Although in years past Macintosh computers have dominated the Dartmouth computing world, with 80 percent of the Class of 2005 opting to purchase PCs, that preeminence may quickly be fading away.
While the just-graduated Class of 2001 was not even provided a PC computer package option, the '03s were not directly advised to purchase a Macintosh computer, and the majority of '04s -- 60 percent of the class -- chose PCs.
"Apples are kind of fading out at Dartmouth," Computer Sales Supervisor William Corrette, who estimates that their popularity has faded by about ten percent each year, said.
Speculating on reasons for the decline, he noted that "whatever [students] see in high school is what they're used to," and thus prefer to buy for college.
In another significant shift, the popularity of laptops has skyrocketed, with 539 of the 768 '05 computer orders to date being for laptop models, according to Freshman User Assistant Dave Seidman '04.
Many '05s, apparently, hope to take advantage of Dartmouth's recently installed campus-wide wireless Ethernet access.
"The convenience of a laptop with wireless access is significant," stated a newsletter sent to all freshmen along with their computer order forms.
Although freshmen were informed of the benefits of laptops, the overwhelming preference for PCs is surprising. Of the almost 540 laptop purchases, 398 were PCs, with only 95 getting an ibook and 45 getting the upper end PowerBook G4.
"We expected more people to get ibooks," Seidman said. He speculated that the cause may just be PC dominance in the world outside of Dartmouth.
"Typically people have a preference from back home," he said, adding that people get what they are more comfortable with.
Seidman, who answers questions from incoming freshmen and also posts to the freshmen online discussion board, said that he gets many questions about the wireless system. About 75 percent of students say they know what it is, he said.
Many freshmen also question whether or not they can bring their own computer system, which Seidman responds to affirmatively, adding that there will be no disadvantage.
About 130 students are bringing their own systems from home this year, he estimated.
Corrette said that he didn't know if the College had any plan to officially switch over to an entirely PC-based network anytime in the near future.
"It'd be a while before they made it standard for PCs," he said, "Macs are loved by a lot of people."
