<p>I recently received mail from fa office
and the cost of laptop ($ 1,825.00) was included on the estimated total costs list</p>
<p>does it mean RPI is going to provide me a laptop and i have pay 1825 bucks for it?
or the average cost of laptops that students buy for college is $ 1825?</p>
<p>RPI offers a laptop to you for $1825. It is worth it merely for the software pre-installed on it which is worth many thousands more. It also comes with great customer support/warranties from RPI tech support.</p>
<p>Do we know yet what type of laptop they will provide for this school year (2010)?</p>
<p>When I started in the fall of '72, the personal computing device we were required to purcahse was a slide-rule. We could buy one anywhere we please, but we were told that inexpensive ones were just as good as more expensive ones. Then there was a sea change, where at the start of the next semester, spring '73, almost everyone had a TI SR10 - and the slide-rule was instantly extinct.</p>
<p>Anyway, my oldest son is now a sophomore. Before the start of freshman year my wife and I were hearing from my son’s take on all the blogging among accepted students that such a better computer than what the school was offering could either be self-constructed or purchased from a third party. My wife and I, being oppressive parents, insisted on getting the deal with the school. I recall this included all necessary software and on-campus repair or replacement if something happens, including accidental damage.</p>
<p>The deal through the school turned out to be fine. And, sure enough, the accidental damage policy came in handy. My son claimed that when he woke up one morning during his freshman year the computer was in a pool of water on his desk and ot died. It was quickly repaired or replaced as the campus computing center without charge.</p>
<p>We have another son that may be starting there in the fall. If this is where he attends, it will be interesting to see which of the following two options he will choose: (a) taking the school deal voluntarily; or (b) taking the school deal involuntarily.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>wondering about the resignations and layoffs at RPI. kids blogging about not having TA’s and other services taken away due to funding. i know there are finacial problems at most universities right now but want to know how serious the problems are at RPI. Why did business school dean resign. I read about upset by students…Can anyone share the real story.</p>
<p>I guess your current RPI student is very happy if you are considering sending another child there next year. What is his major? Has he been negatively affected at all by funding problems? Any prof., deans, or important ancillary staff layed off. Our son is seriously considering it for the Fall also but I am concerned and want to know if I should be.</p>
<p>Ruddy,</p>
<p>My attempt to address your questions…</p>
<p>My wife and I think RPI turned out to be the perfect fit for our older son, and we think it would be for our younger one too. My older son is majoring in mechanical engineering, and the younger one may be leaning in that direction but may start as an undeclared engineering major. </p>
<p>I believe the school is recognized for having a fine undergraduate engineering program, and if an undergraduate engineer does well academically at RPI, he or she should have very good opportunities for employment or graduate school. I imagine the same would be the case with other majors, but I am not as familiar.</p>
<p>I realize that many people do not join a fraternity, but my son found one that was a good fit, and it turned out to be a family away from home for him. This was my experience when I attended as well, although I belonged to a different fraternity, where I made friends for life, still keeping in touch with many.</p>
<p>There are many other things to do on campus. My son participated in Habitat for Humanity during his first year - which culminated with a group from RPI going to work on a Habitat house in South Carolina during spring break. And there are many, many other activities for anyone that will take the initiative to become involved.</p>
<p>On the subject of students being upset with cutbacks, I can’t think of many places where people are not upset this year. In RPI’s case, I think it announced a staff reduction earlier than others. The reduction included people that took care of the grounds as well as a number of other categories of staffing. The reductions were painful for people that worked for RPI for a long time and were laid off. I think the personal aspect of people being laid off was a trigger for the protests and comments. But then almost every other university did the same thing. I also think that it’s not uncommon for Shirley Jackson to be a popular target for complaints for any number of reasons. Her compensation certainly draws attention. And some say she does not include the faculty in decision-making processes and may be autocratic. During her tenure, however, I believe there has been a tremendous increase in recognition for the school, a tremendous expansion in its the facilities, and a very large increase in the number of applicants. The increase in applicants may have been triggered by a US News & World Report on the “New Ivies”, but the application numbers continue to rise. One of the comments I have seen a number of times on these blogs is that RPI is a school on the rise. To me, that would be still on the rise.</p>
<p>Another thing I hear is the opinion of some that there may be friction between a goal of increasing the focus on graduate programs versus giving appropriate attention to the undergraduate program. This could be aggravated by what some say is a more CEO driven administration than what may have been a more consensus type of organization before Shirley Jackson came on board. In any event, whatever there may be concerning this aspect of things, I don’t think it has had any effect on my son’s education. He receives fine instruction with a very rigorous set of courses, and my wife and I are confident that he is being well prepared with the education he is getting at RPI.</p>
<p>Regards</p>
<p>okay, so what happens if i bring my own laptop
and install the programs that RPI’s laptop has?
Do i have to pay for installing the programs?
or are they for free?</p>
<p>You have to pay.</p>
<p>Here is the school’s mobile computing info: [Rensselaer</a> Mobile Computing Program - Overview](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/overview.html]Rensselaer”>http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/overview.html)</p>
<p>In the FAQ’s:</p>
<p>“We strongly recommend the Rensselaer laptop package. If you do choose to bring your own, be sure that it meets the minimum specifications. You will also be responsible for purchasing the software, making sure that you can connect to the Rensselaer network, and coordinating with the manufacturer for warranty support. We will also not be able to provide support for other laptops.”</p>
<p>The listed minimum specs are prefaced by “fall of 2008” and are here: [Rensselaer</a> Mobile Computing Program - Min Specs 2008](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/laptops08/minspecs08.html]Rensselaer”>http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/laptops08/minspecs08.html).</p>
<p>I don’t know when the school will designate the laptop specs and software provided through it for the fall 2010. But here are the specs for the Lenovo W500 provided through the school for the fall 2009 and additional info as of the spring of 2010:</p>
<p>Hardware
• Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor at 2.8 GHz
• (6 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz system bus, 64-bit CPU)
• 4 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM (0 open slots)
• 15.4” WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 display
• 320 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
• 512 MB ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 graphics card
• (Switchable to Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD)
• Ultrabay Slim DVD ± RW/CD-ROM writer
• Gigabit Ethernet network connection
• 802.11a/b/g/n integrated wireless
• 56K V93 modem
• Ports: Three USB 2.0, VGA DB-15, DisplayPort, RJ-11 modem, RJ-45 Ethernet, 1394 Firewire 400, microphone, headphone
• PC card slot, ExpressCard slot, Multiread card slot
• UltraNav touch pad/TrackPoint pointing device
• Integrated webcam camera
• Fingerprint reader
• Bluetooth
• 9-cell Lithium-ion battery with one-year warranty</p>
<p>The package also includes a four-year manufacturer’s warranty, as well as four-year ThinkPad Protection against accidental damage.</p>
<p>Pre-Installed Software*</p>
<p>• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
• Microsoft Office Pro 2007
• Maplesoft Maple symbolic algebra program
• MathWorks MATLAB
• National Instruments LabVIEW
• NX5 (Unigraphics) CAD package
• MapInfo Professional
• Bentley Microstation
• Adobe Premiere Elements
• Adobe Photoshop Elements
• Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Symantec anti-virus software suite</p>
<ul>
<li>The software is pre-installed on the laptop computer. Educational licenses are included, but installation CDs are not.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Spring 2010 Mobile Computing package also includes:
• A laptop security cable with lock
• An Ethernet cable
• A Kelty laptop backpack
• An iClicker personal response unit</p>
<p>do you guys know if we can use a Apple laptop but with Windows installed?</p>
<p>My DS, who may be attending in the fall, is a Linux hacker.
We’re thinking of sending him with his regular laptop but also buying the school’s package. I don’t want him spending all his time trying to port the software over to Linux instead of doing homework!</p>
<p>e5volcano - My son uses his Mac laptop for his personal stuff, music collection, etc etc and the RPI laptop for school work. My daughter going there next year has mentioned installing it in a Windows partition but since you need to buy the laptop to get the software, not sure it is worth the resources it uses. My son is big into music and my daughter into photography/photoshop, so keeping those separate makes sense.</p>
<p>The CAD package alone costs several times the cost of a laptop.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I hate the choice of laptop they chose [I’m a big lenovo thinkpad follower, been using them since I was 7]</p>
<p>the W500 is just way to heavy to carry in your backpack all day, I wish they offered a better choice like the T series or the X series</p>
<p>It is a very common misconception that you have to purchase the RPI laptop to get all the software–that is not true.</p>
<p>[DotCIO</a> - Available Software](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/web/software/sw_available.html]DotCIO”>http://www.rpi.edu/dept/arc/web/software/sw_available.html)</p>
<p>Any RPI student, whether you purchased the laptop or not, can download most of the software on the RPI laptop, including Matlab, NX, and Solidworks. The only popular software that you can’t get for free if you don’t have the RPI laptop is Maple, Office, and Visual Studio (if you take Comp Sci 1 and 2 they primarily use Visual Studio, but there’s a free version you can get from Microsoft). However, there are computers in the VCC that any student can use with all the software on it for those occasional times that you need a program you don’t have on your personal computer.</p>
<p>I purchased the RPI laptop my freshman year and then bought a MacBook halfway through junior year and have no regrets at all (gave the Thinkpad to mom so everyone’s happy!). I have Windows on a 2nd partition for my AutoCAD class, but find that I hardly need Windows as a CS major.</p>
<p>I still can’t decide whether i should purchase RPI laptop or not.
RPI’s warrenty and things are great but
i think it’s cheaper to buy one from bestbuy or something
and install the programs that RPI’s laptop has.</p>
<p>what do u guys suggest?’
should i buy RPI’s? or one from bestbuy that has the same specs?</p>
<p>kkhv4851, keep in mind that the programs included with the laptop RPI gives you are worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, especially programs like NX (a CAD program; I think that’s around 8 grand alone, if I’m not mistaken). Maybe if your major doesn’t have much use for most of the RPI-added programs, you won’t miss out, but be sure to ask people in your major what they think is the best choice. Also, having a free repair service is a MAJOR bonus.</p>
<p>My personal opinion: I think there will be less hassle long-run if you just buy RPI’s laptop.</p>
<p>Check this link out if you want more info: <a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/overview.html[/url]”>http://www.rpi.edu/laptops/overview.html</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmmm, good point. If I were to go to RPI, I’d probably buy a lighter laptop and get my software through that site.</p>
<p>Also, there is this site [Academic</a> Superstore : Academic Software discounts for students, teachers and schools](<a href=“http://www.academicsuperstore.com/]Academic”>http://www.academicsuperstore.com/) which sells software cheap for students</p>
<p>the warranty on the rpi laptop is amazing. the computer repair store will fix anything thats wrong for no extra charge. i spilled apple juice all over my keyboard and it killed my laptop. they gave me a loaner and i got mine back a few weeks later.</p>
<p>My son has had to get his RPI laptop repaired two times while under warranty and it has worked out very well both times. Both times he has been home on break when the laptop has malfunctioned. The first time, my son called the RPI computer repair unit and they told him to mail it up to them. They had it fixed and waiting by the time he got back to school. $400 just for the part but all covered under warranty. During Spring Break this year, he had only been home a day and the motherboard went out on the laptop. He decided to drive the couple hours back to campus and get the repair started so he could get a loaner laptop to use during break. The RPI repair unit put the hard drive from my son’s laptop into the loaner laptop so he did not lose anything and could continue to work on things while home. When he got back to school, his laptop was repaired and the repair technician swapped the hard drive back into my son’s computer. </p>
<p>Now, why his Lenovo has needed two major repairs in 2.5 years is another question. But we have been very pleased with the technical support that RPI gives to the laptops they sell. </p>
<p>(One other thing- my son’s laptop originally came with a Windows Vista operating system. He, like many students at RPI, was not happy with Vista. When Windows 7 came out, he was able to go to the Computing Center and upgrade to Windows 7 for free and then reinstall the necessary engineering software that RPI had originally bundled onto his laptop.)</p>
<p>Get the laptop. It’s a very good deal for a very good computer. RPI has connections with Lenovo and IBM, and the computer that the students get is usually one that hasn’t even been made available for sale yet. I plan on buying it once I enroll.</p>
<p>That said, as a mac user, I could never switch to a PC full time, and I’m also going to buy a new mac for personal use…</p>
<p>I think it would be more expensive to buy an equivalent computer at a retail store (The current laptop is a pretty damn good computer, I’m not sure you could just go to best buy and buy an equivalent machine), plus all that software isn’t going to be cheap.</p>
<p>The laptop is completely supported by the school as well. When I visited RPI, they basically said that there isn’t anything that could happen to the laptop that they wouldn’t fix or replace it for.</p>