University to Give iPad, MacBook to Every Student
A university in Pennsylvania has said it will kick off the new school year with an iPad and a MacBook for every student.
Seton Hill University, a school in Greensburg, Pennsylvania has announced that it will be presenting all new undergraduate students with a 13-inch Macbook and an iPad as part of its Technology Advantage program.
Students will be provided with a new Macbook and iPad in the fall and then, in two years time, the Macbook will be replaced with a new one that they can take away with them when they graduate. The university says students will have access to the computers inside and outside of school hours to ensure they can get in touch with professors, advisers, and classmates and work on their studies at any time of the day.
Several of the major text book publishers have partnered with Apple to bring content to the iPad so that will be one major plus for this scheme; the students won't have to carry around those heavy text books. However, a similar program was introduced in schools when the Kindle DX launched and a lot of the students didn't like it.
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Damn!
What, they get to keep them? Also, I dislike how this article refers to university student as 'kids'
Seems a bit inappropriate.
Well... I am a senior in highschool and next year the college Im going to 'gives' every student a macbook with a lot of programs( based on you major, Im doing industrial design). After two years it's replaced and then you get to keep it upon graduation. Its exactly the same. The thing is that the cost of the laptop is added into your tuition
It's funny that they dont mention how they probably jack the price of tuition up a few grand so it seems as if its 'free'.
What a waste of money. This is one of the reasons most universities overseas graduate more scientists than we do. There is far too much focus on facilities and equipment and not enough on education here in the states.
So what if you're an engineering student or CS major and have windows specific programs that you need but are still being forced to pay tuition fees for a Mac and iPad you won't use.
And how do they know that an iPad will have any practical application since its not out and they haven't even had a chance to try it out yet to see if they like it.
I smell tax and tuition dollars being flushed down the drain.
I like services like this but it really needs to be an optional addon to tuition fees and not something they just do.
If my university did this I would just sell it... I would also be pissed that my tuition paid for this.
I care around 3 heavy text books every other day for school and I don't mind, they give me more traction in the winer and I enjoy turning pages to pressing buttons. It also makes it easier to flip from problems, to examples, to tables in the back of the book. I also avoid costs by borrowing books from friends I know, that have already taken the class, plus I wait till I have to buy the book as some class never use them.
At my school we get MacBook... and it sucks! Cheap, lacks GPU and little RAM = barely does PhotoShop, makes a great amount of noise when on YouTube (even low resolution movies will make noise). The (a bit) famous Wi-Fi drop-out problem also strikes and I have to restart the PC every time. The cd-rom also makes a lot of noise.
Why don't they just give the Asus UL80VT? It's more powerful and got a battery life nothing else can match..
And when they graduate they'll receive diploma and a cup of Jim Jones punch!
So They give me an Ipad, I use it for all my classes, Life is wonderfull. I fill it up with notes, music, movies, and then I drop it, or better yet it gets stolen. No more notes, no more books, no more anything. I end up working at McDonalds. Thanks Apple, Thanks Alot
Just another way for Apple Almighty to create more Apple Sheeple.
They did the same thing with the Apple IIE by practically giving them away to schools. The college will likely get a VERY BIG price cut from Apple Almighty for this little stunt.
More universities should be using this approach. At my college, they give out Lenovo Thinkpads to all students and Macbooks to art and design students. Sure, they are slow and what-not, but the university breaks even, if not saves money because they don't have to have computing centers, and then pay to have those computers serviced and upgraded.
yeah this is just a way to hike up tuition, i'm sure the mac itself will not have the best hardware, the likes of programs such as mathematica and maple need good speeds and memory, and on a measly 13" screen? I think not.
Give?
I don't think so.
someone has some extra cash...
someone has some extra cash...
More universities can do this now that the federal government has decided it will be responsible for all Student Loans from now on. Part of the Healthcare Reform act BTW. Infact, they can charge 50 bajillion in tuition; the student only has to pay the minimum payments for 10 years and the fed prints the difference.
How about cheaper tuition instead of over priced proprietary hard ware... College Inc. in this country is a joke. There use to be a day when you went down to a school to see what kind of on campus job you could get to help with tuition... Now you visit the bank first, and hell, anyone with clean credit or a family with money can go regardless if they have the intelligence. Don't even get me started on the athletes who get a free ride to take middle school level courses while the young adults who should be getting a free ride for their brains struggle to pay tuition....
Here's a better idea... lower tuition to allow more students to afford to go to school. My wife works for a university and theft is a HUGE problem with the equipment that is bolted down, let alone let up to the students to carry around.
Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to give everyone a Windows laptop and an Android tablet?
Anyone else read that as "Silent hill university"?
At graduation, they should give you a Windows PC so you will have a computer you can actually use in the real world.
So They give me an Ipad, I use it for all my classes, Life is wonderfull. I fill it up with notes, music, movies, and then I drop it, or better yet it gets stolen. No more notes, no more books, no more anything. I end up working at McDonalds. Thanks Apple, Thanks Alot
1. The thing weighs a little above 2kg.
2. It can't replace every book, for example the math book.
3. It's backlit display only, not electronic paper (reflecting like normal paper). That means your eyes will get tired when reading on the display the whole time.
4. You will have to bring the charger too which adds extra weight.
5. It's way too weak to do CAD software and video editing, some people do that too on universities.
6. It's extremely expensive compared to for example Asus U80V, a lot weaker too.
erm.... how do you sell those text books on when your done with it.... i know alot of students buy/sell the text books cause they're so damn expensive
I wouldn't bet solely on tuition paying for these products. I have a sneaky suspicion the book manufactures may be subsidizing universities to use the "iPad" in an attempt to kill off the used book market.
There is a huge revenue loss for these book publishers on used books; if they can cut out these used stores, they'll quickly return on their "Technology Advantage program" investment.
They wont be giving away anything it'll be in their tuition.
What a waste of money. This is one of the reasons most universities overseas graduate more scientists than we do. There is far too much focus on facilities and equipment and not enough on education here in the states.
This problem isn't only in the states, you should see the universities where I live. They're buildings are huge and well designed, but they accept 100 undergraduates per year. Ridiculous.
...followed by a 12.8% increase in tuition.
This article should be titled, "University to charge students for iPad and Macbooks, and the students will get to have them for free (after being charged)." It's not like they're just donating these things - the cost is coming back to the student, and I'd say it might be better to give people the option of choosing their laptops and devices. But whatever.
So what if you're an engineering student or CS major and have windows specific programs that you need but are still being forced to pay tuition fees for a Mac and iPad you won't use.And how do they know that an iPad will have any practical application since its not out and they haven't even had a chance to try it out yet to see if they like it.
Hey New Guy, Install Windows on the mac... not that hard.
Also there are these things called iphones and itouch's they've been out for sometime now and share almost the exact same operating system as the Ipad, so while the ipad is new the software isn't.
Also services like the one the school is provide are optional... if you don't like it don't go...
If this is the future of america and he is going to school for technology... i'm scared sh@tless.
Nothing really new. I mean it was bound to happen I think its more of a publicity stunt for the University to gain it attention much like last years small time University somewhere on the East Coast offering every student a Kindle instead of buying books every semester. Makes sense University's would pump this stuff out first on a massive scale to gain these books a solid foothold.
I like where the direction is heading in the education sector whether its Kindle or iPad.