<p>I read in the faq section that all students are required to lease a laptop from Villanova.</p>
<p>Can any current students or parents address this. I was thinking of getting s a laptop for graduation. Does he need a personal one as well? Do students save personal information on their leased computer? What happens after two years when you need to return your computer? Do you simply back up your personal information and reformat the drive?</p>
<p>It is a benefit, not a requirement. I believe if a student wants to use their own laptop, they could. The laptop comes loaded with software and the University provides tech support for it. You get a laptop when you start college. After 2 years, you trade it in for a new laptop. When you graduate you get to keep it. If you drop out, it must be returned.</p>
<p>It is not hard today to move data from one laptop to another, with a cable.</p>
<p>Instead of buying a laptop for graduation, you might think about a tablet computer or a kindle to supplement the laptop.</p>
<p>The laptop program is great. If it breaks, drop it off at tech support and they give you a loaner. Pick it up the next day. Love it! No need to buy another. My D1 is a second year at Nova, any questions just ask. I can try to help. She loves it there!!!</p>
<p>I plan on bringing my mac for recreation (since I already have it) and use the school’s for… well… school. (:</p>
<p>hi, i just got accepted to Villanova business, and I am planning to bring my macbook. Should i get the nova laptop aswell? what are the costs of leasing this computer from nova and why would a student who alredy owns a laptop need one from the university? thanks for ur help!</p>
<p>Unless something has changed , the laptop is provided at no additional cost. You will return the laptop after 2 years and are issued a new one for your final 2 years. Taking the Dell is a no brainer , even if you already have a laptop. Use your mac or other laptop for your personal use (itunes , facebook , twitter etc) and use the dell for all school related needs.
I would advise using a data backup system for the dell , you would hate to lose any work if the Dell crashes. The tech support is pretty good.</p>
<p>At no additional cost?!! That’s fantastic! S is definitely not getting a lap top for graduation now!</p>
<p>Yes, the laptop is at no additional cost - it is not a lease. Every student gets one. </p>
<p>In addition to the systems support what makes it even better is that it’s a really solid, well-built machine, not some generic, stripped down, cheapo system. </p>
<p>NYmama, instead of a laptop I’d suggest considering a 24-26 inch HD TV monitor and a laptop stand or docking station. Your son can set the monitor up as a TV (all rooms have cable) as well as a dual monitor arrangement in conjunction with the laptop. You can also get a nice set of PC speakers to go along with it. Add a wireless mouse and keyboard, and he will have a tremendous computing and entertainment set up. Oh, and don’t forget a back up drive - wouldn’t want to lose anything important. :)</p>
<p>Flava: The one thing I don’t want to do is to encourage my son to spend his time in college watching TV or playing computer games. I already told him that his XBox stays home.</p>
<p>A kindle is a nice supplement to a laptop - it is easy to read on a train or a bus, you can read it in bright daylight, and you can quickly download thousands of books for free that are out of copyright. Ebooks are typically much cheaper than paper books. More and more textbooks are going to be available through electronic readers. Also, it offers many fewer distractions than an Ipad.</p>
<p>Skip buying a laptop and take the “free” one from Villanova (we all know it’s in the tuition 
)</p>
<p>To be frank, the program has a lot of advantages. Repairs are quick - keyboard fixes are two minutes, I know someone (cough) who had a substantial liquid spill and had pretty much everything in the PC replaced within an hour at no charge. I’ve even heard rumors of occasional thefts being covered by the school, but I’d keep a close eye on the laptop to be safe.</p>
<p>Villanova loves the Latitude line from Dell. Freshman year, I had a D630, which was an unreliable piece of @#&$&, but my Junior year laptop (the one you get to keep if you graduate) is an E6400 and I can’t say I have any substantial complaints. I’d prefer IBM, but the build quality is solid, I’ve only needed a couple repairs.</p>
<p>Recommendations:
[list=ul]
[<em>]Get a dock with a TV and a cheapo keyboard/mouse. Easy way to use the laptop on a big screen. It’ll be around $100 on eBay, but it’s cheaper than building a PC. Fantastic to watch a movie with friends, browse the internet, or work on a group project.
[</em>] Get an external hard drive. If it doesn’t have a one touch backup button, chances are it won’t be used. Repairs are covered, and the school recovers data when possible (they use Norton Ghost to recover data even if windows doesn’t run), but if the data is corrupt, or you accidentally delete it, or you drop your laptop and the hard drive dies…you’re out of luck. Most people will do fine with the thinner 2.5" drives (that don’t require additional power).
[li] If you’re really technical, build a PC. You know who you are - the kind of person that has a technological itch that a laptop won’t crave. If you aren’t that person, I’d advise leaving your other PC at home.[/li][/list]</p>
<p>charlie, really?
This year in Manguire, I think there’s an x-box in 75% of the rooms. The guys hold tournaments and play against each other constantly. When the latest version of Call of Duty came out this year, six of them took a taxi to Best Buy for the midnight sale. He might not play his own X-Box, but he’ll definitely be playing someone’s 
!</p>
<p>That said, I second the TV that doubles as a large screen monitor. Lots of socializing over movies and old TV series.</p>
<p>This is true. If he lives in Manguire, he needs his XBox. I live in Katharine, we share better haha. Get the boy a 32-inch TV and decent speakers and he will be golden. The laptops are decent, I’m on one right now. My roommate however, brought his Macbook from home and he never uses his school one. It’s all about preference.</p>