<p>Hi all.
I am in dire straights right now. busy withthe last minute shopping and all. Havent even been able to check the forum properly. can anyone tell me abt laptops? as in does the coll provide any sort of loan or installment plans to buy one? does any org do that? how much does a new reasonable one cost? i dont want to burden my parents too much abt it, n mite not have the money myself so.. can anyone help with the info? sorry if this Q is redundant or anything. looking forward to ur replies...</p>
<p>In terms of computing: </p>
<p>You dont actually need to have a computer on campus since youll be near one at all times. I know people that do not have a computer and have not suffered because of it. Needless to say, you will always find a use for a computer in your dorm room, and I have a few ideas that may help:</p>
<p>I would shy away from e-bay or any auction sites for now, since your time before coming to campus is limited, and you want to make sure that your computer is all good to go. Often, those computers are not as great as the seller promises. </p>
<p>If money is limited, and you want to go for a quick and easy kill on PC laptops, get a dell. They have some of the cheapest prices and support is pretty good. Most other PC brands are either too expensive (Sony/IBM) or so cheap that they wont last/have little or no service warranty (emachines/any brand that sounds like two random words put together).</p>
<p>Also, dont go to chain retailers like Circuit City. They carry lots of computers that are overpriced and they just want you to buy lots of unnecessary stuff. If youre in a rut, go with BestBuy.</p>
<p>My preference is to GET A MAC. Not only will they actually outlive the PC equivalent, youll be much cooler and have a better experience with them. They do NOT cost a lot more than PCs, and are now priced to be competitive. And if you go to the apple website, go to the education store, and put in Kenyon College. The prices are significantly cheaper, sometimes 100-300 dollars less for their computers. Go for a mid range iBook, or the powerbook and youll be set.</p>
<p>For prices: 950 dollars is the lowest youll get on the iBook, but its still a great deal for what you get. They also have some special deals for college students, but they often require you to buy extra crap like an iPod. For PC's I found dell to have some as cheap as 530 dollars, and their more mainline brand comes to be about 930 dollars. So the prices are widespread with the PC notebooks vs the apple. Its all up to your budget at that point.</p>
<p>I searched the LBIS site for information about laptop loans and could not find anything. Either that is being planned for the near future, or was recently stopped. My advice is that you will want to buy your own since you will have it for several years.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about Macs, but I would definitely reccomend Dell. My family has been very happy with all of the Dells we've had at home and work (at least 6). I would advise you to order online though; their phone sales people are extremely obnoxious and will try to sell you a different computer than what you ask for. I have a Dell Inspiron 700M and love it; some of my friends have the Inspiron6000 and they are also very happy with theirs.</p>
<p>And you should buy it in the States. I dunno how the prices in the States are compared to the ones in Nepal but for me it is the 30% cheaper to buy a computer in the States.</p>