SurveyU.com recently surveyed one thousand students about which computer they relied on for their schoolwork. According to the survey, Dell is the most popular, with Apple coming in second, but the results show that Apple is poised to take first place. With 23 percent of the vote, Apple is ten points behind Dell, but maintains a seven point lead on the next runner-up, Hewlett-Packard, even when taking into account the PC manufacturer's daughter companies -- Compaq and VooDoo. Apple has a large lead, however, in the other polled statistics, with 44 percent of students saying their next machine would be an Apple, and more than 80 percent of Apple users bought their computers through the company's student program. Dell took second place in those particular categories, with only 21 percent saying that they would subsequently by a Dell and 30 percent saying their purchased their computer through the student discount program. respectively.

One of the things that Apple and Dell have going for them, according to the survey, is a well-designed student purchase program, whereas the other manufacturers -- HP, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, and all of their subsidiaries -- lack a solid program.

SurveyU.com found that a typical US college student spends an average of $1290, and that the students were biased towards cost-effective, consumer-grade laptops, with four out of five students owning a portable computer versus a desktop model.

Apple's "secret" weapon in the race to be number one in education rests on the shoulders of the venerable iPod, SurveyU.com discovers. Thanks to the recent iPod promotion -- where students who bought a new Mac would receive a iPod nano -- Apple has gained a lot of market share and only stands to gain more, according to statistics. This, together with iTunes U and the newly announced "Beyond Campus", has shown how deeply committed Apple is to the collective student body.