<p>What type of computer is everyone going to be bringing (or purchasing) when they start this year? I'm thinking of buying a white MacBook or Dell Inspiron E1405, which will come out to abou the same price. I will also be bringing my desktop PC</p>
<p>My daughter has a one yr old HP/compaq with a 60 GB harddrive, 512 MB RAM, integrated wireless, USB, DVD/CDRW that we will wipe clean and reload. It came with XP pro and office. Just need to purchase a LONG ethernet cable for the dorm room and a printer for her. The guys at the bookstore told us not to get MACs cause they are not as compatable with UF's existing network.</p>
<p>Did they give you any example as to where the Apple's are not compatible? To connect to the wireless networks on campus all you need is the cisco vpn client which is also available for Mac OS X. There really isn't a difference between connecting a network cable/wireless card on a windows or mac box. I'm not sure what other windows-only software they might be using but a lot of things are done through the web browser so the OS would be irrelevant</p>
<p>they told us that a lot of the software that the professors use is windows based and not compatible with MAC. I am not computer literate enough to understand or explain any more than that, sorry.</p>
<p>I kind of disagree. Most of the software that professors will be using are adobe acrobat (free), words, and powerpoints. All these softwares work on MAC's and windows based computers. </p>
<p>I have a suggestion, not sure if you will take it, but most freshman will not use their labtops by taking them out of their room and stuff. I reccomend that you use a desktop if you have one around the house and then by a labtop you second year, which will have more features and better hardware. But if you dont have and extra desktop then just get a labtop.</p>
<p>I bought the Dell Latitude D620. My father works with computers and did heavy research before buying this one for me. I purchased it before I found out that UF is selling it and I love it. There is no better way to go than to have a laptop if you can afford one. This one is quite pricey but I highly recomend it.</p>
<p>seiclan, if you really wonno buy a mac, go ahead and buy it. Apple created a program called Boot</a> Camp that lets you run any windows program, including windows itself without any problems.
As for me, i am not sure what to do. I am debating between bringing my PC there or buying a dell latitude. I am not sure how much I will need a laptop the first year, and considering how fast new laptops r coming out, I would like to wait as much as I can. And also, windows vista is coming out some time at the beginning of 07, would be nice to get it without having to go through the trouble of upgrading the OS.</p>
<p>boohahaha, I would bring the PC. Waiting a year will payoff because you will be able to get a laptop that have so much more and probably be less. Computer hardware gets updated so fast.</p>
<p>UF may be somewhat less computer-dependent than Florida State, but at FSU computers are absolutely essential to get anything done. It would be difficult to get by without your own computer. I strongly suggest you get your own - now, and be sure you use it now and are totally familiar with it before you go away to school. Figure out what makes it work at home rather than in your dorm room and away from help.</p>
<p>Computers are tools and you must know how to use them well. </p>
<p>Laptops are much easier to deal with than workstations/PCs - especially in dorm rooms or taking to class for presentations. Make sure you buy the lock that secures the laptop to your desk. </p>
<p>Get a sturdy backpack or other case that will fit and protect your laptop when you carry it across campus.</p>
<p>No matter what you buy - Apple or Windows, get Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 or Microsoft Office 2003 for Windows. Get the Professional version of Office, which can be had for an educational discount.</p>
<p>Buy a USB Thumb drive of at least 512 MB (better still get 1GB). They are cheap; no one uses floppies anymore.</p>
<p>Make sure you can burn CDs (at a minimum). (No, not for just music)</p>
<p>Macs are less likely to have problems than Windows computers. You can run virtually any program on a Mac that you can on Windows (with either Boot Camp or Virtual PC for Mac {older Power PC hardware}). If you go this way, know how to make it work before you get to school. </p>
<p>Always buy the warranty - at a minimum, you'll need a new battery for the laptop before the warranty runs out.</p>
<p>After 6 semesters at FSU as a biochemistry major my daughter (who has a Mac) had two occasions to want to run a Windows application per her professors. One program was 'Maple' (allows you to write and run calculus and other advanced math equations as you create them) and a molecular construction program. Of the two, Maple proved unnecessary because the prof did most of the work with Maple and students used paper; the molecular construction program ran fine on Virtual PC for Mac.</p>
<p>She uses Word all the time as well as PowerPoint for presentations.</p>
<p>The university may well have a computer store like FSU does. Generally, they offer all products at Educational discounts. </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>One last thing - here are the hardware requirements for Microsoft Vista:</p>
<p>I think its the total opposite at UF. Someone doesn't even have to bring a computer and be perfectly fine and have no problems with getting assignments done for class. UF had multiple computer labs all over campus. Some labs include..
SG Lab (~45 computers, unlimited free printing)
CIRCA (~250 computers (MAC and PC), have every program you can think of on them from MAPLE, CAD, etc <a href="http://grove.ufl.edu/%7Eshop/Labs/Cse.html)%5B/url%5D">http://grove.ufl.edu/%7Eshop/Labs/Cse.html)</a>, and the architecture lab (open 24 hrs a day <a href="http://grove.ufl.edu/%7Eshop/Labs/Arch.html)%5B/url%5D">http://grove.ufl.edu/%7Eshop/Labs/Arch.html)</a>. Honestly I cant think of one class or purpose a first year would take a laptop to class. Biochem majors dont use Maple here until senior year and most just go to CIRCA and use it there. PC would be fine the first year and the complaint that students need to get accustom to using a new laptop is weird, no offense. Most kids can learn to use their computer instantly without any problems. USB thumb drive is useful so I would recommend that, but if you dont then get a gmail account and email the assignment to yourself. Gmail has 3 GB of space.</p>
<p>Some classes and there required computer usage:
1. gen chem, orgo, analytical you wont use a computer except to print off notes which can be done for free in the sg lab.
2. bio, only to print notes and for the lab you write 2 lab reports.
3. calc, print of notes an find out where you test will be
4. micro and macro, watch lectures online
5. enc 1101, 1102, 2210, type assignments, no presentations
6. fos and wis, watching lectures, getting notes, no presentations
7. stats, watching lectures and notes,
8. physics, no computer usage
9. biochem, notes, no presentations</p>
<p>While there is a considerable difference between being familiar with hardware and programs and being skilled with them, to each his own.</p>
<p>UF does appear to be less computer-dependent than Florida State. For example, a close relative is a recent UF grad. She reported less need for a computer than my daughter, who in Calculus II (granted - it was in the Honors Program) needed access to Maple her first semester at the university.</p>
<p>For those who are cash-strapped, the various libraries and other university facilities do provide free, 24-hour access to equipment.</p>
<p>Good luck to you all!</p>
<p>I just bought a white MacBook for college. It's just been shipped, or so they tell me. I've actually never used an Apple computer since floppy disks were actually floppy disks, but I have confidence. (And there's an offer for a free iPod with the purchase of a Mac; so much the better!)</p>
<p>I highly recommend USB flash drives for data transfer. People say go at least with 1 GB; I'm using 5 GB. I'd highly recommend this product:</p>
<p>It's wonderful. It's unbelievable. I'm storing videos and enormous folders, and it keeps like a charm.</p>
<p>MinvervaMoon, that's the laptop I plan on purchasing (white MacBook). If I ever need a windows machine for class I'll just use my desktop PC or run boot camp / virtual PC.</p>
<p>Did you use the student discount?</p>
<p>To be honest, I don't know. I went through the Student section of Apple, which took me to UF's Apple page, which took me to UF's apple store, where I shopped for the laptop. I did the free iPod thing (except I got a black 30 GB one to be buddies with the white 30 GB one I already have, which isn't free, but $120 is okay with me), and the free printer thing. </p>
<p>I'm pretty satisfied, except I've been reading about playing Region 2 disks on Apple computers, and apparently, all the newer Intel ones won't let you use VLC media player to bypass the region code. Poo. Now I'm in the market for a portable region-free DVD player (small and compact and dorm-ish!). I do love my electronics.</p>
<p>Edit: I just checked, and yes, I guess I did get a student discount, because there's a price disparity of $100 between the computer I bought and the computer on the main Apple Store page. Yay!</p>
<p>minervamoon, can you tell me more about the free ipod thing, or the $120 ipod. i dont see it on there site</p>
<p>To get to the UF apple store.. you can go to <a href="http://www.apple.com/students%5B/url%5D">http://www.apple.com/students</a> or through here <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/ufapplecomputer/Apple%20Computer%20at%20UF/Shop.html%5B/url%5D">http://homepage.mac.com/ufapplecomputer/Apple%20Computer%20at%20UF/Shop.html</a></p>
<p>Yeah. See advertisement on this page:
<a href="http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/%5B/url%5D">http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/</a></p>
<p>If you purchase a computer, they'll send you a free iPod up to $179 value, which, of course, is not economical unless you were going to buy the computer anyway. I wanted another 5th generation iPod, so I opted to pay the $120 that wasn't covered by the rebate. iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle should be free.</p>
<p>Rebate form for details:
<a href="http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/bts/BTS2006Rebate.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/bts/BTS2006Rebate.pdf</a></p>
<p>My S wanted Dell Latitude D820-B, which is close to $500/= above Latitude D620-A. My wife figures if he is going to use it for the 4-year college duration, then we should get the top of the line model right now.</p>
<p>She further reasons that since our D is one year behind, then she can "inherit" this laptop from her brother and we will get a newer model for S come next fall.</p>
<p>In that way, the D's model will not be too shabby too come next year.</p>
<p>Make sense?</p>
<p>For the record, I got my MacBook in the mail three days ago, and am using it to type this post. It's cute and wonderful, although I'm still going through the learning curve of life-long-Windows-user-trying-to-adapt. There are some things that Windows did really well (like Picture and Fax viewer; you hear that, Apple? I wanna see my damned animated gifs!), but there are other things that Mac is doing really well, like not shutting down all my programs, and letting me talk to the computer by calling it HAL.</p>
<p>And and and . . . Stephen Fry personally wished me good luck with it in chat the day before I got it. Stephen Fry! As in Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Kenny (yes, I've been raiding Facebook profiles). Woot!</p>