How to buy the materials for Distance Learning MATH 1342 (More details about the materials are here.)

These scenarios all presume you have a PC. If you have a Mac, ask me for details about MINITAB before buying anything. All the prices here are from January 2010. Check on the appropriate websites to see the current prices.

Scenario 1: Buy the package for this particular section of this course from one of the ACC bookstores (Jan 2010: $180) that contains access to StatsPortal, a new hard copy of the textbook, and a perpetual use copy of MINITAB 14, student version.
Here's a picture of the back of that package, as sold in August 2009, where you can barely see the back of the book, and you can see the folder with the information about StatsPortal, and it has a sticker that says, in red, "Includes MINITAB, Student v.14 CD-ROM" (Click on the picture for a larger picture of this.)

Pros: It's all in one package, you have a hard copy of the book, and MINITAB 14 as long as you want to use it.
Cons: Once you open the package, it can't be returned for a refund.
The extra cost of this package over the classroom course package (without Minitab) is about $34. It only costs $30 to rent the current version of Minitab for six months. (See Scenario 4 below.)
MINITAB 14 doesn't claim to work with Windows Vista (because Vista was not around when it was released and the compatibility claims were written) but I have installed it on a new Vista machine and have had no difficulty.

Scenario 2: Buy StatsPortal online for about $65, and rent MINITAB for $30 for six months.
Pros: Least expensive option; MINITAB 15 lists that it is compatible with Win 2000, XP, or Vista; if you purchase StatsPortal from the publisher's website, you can get a refund for about 10 days under some conditions; if you use the 30-day free demo of MINITAB first, then you have 30 days before you commit to paying for it.
Cons: Your copy of MINITAB only works for six months; you don't have a hard copy of the book, so you have to be online all the time you are looking at any materials for the course.

Scenario 3 : Buy StatsPortal online for about $65, rent MINITAB for $30 for six months, buy a used copy of the book from the ACC Bookstore. (I think that used books cost about $85.)
Pros: MINITAB 15 is listed as compatible with Win 2000, XP, Vista; if you purchase StatsPortal from the publisher's website, you can get a refund for about 10 days under some conditions; if you use the 30-day free demo of MINITAB first, then you have 30 days before you commit to paying for it.
Cons: Your copy of MINITAB only works for six months; used books may have markings in them; if you don't find a cheap used book then this will cost more than buying the package of new materials.

Scenario 4: Buy the classroom course package from a bookstore at ACC for about $146 (Jan. 2010) that contains StatsPortal and a new hard copy of the textbook. Also rent MINITAB for $30 for six months.
Pros: You have new materials and your MINITAB 15 is listed as compatible with Win 2000, XP, Vista.
Cons: Once you open the package, it can't be returned for a refund. Cost is slightly more than buying the specific package for our course.

Scenario 5: Buy a copy of the fifth edition of the textbook somewhere else besides the ACC bookstores. Since it won't come with StatsPortal, then buy StatsPortal online for about $65, rent MINITAB for $30 for six months.
Pros: MINITAB is listed as compatible with Win 2000, XP, Vista; if you purchase StatsPortal from the publisher's website, you can get a refund for about 10 days under some conditions; if you use the 30-day free demo of MINITAB first, then you have 30 days before you commit to paying for it.
Cons: Your copy of MINITAB only works for six months. If you don't find a cheap used book then this will cost more than buying the package of new materials. If the bookstore sends you an earlier edition of the book (which often happens,) some of the explanations are different, it won't have the correct problems in it, and the pages and chapters will be numbered differently, so an earlier edition of the book will be pretty useless to you in this course.