Is it worth the price? I don't want this turning into a tug-of-war between apple fans and windows fans but since my 2-year old Asus broke down, I'm wondering if I should cough up 2k for a laptop. 

Please note that the primary purpose of owning one is purely as a casual user - ie. recreation/leisure purpose. Money's not really an issue and durability is the key concern. 

 You need an .edu email address to qualify for the deal (if you are buying it online). Find a friend with a .edu email address and ask them to buy it for you. 

 What about .alumni.edu? 

 not sure if that'll fly for a student discount. If you are buying it at a store and you have your college id that does not have an expiration date (mine doesn't, i.e it doesnt mention when I'm graduating), that might work. 

 Thank you for your input, durbarmargnepal bro. 

My 6 years old toshiba is running fine and in use.
My lenovo core i7 I bought two years ago, paid dearly, .. still great after heavy graphic intensive use daily(oh thanks to my super cooler fan underneath it, my laptop is desktop replacement)

Considering your zero level tech know-how, it's probably good idea to look around.

But since laptops don't have best  core-cooling system built yet, it's best to use laptop cooler if you plan to use it intensively(graphic/media), else you'll end up with dead laptop real soon.

And for others, windows machine with SSD(not IDEs) does boot up in 3-9 sec, things have changed a lot since you bought your first macbooks. Smart laptop has also this option and that boots up in a flash.

@k S bro just find a friend with a college email id. And the 8gb ram for $90, you will see it once you proceed for check out. They will ask you if you want to add bunch of things. Just add the ram that will be a good idea.

 I did that, B_I. I purchased it online as I didn't have a student ID (or an acquaintance w/ one living close to me) and it's scheduled to get delivered in a couple weeks. $100 off my 15" Macbook pro. 

Thank you all for your valuable input.