<p>Does Brown provide you with a laptop that is included in the tuition or do you have tobuy ur own computer and upload their software?
And also, i really want a macbook, can you have that up at Brown?</p>
<p>No, Brown does not provide you with a laptop. However, I <em>think</em> the ones sold at the bookstore are at a discount price - not sure, because I bought my laptop before I got to Brown.</p>
<p>Yes, you can have a macbook. Most students here (including me!) have macs. They’re great! :)</p>
<p>yeah i have a mac desktop and i absolutely love it! all of my older cousins have macbooks and they use them for school and they love them as well.</p>
<p>Furthermore, if you buy a mac, you’ll get a discount just for being a student - regardless of whether or not you purchase it at the Brown bookstore.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt the bookstore has the lowest prices anywhere. Also, you can get the price of a laptop compensated if you have an outside scholarship. Not sure where the info is anymore.</p>
<p>More importantly, don’t leave it lying around. Brown has smart people who lack common sense and leave their laptops unattended/their doors unlocked and laptops disappear.</p>
<p>awesome sounds good. so i think macs are the way to go. and when i get a $1500 computer, i will absolutely make sure i dont leave it lying around.</p>
<p>AH I GOT A MACBOOK RECENTLY.
best. decision. ever. :D</p>
<p>and yeah, if you have your student ID, the mac store will give you a student discount.</p>
<p>In a way. The Brown financial aid office gives you a one time computer fee thing. You have to talk a fin aid officer about it… some details are on the fin aid website. Alot of students have macbooks, consider the extra money from your student discount or if they give you a like an itouch… consider installing a gps device in the macbook in case it is stolen (believe me it happens alot.)</p>
<p>You generally don’t want to buy the bookstore’s computers. They’re not exactly high quality machines and, believe it or not, aren’t delivered in a timely fashion. I know some people who have already had to have theirs replaced.</p>
<p>Just buy online from somewhere.</p>
<p>You do get an ethernet cord for free 
that made me really happy</p>
<p>Is stealing a big problem?
Should I buy a laptop lock?</p>
<p>Stealing is a problem. A laptop lock is helpful but mainly it comes down to common sense. Do not leave your door unlocked… if you leave your room with the door unlocked atleast put your laptop under some clothes or something. I remember my freshman year room mate hated locking the door… but we got through the year without anything being stolen. However probably 2 - 3 times people would come around looking all sad because they went to shower without locking the door…</p>
<p>The laptops are generally safe in the library… meaning you can goto the bathroom and leave it out. The danger times is when you throw parties in you room, or you come back to your room high/drunk/showering this is when things tend to walk. Walk away!</p>
<p>tl;dr buy a laptop lock… but common sense > lock.</p>
<p>I would not leave a computer anywhere. </p>
<p>[The</a> Brown Daily Herald - Mike Johnson '11: Sticky fingers](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/mike-johnson-11-sticky-fingers-1.2112509]The”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/mike-johnson-11-sticky-fingers-1.2112509)</p>
<p>I’d get a lock. I live on Pembroke, which is generally “safer” (i.e. less theft) than Keeney and related areas, but we still had five laptop thefts over Parents’ Weekend.</p>
<p>In general, keep your door locked whenever you (or your roommate) isn’t in the room. When you get to your dorm, you’ll get a sense of its security and can make decisions based on that. My friends in Keeney would never leave their laptops unlocked because the dorm is so big and open that anyone could walk in, whether or not they lived there. On the other hand, some dorms are smaller and more contained, and you might be safe without locking your computer down. Nonetheless, no dorm is all that secure, and thefts still happen despite DPS’ best efforts.</p>
<p>Agreed with arapollo about libraries laptops are generally safe there, and if you’re worried, you can always ask someone to keep an eye on it for a few minutes.</p>
<p>In case incoming students are wondering, you are protected (minimally) by card access. Your ID card (which you’ll receive at Orientation) swipes you into your dorm (and, most of the time, into others). Some of the card access decisions go unexplained and/or are arbitrary, but generally speaking, you can get into your dorm and other (freshman houses*) in the area. I think the rationale is that you can go visit your friends, but because there are many dorms, they limit your access for security’s sake. More to the point, if a random passerby picks up your lost card, he won’t necessarily be able to swipe into the first building he sees.</p>
<ul>
<li>Don’t know about the situation for upperclassmen. Anyone know?</li>
</ul>
<p>You should only have access to your building or a lounge in another building (maybe). NEVER leave $2,000 cash unattended (or a laptop), perhaps only if someone else is watching it for you and DON’T leave your door unlocked. Also, FYI DPS does not report each and every thing that happens on campus to the police blotter. </p>
<p>Let me list the 2 dumb things people do at Brown consistently:</p>
<ol>
<li> Leave laptops out in public unattended.</li>
<li> Leave dorm room unlocked.
2a. If door is locked, lock themselves out. Brown employs a STAFF of people to deal with lock-outs. It’s that bad.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you ever talk to the people who work at Brown you’ll soon learn that there is a consistent opinion that Brown students are smart but are a bit low in the common sense department. Just watch the waffle maker in the V-dub.</p>
<p>As far as Pembroke being safer, not really. My junior year a guy was caught stealing laptops out of people’s UNLOCKED rooms in Andrews and was chased down the street and caught. He confessed to stealing multiple laptops.</p>
<p>I stand corrected: Pembroke has had fewer thefts than other parts of campus, but then again, there are fewer people living there. (Also, some of the dorms, including my own, are small enough that it’s easy to detect suspicious activity.) Andrews is still having problems; a friend of mine and several others on her hall had their laptops seized earlier this year. Some were recovered, but not all.</p>
<p>(re: card access that’s what ResLife says, but as a freshman Pembroke resident, I can get into all Pembroke dorms except Andrews. There are parallels on the other side of campus, too…)</p>
<p>ok, so you guys are saying i shouldnt buy it through the Brown bookstore. But does Brown have specific software that you need to install on your computer that you plan to use while there? and you would have to pay for that too…
and also, do you think i should hold off on buying it or buy it as soon as possible?</p>
<p>The only software that’s usually considered a necessity that you’d have to buy is office. And if you really want to go cheap, you can use openoffice (I did for most my stuff last semester). Brown provides (provided you’re on campus, or a have a 32-bit OS and can use VPN) things like Adobe Creative Suite, Maple, Symantec Antivirus, etc. for you to download. And our computer clusters have pretty much anything else you’d need. And I’d hold off on buying it until as late as possible: right before school starts there’s often student deals.</p>
<p>awesome thanks</p>
<p>does anyone have any preference which macbook works best?</p>