You should check to see if your local health agency or the college would help pay for the cost of the computer. In Ontario, we have the Assistive Devices Program (run through the Ministry of Health) that helps to cover the cost of a computer, and colleges/universities also sometimes supply tech aids through their disability services offices.

I mention this because if there is coverage, it often is enough for a PC laptop but not enough for a mac (or maybe a lower end one).

Most people I know end up getting a PC because 1) it's cheaper and 2) it's the industry standard. Most workplaces would usually use PCs with JAWS or ZoomText.

(Im sorry if I’m hijacking this thread from you)

How well do screen readers and such work in virtual machine environments?

Because, you know, if you love working with a Mac because you like MacOS better, it’s still possible to virtualise Windows (and your preferred Linux flavour as well) *inside* a fully functional MacOS environment.

It comes at s prize, though. A virtualised Windows setup on top of MacOS forces the laptop to “do the work of two” at the same time, and it’s perhaps not worth the hassle to do it this way if you really *need* Windows software.

That said, have a talk with your school. You *want* to use MacOS because it works better for you. And maybe you can without trouble. And maybe you need to virtualise Windows for one single course in three years.

You don’t *have* to pull your “I’m legally blind, you have to accommodate my needs”-card, but you can have a talk and see how much of a hassle it is for teachers to adapt for you. It’s probably not as difficult as you may think. Nor as difficult as *they* may think, if they are stubborn.

Whenever I see people ask about computer choices for college I always see someone ask: *"check with the college to see if there is any platform specific software you need for the course and how often you need it."*

Some people will use computers in the library or similar place for the special software just so they can stick with their preferred platform. Others find that their course assumes you have a particular kind of computer and there is no avoiding it.

I vote for the Mac. Less issues, much more well designed and functional screen reader and VI options, XCode is accessible, as are VIM and emacs using Terminal or iTerm2, and you can dual boot it with Windows if you absolutely have to do so. I was a Mac and Windows power user since the 80's, and just prefer the Mac overall. Really happy that I can still use them after losing my vision, and after learning VoiceOver, Jaws, and NVDA, VoiceOver is just superior in my opinion. Also depends on what type of coding you want to get into. Practically all startups use Macs, especially if they are concerned with iOS apps, so if you want to get into tech, Macs have become the better option. Web coding can be done on any system, but in my opinion and experience, MacOS is prone to much less problems than Windows, is easier to troubleshoot and fix, the experience and interaction amongst all iDevices is completely integrated so nothing is ambiguous, and they have much better security overall, plus Apple is much faster at fixing and patching security issues as they are found.

Yes, they are pricey, but they will last you for a long time and are good investments due to the overall versatility of the systems. Why not go for a refurbished 2015 MacBook Pro? I'm not too keen on the latest round of laptops with the touchbar, but my MBP is an awesome workhorse for what I do.

Why are you bothering to ask? You sound like you want a Mac and the only reason you're not getting one is something newer is cheaper with Windows.
You know how to set up a VM or use Parallels (or if you don't there are campus resources), which will allow you to work in a Windows environment if necessary.

I use Windows and the built-in magnifier, but also used a Mac regularly when I worked at the campus help desk. Not sure what makes the Mac one better? (My only gripe with the magnifier on Mac is that the shortcut key to start it is not enabled by default. Not sure if that was set by Apple or the default image applied to our school's systems.)

Personal preference is Windows/Linux because I like to customize/build my own hardware configurations and don't like paying the Apple surcharge for labeling several-year-old things as "innovative". But, that's just me.

I'm a screen-reader Mac user, and I wouldn't recommend VoiceOver on the Mac to anyone who can make the choice to use NVDA with the Vocalizer voices on Windows. However this is not your case as you still have sight left, meaning you don't have to deal with VoiceOver's bugs and quirks, and as you said the accessibility zoom and inverted colors on the Mac work great with every application, including full-screen games and virtual machines.

I much prefer a PC, but my needs are not magnification (I need a screen reader), so it's not so useful what I think.