Fall brings about lots of competition for student dollars among electronic manufacturers. We talked about the difference between Mac and PC for the student. Joe Robinson of Summit Nettrekker in Breckenridge said that the Mac, and Joe has lots of experience with student computing, works well in grade school and for those going on into graphic arts and perhaps literature but not so good for the sciences, engineering and business. Joe mentioned that IPODS or MP3 players were handy for students to download and listen to recoded lectures.

We talked to Paul, a 10 year old in Frisco who explained how he used his cell phone, to check with mom and dad, and how he wanted to record his music lessons so he could play along with them at home. Paul also suggested that he wanted to program his robot to preform “in Hillbilly” mode. We are awaiting a demonstration. We also talked to grandson Ryan in Park City, Ut where he noted that just “everybody” has cell phones and he needs one bad. Ryan is 9. Then we got a call from 8 year old McCabe who added that 8 to 9 of his best friends all had Cell phones.

We talked about the lifespan of laptops, 2.5 years for business and 3.5 years for everyday use, and not to expect more. Prices seem to range from 399 with educational discounts for very low end machines to 2500 for that powerbook pro. A good business class laptop costs 1300 to 1600 dollars. Workable student laptops can be anywhere from 500 to 1100 dollars. More pricing will be discussed next week.