As you enter your next summer session class, pay attention to the brands plastered on the front of your classmate’s laptops.
You will witness a gleaming sea of white apples with a few uninvited interruptions – a cultural phenomenon present on nearly every university campus.
A new laptop is always the first purchase for an incoming freshman. If the student is an art major or needs to perform a significant amount of video, sound or photo editing, a Macintosh is an obvious choice. Every other student doesn’t need much more than a basic laptop. But necessity isn’t driving student laptop purchases.
The student population is overwhelmed by Apple products because of the fashion trend that is MacBook computers. The allure began with black silhouettes and white earbud cables in advertisements for iPods and has slowly progressed. Ads always portray Apple products as cool and trendy. During my middle school years, a classmate with an iPod was significantly cooler than someone with a different brand of MP3 player.
The same is true today.
As a journalism student, I have never needed an Apple product to complete course work.  An Apple product has never been necessary to complete an article.
The same is true in other majors.
Brett Thorne, University alumnus, said his business classes were often populated by students with MacBooks.
“There was definitely a larger number of Apple computers no matter which class I was in,” Thorne explained. “In my opinion, a Windows computer can do everything a student needs to do while in college.”
Functionality is no longer the number one requirement for students when purchasing a computer. Lightning fast processing speed only impresses those who are well-versed in the language of technology. To the average University student, attractiveness is imperative.
But it isn’t just University students that are following Apple’s every move. Technology companies are also following suit. This is most evident in the case of smart phones. The first iPhone was released on Jan. 9, 2007. Since then, companies have copied its innovative design. Differences between smart phones are only noticeable once turned on. Otherwise, they are all simply clones of the iPhone.
No one really wants an Android phone. The cold metallic surface of an iPhone fits much better in hand than the hard plastic of a Droid.
The same is true with laptops. The keyboard of my laptop is a replica of the MacBook’s. From a distance, one might not even be able to tell the difference between my Hewlett-Packard and a MacBook Pro, other than the obvious missing logo.
If mom and dad are footing the bill for a new MacBook with retina display, the $2,000 price tag is simply an afterthought for students. Regardless of who pays the bill, everyone is willing to fork over a few hundred more to purchase an aesthetic masterpiece rather than a functional machine.
 
____ Contact Josh Bergeron at [email protected]