Dartmouth Computing Services is recommending that members of the Class of 2001 purchase Apple Macintosh Performa 6400/180 computers for $1,646, and most members of the incoming class are opting for the recommended package, according to Director of Computer Services Communications Bill Brawley.
Brawley said most students usually purchase the recommended package. Last year, he said, between 800 and 900 members of the Class of 2000 purchased the recommended package, and it seems the Class of 2001 is following the same pattern.
A smaller group each year purchases the upgrade package, and others choose the laptop option.
This year, the upgrade computer package offered through the Computer Store is a Power Macintosh 7300/180 with 32 megabytes of RAM and a two gigabyte hard drive for $2,336. For $1,802, students can purchase a Powerbook 1400cs/117 with 32 megabytes of RAM and a 740 megabyte hard drive.
For the first time, students this year had the option of buying or bringing a non-Macintosh IBM-compatible computer through the College. "So far there haven't been many people who have taken us up on that offer," Brawley said.
The recommended Performa computer comes with a 15-inch, multiscan monitor, a 1.6 gigabyte hard drive, an Ethernet card, a built-in fax/modem and preinstalled Dartmouth software, including Microsoft Word 6.0, Netscape Navigator 3.0, Fetch and BlitzMail, Brawley said.
Although the package price is slightly higher this year, "if you adjust for inflation it is right in line -- a really good value."
Brawley said there is a lot of pressure to offer a good value for the computer packages. He said two years ago the recommended Performa 636 cost about $1,300. But "you can't get that much computer for that kind of money anymore," he added.
Balancing a reasonable price and a machine that will last students four years at Dartmouth without having to upgrade can be difficult, Brawley said, "because of technology, it's hard to know where you will be in two years."
The recommended Performa computer has 32 megabytes of RAM, following a trend of doubling the recommended memory each year. Last year's recommended Power Mac 7200/90 had 16 megabytes of RAM, and the recommended computer package for the Class of 1999 had eight megabytes.
The system software for the new Performa computers require eight megabytes of RAM to run, Brawley said. To run the system software and Netscape Navigator 3.0, "you need at least 16 megs," he said. Microsoft Word 6.0 "can be another chunk of RAM, which is why we are looking at 32" megabytes.
Brawley said the Apple Vendors send up a "semi-truck load" of computers and College employees open up each computer to install the software and check that each computer works.
"Sometimes we get a dud," he said. "But when we walk out of distribution, all computers should be ready to plug and play."
