<p>So they give you a thinkpad. Anybody know the specs for it?</p>
<p>Here's the specs for the one for incoming freshmen/juniors. It's not up on the Web site yet, but it'll probably be up there soon.</p>
<p>The ThinkPad for distribution in the fall of 2007 is the ThinkPad R60. This model features a 15” SXGA+ TFT screen, 1 GB RAM, a 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 100 GB hard drive, integrated Ethernet, modem and 802.11g wireless card, and a DVD+RW dual layer optical drive. The ThinkPad will come equipped with a variety of productivity, utility, and academic software applications, including Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003, Maple, SPSS, Adobe Dreamweaver, Thunderbird/Firefox, and Symantec AntiVirus.</p>
<p>man...that's not very satisfying.</p>
<p>looks like i'll have to bring my desktop too, i guess.</p>
<p>How about graphics card? Is it the onboard intel chip or an ATI 128MB?</p>
<p>If it's the ATI, i'm satisfied....</p>
<p>I don't know right off the top of my head, although I did get to play around with the incoming model a little bit last week, and it felt like a pretty sturdy machine to me.</p>
<p>I have an ATI card on mine, so I'd assume that the new ones will as well. Like I said, the complete specs should be online pretty soon, I think.</p>
<p>(Also, FYI, you may be pressed for space to bring a desktop in addition to your laptop. Freshman dorm rooms are not the biggest).</p>
<p>Found the page with more specific specs...yep, there is an ATI card.</p>
<p>what is an ATI card?</p>
<p>it's a graphics card...allows one to do multimedia things/play game effectively. </p>
<p>i'm now quite pleased with the laptop; before i was quite upset.</p>
<p>The computer given next year is a slower heavier version of the one given last year. The computer program is being changed the year after this one where one can choose between a crappy barebones model, an upgrade, or an even better upgrade.</p>
<p>It is .4 pounds heavier...the motherboard seems to be the only differance...</p>
<p>where are you getting this info about next year's setup...and why in the world would anyone select the crappy model? are they gonna start charging for them? because that sorta defeats the purpose</p>
<p>I haven't heard anything about the program that sirfish mentioned. I'm not sure who sirfish is, and if he/she works in IS then he/she is in a better position than I am to talk about the computer program, but no announcement to that effect has been given to the general community. I've always heard that one of the reasons that Wake does the whole ThinkPad thing is so that everyone will have the same computer and there wont be compatability issues, but they could've decided to go with a choice of three different models.</p>
<p>It looks to me like you guys are getting pretty much the exact same computer that we got this year, and I love my new computer.</p>
<p>The weight difference probably comes from the screen backing (you know, the top half of the hinged part of your computer that holds your screen in place). The top part on the rising sophomore computer (the T60) is made from carbon fiber, I believe, which makes it a little thinner and lighter, as opposed to plastic (?) or whatever the R60 casing is made out of.</p>
<p>I have heard about the upgrade deal, where you pay a nominal fee to get your computer upgraded with more RAM and a bigger hard drive...not sure if that'll be happening for the incoming class or if it'll be another year before that gets implemented.</p>
<p>The R60 is really similar to the T60.</p>
<p>I'm an RTA next year in Bostwick. Woho!
Mohuohu, youre never going to really need a desktop. I know several people who got theirs here, but NEVER used them.
They gave us a little too much in the T60, so I think they realized that students don't need so much and hence theyre not giving the highest specs.</p>
<p>Also, I am sure there are no upgrade deals next year.</p>
<p>are there any extra things that i will want to buy before i get to school to add to my computer, like extra memory stuff or other hardware that i may want? i already have a webcam and a 2 gb flash drive. anything else?</p>
<p>Ehh, I don't know how much tinkering you can do with it. I don't know much about doing things to computers, so I didn't do anything to mine :). One item I did have to buy was speakers. I just bought some off Amazon.com for like 10 bucks (Creative Labs I believe), but if you aren't used to a laptop you might want to buy an external mouse.</p>
<p>The only accessories that I have are an external mouse and keyboard and a flashdrive.</p>
<p>don't buy anything you need to install internally....since we don't own the laptops, we really aren't supposed to tinker with them. not sure how big of a deal it would be, as i don't know of anyone who has, but i would recommend not doing so</p>