<p>Does anyone have experience getting computer through Cav computers? What about renting microfridge? It is expensive, but we will be coming from OOS, so having the fridge waiting there in the room seems like a good plan.</p>
<p>I had the same question about the computers and figured CAV computers was just a for profit company looking to capitalize on a name that made it appear as if they were somehow affiliated with the school, when in fact it is a wholly owned subsidiary of UVA. There are still a for-profit company, but all profits goes toward students by helping with study abroad programs etc.</p>
<p>Edit: I just looked up the fridge and microwave and they are actually slightly cheaper through CAV than I could find anywhere online. I did not look up Haier products vs other brands though to see how they compare in value.</p>
<p>I would say to definitely go with the cav program if its a Dell or Lenovo, as they completely replace the product for up to 4 years. My friend dropped his laptop and the screen and back shattered and they gave him a completely new one. For any laptop you get from cav, they give you a replacement one for you to use until they either fix or replace your old one.</p>
<p>The microfridge is probably not worth it since it is just a rental. Might be cheaper in the long run buying it.</p>
<p>I bought my son a refurbished nearly-new Dell Latitude with an extended warranty and a solid state hard drive for a fraction of the price CAV computers was charging. </p>
<p>By the way, any student can buy a full MS Office Suite for $10 at the UVA bookstore. They also have cheap MS professional operating system disks. If you order a computer from elsewhere, buy it with only the most basic software.</p>
<p>We actually split the cost of the micro-fridge rental with my son’s roommate’s parents. We didn’t see the need for one past first year. The vast majority of upperclassman on-grounds housing is apartment style and has a kitchen. If you move off grounds you will have a kitchen. So, if you have access to a kitchen beyond first year I can’t see wanting to crowd an already small room with a personal fridge. At the very least I would wait until your student chooses/is assigned a roommate and finds out if they already have one.</p>
<p>If you are looking at Apple computers, for which the prices are virtually the same no matter where you buy, the benefit of CAV computers is the 4 year warranty. The longest you can get through Apple is 3. (At least one got a 4-year warranty three years ago.)</p>
<p>If you don’t want to rent, right now is the time to buy a mini fridge on Craigslist if you live in a college town. :)</p>
<p>I rented a mini fridge my first year… After that my roommate had one.</p>
<p>I also bought a dell computer through cav. The warranty was super, and super-used (bad quality comp…). You could consider getting a netbook which is soooo much cheaper if your student won’t want to be watching DVDs on it (or get an external DVD player). I would have gotten a netbook if they had existed my 1st year :)</p>