<p>I'm going to be a freshman at UR next year, and I need to know what kind of computer to get. Online it seems like the campus is fine with either. Is one easier to coordinate with campus IT?</p>
<p>Nope. Either is fine.</p>
<p>There are discounts available through the school. [ITS</a> Computer Sales :: University of Rochester](<a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/it/css/]ITS”>http://www.rochester.edu/it/css/)</p>
<p>A bit of advice on buying: wait until you see back-to-school specials advertised by Apple and others. Apple, for example, has given an ipod touch. These usually start later this month or so.</p>
<p>Also, you’ll talk to your roommate at some point about stuff like a printer, fridge, microwave. Many kids share a printer because you don’t need to print that much. As a piece of advice, set up a gmail email address because it’s permanent, has lots of storage and you can always send documents to it for keeping or access from any computer. Some schools, including some big ones, are now using google’s email - they get a special domain at gmail - rather than maintain their own system.</p>
<p>Most documents need to be read in some MS Office compatible format. You don’t have to use Word because most every program now outputs in Word readable format.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Disclaimer: totally self promotion here.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind a bit of a walk, depending on what dorm you get, the Computer Interest Floor located in Anderson Tower has a computer lab in the basement of the tower with free printing. Signing up for a CIF account is free, and once you have your ID card, you can swipe into the lab, sign into a computer, pull up your document, and print it. A CIF member can assist you with this when you get here. </p>
<p>We also do tech support. I can personally handle most Mac issues, and there are Windows people, hardware people, and even a Linux folk or two on floor. Between us we’ve saved computers with issues ITS couldn’t resolve. For example, last week I extracted a harddrive and helped rescue all the data off it from a broken laptop after ITS said they wouldn’t deal with a hardware issue.</p>
<p>tl;dr: Don’t worry about PC or Mac, someone can fix it; also, free printing with CIF!</p>
<p>always, PC, you can use PC to do much more things than mac, mac is just good looking…</p>
<p>D bought a Dell freshman year through the school’s program. It broke down sophomore year. It broke down just before spring break. She dropped it off to IT bebore coming home, and it was repaired when she got back to school. Service contract was def. worth it, as she is 400 miles from home.</p>
<p>Other daughter attends a school that does not have an on campus computer store like UR. Luckily, there are enough Best Buys close to school that they could handle her repairs if needed.</p>