Apple Back to School deal is so effective, 80% of students choose Mac

Apple’s promotional Back-to-School program that offers students a $100 gift card for iTunes stores along with the purchase of a new Mac seems to be going well. Research firm Global Equities offers up some statistics that indicate that approximately 80% of the incoming students this year are choosing Apple computers over Windows PC’s.

“Apple Back to School sale off to a strong start beating Microsoft 8 to 2,” Global Equities Research writes. “Our research indicates that ~80% of incoming students are buying Apple Computers vs. Windows computers. Incrementally more students, who are enrolled in the online university, such as Phoenix Online, are buying Apple Computers – this was not necessarily the case last year.”

That 8-2 preference of Macs over Windows computers is a pretty strong number. It seems to allay concerns over whether switching from offering a free iPod with computer purchases by students, to offering them a gift card, would hurt the annual promotion.

Global Equities also says that the card is still being used to buy songs rather than apps, although it wasn’t clear in what percentage this was occurring. The general consensus was that these cards would be used as ways to fill their purchases with applications.

Are you buying a Mac for a student, or are you a student buying a Mac this year? What will you use your $100 gift card for?