The Mac is worth much more than $700 extra. Especially if she is away at college.
I can give you any number of reasons, but here are just a few.
1. You do not need anti-virus software. On my PCs, this is $50 per year because I always look for the bargain-basement price. If she is away at college, she may get suckered into just getting the “update” when her subscription runs out — at least $80 on your credit card right there. The first year is free with a PC, but the remaining 4 years of life will cost you $200-400.
2. On the rare occasions when something goes wrong with my Mac, I call them up and they either answer the question right there on the phone, or they tell me to take it to a Mac store, where they fix it. Period. Every time I have tried to call for tech support with a PC, the computer maker tells me it is a software problem with Windows and the Windows guys want a credit card number just to talk to me, then they tell me it is a hardware problem. I have never been able to get the hardware guys and the software guys on the same line at the same time. Do you really want your daughter to go through this at college?
Apple makes both the hardware and the software and can’t pass the buck. Go ahead, put a price on that. Think about tuition, living expenses, etc. and then figure out the cost of 2 or 3 days down time chasing a computer problem.
1. Free Anti-virus. Avast, AVG, and Comodo right off the top of my head. These work and are not $50/year.
2. Problems/support. The Lenovo comes with 2 years in-home warranty. Two years from now, I’ll take a wild guess that $700 will pay for a whole lot of tech-support and out-of-warranty repair. Something I’ve never needed with the other Lenovos I’ve used for the last 5 years.
Not convinced by your argument the Mac is really worth $700 more. Don’t see it.