<p>the point of the myNotebook program is that by requiring the computer, the cost can be accounted for in financial aid. W&M is a fairly small school and cannot have computer help for every single kind of computer. It would be nice if they had a mac person on staff, but reality is there is not demand for it. So, if you get a mac, you are more "on your own", but like I said, there are a lot of people that have them, and there is an Apple store in Richmond that is full of professionals that will fix your problem in no time. Of course, I would question why your computer has serious problems in the first place. I would think that most people know how to take care of their computers. The classes of students coming to college have had computers in their homes their entire lives. Personally, I cannot remember living at home without a computer, we had an Apple II. Countless computers have gone through my house, and I have NEVER spilled a drink on them. I'm not super careful with my computer, but I am very confident that I will never drop a laptop onto the floor.</p>
<p>Like I said, there are very simple ways around the "I can't print" issue, and I don't know anyone, with any type of computer, that has printed from their personal computer to a campus printer.</p>
<p>I have used macs my whole life, and W&M's myNotebook program would not keep me from getting one if I was coming to college in fall 2007.</p>
<p>While Mac sales have been growing at twice the rate of PC sales of late (36 percent versus 11 percent for PCs for the latest quarter), the conventional wisdom is that the Mac is still a niche player, with about 5% of the overall market.</p>
<p>But the Mac is clearly a strong player in the consumer market, which makes up about a third of all PC shipments. And in one traditional Mac stronghold, the computer's resurgence has been more like a tidal wave.</p>
<p>Pablo Molina, CIO at the Georgetown University Law Center, says there's been a dramatic move away from PCs among the campus' 3,500 students - and back to Macs.</p>
<p>"Theres been a rebirth of using Apple technology on campus. Three years ago it was one percent. Now more than 25% of the students are arriving with Apple laptops. So were eagerly embracing Apple technologies as something that people find much more intuitive and [theyre] not necessarily more difficult to support."
<p>Yeah i think we all agree that javabytes87 is a fool. And ProudDad, he is no way a member of the faculty, don't let this one person give you a bad impression of W&M.</p>
<p>I've written this three times now, but I keep getting logged out because it is so long. I'm not going to rewrite the whole thing, but here goes the SparkNotes version:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I do not represent the IT department, nor do I make or have I ever made any claims to. I'm providing this information as a realist who works in IT, who has observed first-hand the support gap between the Mac and PC platforms. I just don't want any potential W&M students to bring a Mac and then find out that they aren't really supported. By all means, if you are comfortable enough with a Mac (or have other means of support available) then feel free to bring one, but the reality is that (at least for the next year -- see below) Macs are not extensively supported.</p></li>
<li><p>Is W&M "proud" of their "incompatibility?" This is a ridiculous statement. A standardized platform and notebook model lowers costs and allows more expedient repairs. In addition, a standardized platform allows instructors to integrate software into their course with confidence that it will actually work - and work effectively. It might be said that standardizing the platform and hardware is most compatible with IT's mission at the College.</p></li>
<li><p>Change is possible. The College's contract with IBM/Lenovo expires in a year. Whether or not it is renewed or transferred to a different manufacturer has not yet been determined. If you want to see Mac support (or even potentially see Macs as a myNotebook option), let them know. Make the effort to garner support. IT can't support everything - hell, even HP or Toshiba machines are not backed by on-campus hardware support, and they're Windows-based. There are limits to what a department can do with its resourses. Thus, I'm sure they take demand into consideration when deciding what to support. So if you want expanded support for Macs, you have to make it known. Get all your friends, circulate a petition, maybe get the Student Assembly involved to make a recommendation. If IT knows there is a large Mac user base, they are going to be more likely to look into expanded support. Given the looming contract expiration, now is the time. Believe it or not, Proud Dad, I would fully support such a move. I don't make the rules, but it is apparent to me that if any new platform or model is to be added to the support list, it should be Macs. They're probably the third-most popular machines behind IBM and Dell, and their popularity on college campuses is skyrocketing.</p></li>
<li><p>Wrapping up everything here, I want to reiterate that Macs are not fully supported. My only intention with this post and my previous post is to ensure that no student brings a Mac to W&M under the delusion that it is fully supported. W&M may eventually get there, but that's going to require your voice, and I fully support you in that matter.</p></li>
<li><p>Viscious, I do hope you will revert to contributing to the dialogue in a reasonable and constructive manner. Your last post seems quite inconsistent with your first two on this thread.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I've already stated what i had to say about the Thinkpad, I own one but I also have a G5 iMac which I spend most of my time on. I use my Thinkpad for portability and coding for my computer science classes. I wish the T60 had better speakers, that's actually my main complaint, my friend (from GMU) owns a cheap Dell and the speakers are actually decent.</p>
<p>Anyway, your thoughts take an extremely absolute view that I'm pretty sure hardly anyone on campus has so I was pointing out that you won't be an outcast or be shunned upon for owning a mac. If someone doesn't own the college Thinkpad then they most likely own a mac, its a very large minority of people and it won't be difficult getting help from someone else if IT can't help.</p>
<p>The specialization/focus on one computer is to help the IT department offer large discounting and fast/better support than could otherwise be offerred if they maintained several similar programs. </p>
<p>WM in my opinion has one of the best IT support and development services around, and after having seen a lot of other programs at a lot of other schools, I still stand by this claim</p>
<p>"Shunned" - ??? I never said anything about being shunned. You just won't be offered any support, and it's important to understand that. Either you have to support it yourself or find someone else who is willing to help. I think now we're beginning to say the same thing, the only difference being our preference for platforms.</p>
<p>Bjcdb is right on track. Cost and support are two key reasons why the myNotebook program works well.</p>
<p>everyone who doesn't have a mac will think yours is really cool when they have to take their computer to IT. It's like, the opposite of being shunned.</p>