<p>Hello everyone. Have you received a package from Residence Hall Linens stating that students tend to bring wrong-size beddings to the dorms ? I doubt the truthfulness of their words. Do I necessarily need to buy sheets, blankets, pillows, etc. from them or can I bring mine that can still fit beds at Colgate ?</p>
<p>bring your own, buy your own laptop, and avoid any transaction with any colgate product (if you dont want to get ripped off)</p>
<p>Wow... are they THAT bad? Elaborate please...</p>
<p>haha im exagerating, but buy the expensive things (like a laptop) outside of the bookstore.</p>
<p>I thought through the college you could get special discounts?</p>
<p>Buy your own linens elsewhere - just be sure to get extra long sheets.</p>
<p>Target, Sears, Bed and Bath etc. all sell extra long sheets and they tend to put them on sale in August.</p>
<p>RHL must have purchased the names of every incoming freshman at every college. Their quality is reportedly not great, and you can do better for the money. All you need is Twin XL sheets.</p>
<p>Don't BUY anything from the bookstore- they'll definitely have all kinds of dorm stuff but they're overpriced (even the Ipods). What they mean by wrong sized sheets (happened to me) is that people brought regular twin, not x-tra long.</p>
<p>Definitely buy your laptop outside of Hamilton, NY. Or have it shipped.</p>
<p>I hate to disagree with the other Colgaters, but definitely buy your laptop form the bookstore - that way they will do ALL of the servicing, and for free, plus will oyu give you a loaner laptop when yours is broken!</p>
<p>Agree with GateNY09 re: computer. If you go to dell.com and try to build the computers Colgate is offering, you can't come close to Colgate's price.</p>
<p>my roommate dealt with the bookstore, we both had inspiron dells , mine had more features and was cheaper</p>
<p>Doesn't the bookstore sell Latitudes, the business machines, as opposed to the Inspirons? Just trying to compare apples to apples</p>
<p>Seriously, is it really worth the price to buy a laptop form Colgate??? It doesn't hurt to use one of Colgate's many, many computers to work on papers/surf the 'net for a couple days.... they do service ALL computers- from Colgate bookstore AND outside purchases- they only won't do it if the repairs are beyond their means/resources. Never had that happened- they are so persistant in figuring out problems using whatever resources they had. The kids are incredible- one time it took them 4 days to figure out my laptop's problem without having me to drive it 2 hours back home for real service where I might've had to pay $50 for it. I was fine without it... was able to concentrate on my work a bit more without the distraction of AIM :) ITS is simply very resourceful and innovative.</p>
<p>I did a price comparison with my company's Dell discount for the latitude 620 vs the bookstore, & the bookstore was cheaper. One has to remember to price in the 4 year service package when comparing...thats a few hundred bucks.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any sense of the relative expensive of a Mac.? Should I get it at through the college or through Mac? The loaner program only works for 3 of 4 years which is a bit of a chafe. But it's better than nothing, I suppose.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>maof4-- personally, I am a PC guy & like the 600 series Dell Latitudes....use them at work & they are durable machines. I priced both the Latitude 620 & the Macbook 13" through Colgate and through work discounts. Colgate pricing won. S lobbied hard for a Mac, and I caved, considering the ease of use for a non-cyber kid plus freedom from spyware & general computer muck that a Mac has relative to PC. Prices aren't too far apart when comparing laptops, but as you mentioned, Mac only comes with the 3 year service arrangement vs 4 for the PC's. Other potentially big difference (I learned after talking with the Colgate IT guys) is that the repair/replacement thing for Dells is better than Mac....covers "spill" damage as well....e.g., an errant beer frying the laptop....Mac does not cover spill damage. With these risks in mind, we still went with the Mac, & I have my fingers crossed.</p>
<p>ps.....younger daughter has a 13" Macbook, & we've had decent luck with that machine, which helped ween me off PC thinking.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts Papa. I think the spill thing may be huge. We are going to have to weigh that and the longer coverage against the more powerful graphic art thing and the lesser chance of getting spied on or sick with a virus. I'm thinking that we will probably purchase from the bookstore for the loaner program.</p>
<p>My elder daughter ( at another college) lost a laptop to a "pal" who tripped and unleashed an entire nalgene bottle of water on her unsuspecting electronic wonder. Needless to say, we now buy dorm insurance for both of our daughters (around $125 annually for $5000 insurance). For the record, we bought D # 2's laptop from the Colgate bookstore...bad things do happen, and we liked the replacement deal. Prices were definitely comptetitive, even better when insurance issues were compared, not to mention compatability questions.</p>
<p>I guess everyone has their own view on this. Re computers, I went to techbargains.com and kept searching for coupon deals (you can also sign up for notifications for the model you want) until I got a price on a Dell which was so much lower than the bookstore's that I was able to upgrade and still get the 3 year full protection price for less. Twice when there were major injuries to the laptop, Dell sent someone up to fix it (and even replace the motherboard) the next day. </p>
<p>techbargains is not as good as it used to be (or maybe Dell wised up) but it's still worth a look.</p>
<p>Definitely check with your home insurance agent. For less than $50 I fully insured the laptop, camera and other electronics.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, starting in late July, early August every store (Bed Bath Beyond, Target, Linens & Things) have sales on XL sheets, mattress pads, laundry bags and all the other things that college students need.</p>