Im confused...please help.

Hi everybody. This Fall I will be attending ASU. I just bought my MacBook Pro and love it. I also purchased the AppleCare protection plan. ASU recommends purchasing a package from this company called University Geeks. Basically they offer a 4 year protection plan for any computer brought on campus. They have different packages that includes:

Microsoft Office – (includes: PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook)
McAfee Anti-Virusscan (with 4 years of subscriptions)
Microsoft Anti-Spyware
USB and Ethernet Cabling
Ream of Paper
Hewitt Packard Photo Inkjet Printer
24/7 Phone Support in Addition to the Manufacturer
Discounted Non-Warranty Consulting
On-site Installation, Delivery, and Training

You can also customize your own package that would work for you. So anyways, i'm not sure if I should purchase a package or not. Before leaving for college I will need to go out and buy a printer, cables, etc. I also want BootCamp REALLY bad but I don't have a copy of Windows XP. The phone support and non-warranty consulting all work on top of the original manufaturer's warranty. And the On-Site Delivery/Installation/Training is another thing im not sure if i'll need. How hard is it to hook up the the school's network? So basically I am just really confused on what to do right now. I want to install BootCamp so badly but im not gonna spend $150 on a copy of it. What should I do?

www.university-geeks.com

I would buy it considering you get office and how much do you have to pay for this package thing in your college.

But the other side is that you don't the antispyware or virus protection!

But how much is it? Then you need to consider the options.

from looking at it, it looks like all the software is probably the windows version, not the mac version. i would check with them before you buy it. If you decide not to buy windows for bootcamp then you can probably pass on the packages

coltssaturday- There are different prices for each package. The most expensive one that includes everything above is about 399.99.

michaelstumpf- Yeah that's the thing. If I had BootCamp, I would purchase this package in a heart beat. But I don't. Does anyone have an extra copy of Windows XP I can use/have??? lol

iRizzo said:

coltssaturday- There are different prices for each package. The most expensive one that includes everything above is about 399.99.

michaelstumpf- Yeah that's the thing. If I had BootCamp, I would purchase this package in a heart beat. But I don't. Does anyone have an extra copy of Windows XP I can use/have??? lol

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I could help you in getting a copy of windows but i can't. The reason being is that this forum doesn't allow it and i don't want to get banned for a crazy reason.

But if you can find a OEM CD from your previous buys of any other computer (computers come with it), you wouldn't have to buy a fresh copy.

And finally i think this packages are for windows users because its less likely your MBP will get exposed to any spyware or virus because you can get office for mac for $100.00 from Apple's website after the $50.00 rebate.

iRizzo said:

coltssaturday- There are different prices for each package. The most expensive one that includes everything above is about 399.99.

michaelstumpf- Yeah that's the thing. If I had BootCamp, I would purchase this package in a heart beat. But I don't. Does anyone have an extra copy of Windows XP I can use/have??? lol

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if you can, maybe you should wait until you get to school and see if they can give you a good deal on xp from the school bookstore. most colleges that i know of have an excellent deal on software. i paid $13 for xp pro.

Wow really? I might just wait for that then. I should probably go ahead and buy a package then right?

if it were me, i would wait until i got xp. you dont have to buy a package by a certain date so i would wait

I acutally just found a copy of XP that came with my parents PC. It says on it that it can only be used with a Gateway PC though....??

You will have to just try the gateway CD to see if it works. I've seen discs that check what computer they are being installed on, and won't let you use them on other computers. If you have the license key though you should be able to call microsoft and get a new CD.

even if it installs, the cd key probably won't authenticate since it's already been used on the gateway.

Last I checked, Microsfot will let you activiate a key multiple time as long as they are far enough apart and only a certain number of times per year, i think around 5, to allow for the eventual reformat due to a virus of somesort. My last PC I installed XP at least 10 times and most of the time it activated fine, a few I can to call microsft and activate it over the phone. But as I was just putting it back on the same computer, the license was never used in more then once at a time so it was all good and legal, just kinda annoying.

avcabob said:

Last I checked, Microsfot will let you activiate a key multiple time as long as they are far enough apart and only a certain number of times per year, i think around 5, to allow for the eventual reformat due to a virus of somesort. My last PC I installed XP at least 10 times and most of the time it activated fine, a few I can to call microsft and activate it over the phone. But as I was just putting it back on the same computer, the license was never used in more then once at a time so it was all good and legal, just kinda annoying.

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when windows authenticates the key, it checks your hardware. if more than 2 major components have changed it won't authenticate. since the key has been authenticated on the gateway, i doubt it will authenticate on the macbook pro.

Do any of you guys know if the ASU computer store is open during summer? Might be a stupid question but oh well. If it is open, I would easily drive down there and buy a copy of XP.