have already dropped at least $250 at this point. Then they list a Gateway (are they still in business??) laptop for $1,624 that DOESN’T HAVE A CD DRIVE!!! Ok.. floppy drives going the way of the dodo is one thing. Last time I checked we still need cd drives to install just about ANYTHING over 100megs in size. Thats just stupid. And I might add that the white macbook costs $1,049 WITH a cd-drive. Make your own decision. I can argue till I’m blue in the face about Mac versus PC, and I’d like to think that Apple’s ability to dual boot windows makes the choice obvious, but that isn’t what got me riled up. No. Not even close.

Biggs takes us to TV land. He starts with a 32-inch Sony Trinitron CRT for $799. Has he ever even seen a dorm room? I could barely fit my clothes in my room. And I sure as hell didn’t have 800 bucks to blow on a TV. Wait, he agress. “this unit will take up half your dorm room, forcing your roommate to sleep on his desk, just make it clear to him/her that no bed is a small price to pay for HDTV.” So he suggests an LCD HDTV. How much for his first recommendation? $1,169. “shucks.. who needs to eat this semester?” He also talk directly to the Stanford student, suggesting the 55-inch Hitachi Plasma HDTV for $3,272.28. Let me spell that out for you. Three thousand two hundred and seventy two dollars and twenty eight cents. Yep. I’m pretty sure I saw a similar number on a bill for my tuition last semester.

So unless your are:

rich
not in school and already making 100k a year
a drug dealer

don’t listen to CrunchGear.

Is this supposed to be funny? I am personally insulted by the insinuation that today’s college students have enough disposable income to even consider this purchase while in the most financial senstive years of their lives. This is why our country has some of the worst debt in the world (if not THE worst). Maybe Michael should have hired someone a little closer to planet Earth as his tech spokesperson for the masses.

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29Comments2006-09-02+22%3A17%3A33Eli to “CrunchGear goes back to (private) school”

Paul Stamatiou Sep 02

Great post, I absolutely agree that Mr. Biggs was completely not thinking when he scribbled that junk. I mean the list should have had something like a TI-83/89, a sub-$1500 MacBook, maybe one of the cheaper Nanos, a cheap cell-phone, a decent Jansport backpack or some trendy messenger bag and that’s it. Seriously, no more reading of the “crunch network” for me. Maybe I’ll blog about this too, and make my own list. BTW, I found you via your crunchgear comment.
College frosh: Don’t break the bank - 5ThirtyOne - Refreshing isn’t it? Sep 02

[...] CrunchGear goes back to (private)school [...]
Robert Sep 02

I think the Gateway laptop is horrid. But the Macbook is not ‘relatively cheap’, either. All comparisons with Dell models aside, it’s still one of the more expensive laptops you can buy, feature for feature.

As another aside on the Gateway: it /does/ have a CD / DVD drive. But it’s an external model, for keeping the weight of the unit down. But that’s Crunch’s fault for not actually explaining properly.

The rest of his article wasn’t amazing either.
EliHorne.com » Sep 02

[...] It’s been 24-hours since the violent backlast against CrunchGear’s laughable attempt at a back to school check list. Derek Punsalan wrote a great entry titled “College Frosh: Don’t break the bank,” and Paul Stamatiou got us back to reality with his “Back to College shopping list.” Paul actually left a comment after reading my crunchgear tirade. [...]
EliHorne.com » School for the rest of us Sep 02

[...] CrunchGear goes back to (private) schoolTechnorati and the curse of Kyra PhillipsKyra Phillips and the blogospherePhotography updateDesign safari CrunchGear goes back to (private) school Â» School for the rest of us Tagged: back to school, blogosphere, crunchgear, gadgets, lists Skip to Comments [...]
Eli Sep 02

Paul -

Great entry. Your TI-89 comment brought back some great memories.

I’m still astounded by that article. The man is a professional blogger. Mind blowing.
Eli Sep 02

Robert – I agree with you that the macbook is not the cheapest of devices, but when you consider all the features you get with it (dual cores, great battery life, motion sensing hd, easy upgrading, os x) it starts to be a bargain. plus, consider the ability to run windows and it becomes two laptops in one.

as far as the gateway is concerned, I don’t think external devices can really be considered since thats an additional expense. you can still get external floppy drives too, but why choose one so crippled right out of the box?
Chaz Sep 02

A similarly featured Dell laptop can be purchased for ~600-700. You’re paying twice the going rate for the same hardware, so I would hardly call that a bargain. When you’re buying a Mac, you’re buying it because you need their hardware to legally run OS X, not because their hardware is better or more affordable.

(I don’t even know why we’re talking about laptops for college students. Most students I know are quite happy with their desktops, and desktops are still much more affordable. The few dorming people I know who have laptops just kept the laptop locked to their desk and used it as a desktop!)

Also, I don’t think that duel booting a Mac is as much of a selling point as you make it out to be. Duel booting is not something people do if it is avoidable. I duel booted Windows and Linux for a number of years, so I can testify that duel booting is an annoyance you put up with, not a lifestyle you embrace. If you’re already in love with OS X but still have some windows programs you need to run, then you might be able to put up with the pain of duel booting. However, if you’re a new college student who would’ve considered the Gateway recommended in the original article, I don’t think that assumed desire to switch is there.
EliHorne.com » Why the Macbook is a bargain Sep 02

[...] Crikey! Steve Irwin is dead!School for the rest of usCrunchGear goes back to (private) schoolTechnorati and the curse of Kyra PhillipsKyra Phillips and the blogosphere Crikey! Steve Irwin is dead! Â» Why the Macbook is a bargain Tagged: apple, bargain, dell, ilife, inspiron, macbook Skip to Comments [...]