As mentioned, I would suggest, if you have the time, to build one. Especially being a Computer Science major, it adds another level of expertise to your resume. It can be much cheaper. Check out www.newegg.com for parts. It is very simple to find out how to build one through a search engine. The only caution is to make sure that you touch the chasis ( or some other metal ) to ground your self before touching circuits inside the computer; don't want to short them out from static. The power supply is covered up so it is not really a danger, but, still of course, take caution as with any power device.

I don't own an iMac, but terrible graphics? Macs are suppose to be soooo good with graphics. I dunno what's the deal with that. What exactly do they mean by 'terrible graphics'. I want to highly disbelieve this.

My opinion is that your Macbook air and iPhone should be just find working with a PC computer. Networking may take a little fiddling, but should be find.

What is the problem with Java and Linux? Java is best known for its portability and working cross platform.

You tend to agree with MacOS, wasn't I the one who originally stated this in my posts?

That is when the video creator should either provide source code along with the video, or have a good enough video program where they can zoom in on code segments/blocks.

I think the advantages to videos, given a good video tutor, are that they can be easier to understand. They give a more visual animated approach. For example, If a complete beginner is learning about data and search algorithms, It would be much easier to see how an ArrayList inserts from the middle of the Array, pushing other elements behind it over through the use of videos. No doubt books can be accompanied by site power points and flash animations. The advantage of a video over a book and a book over a video also depends on the complexity of the content.

True, a book is more thorough and in-depth. I agree as a programmer, we should get use to reading material.

For school, what I typically do is study some material in a book, then I use a video tutorial for backup.

In my spare time, I also turn towards video tutorials with out the reference of a book.

My personal preference would be Android.