Incoming students: Purchasing a laptop for your College experience
When purchasing a computer for college, there are many options, and prices may vary from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Here are some guidelines to help in your decision-making. Each family must choose the laptop that fits their student’s needs and their budget. The recommendations below are merely a guide. Whether you choose a budget laptop or a Cadillac, college will be more manageable if you don’t have performance, warranty or other surprise problems shortly after your purchase.
Windows, Mac, or Chromebook? Most of the software students need today can run on either a Windows PC or a MacBook running the most recent MacOS versions.
Chromebooks however run a relatively new and unique Operating System (OS) based on Android, and therefore is incompatible with the large majority of conventional software used in Academia and Business. For this reason, Hartwick College strongly recommends against students using Chromebooks for classwork.
Laptop or Tablet? Tablets have a number of advantages over traditional computers (size, weight, battery life), but many tablets run on Android, iOS, or Chrome operating systems. These tablet-specific operating systems can only install apps from their respective app stores and cannot run standard or specialized software programs that may be required for academic coursework (an exception this rule is the Microsoft Surface line, which has performed well as a laptop/tablet hybrid due to it running a slightly modified version of Windows). For this reason, Hartwick College does not recommend that students plan to use tablets as their primary computer.
Processor (Windows only: MacBooks now have their own Apple-produced processors)
Intel has the lion’s share of the processor market, and Intel chipsets cost more than AMD chipsets. They tend to perform slighter better, but the gap is shrinking and an AMD processor can save a shopper significant funds. Intel processors come in speeds of i3, i5, i7, and i9. The i9 line of processor is the most powerful and will be priced accordingly. Ultra low power processors such as Atom processors may not be able to run academic software. Hartwick is comfortable with either major processor manufacturer.
Hard drive
Most laptop manufacturers are using Solid State Drives (SSD) which provide faster access and are less damage-prone than traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDD). Either type of drive will work fine as long as it can store at least 128GB.
Memory
Hartwick recommends at least 8GB of memory (RAM), and 16GB for STEM majors who will need to run more demanding software
Graphics
Laptops may come with “integrated” video (meaning, the graphics chip is built into the system board), a “dedicated” video (meaning there is a separate graphics card with its own dedicated graphics memory), or both. A dedicated graphics card will give a user faster and smoother video performance and is of particular interest to gamers and others using programs with heavy graphical demands (Photoshop, video editing). The newest Intel chipsets have significantly improved the integrated graphics capability, and these are fine for the average user. Hartwick recommends either graphics card option, based on user preference.
Battery
Laptop batteries are available in various sizes. The more cells, the longer the initial battery life will be. Battery life is also affected by the power savings features available (and used) on the laptop. Laptop batteries are consumable items and can handle a certain number of charges in their lifetime, after which users will see reduced performance, and eventually the battery will not work. Newer technology may allow a 3-cell battery to be adequate.
Warranty
Most laptops come with a standard 1-year warranty which covers manufacturer’s defects only. Increasing the warranty to 3 years will improve your chances of avoiding a significant expense after the initial warranty expires, but that will still only cover manufacturer’s defects. Most manufacturers offer “accidental damage” insurance in addition to the standard warranties, and these warranties can be invoked if the laptop suffers damage from being dropped, having a liquid spilled into it, or some other accidents. Although expensive, the “accidental damage” insurance pays for itself if the student has only one incident of user damage. Screen replacement on a laptop can be $500 or more and often exceeds the value of the laptop after a year or more of use. Hartwick recommends at least a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty AND accidental damage protection.
Homeowner’s Insurance
Even with an extended manufacturer’s warranty and an accidental damage policy, you may not be covered for loss or theft of a laptop. Review your homeowner’s policy and see whether the laptop can be covered by a rider for loss or theft. Hartwick recommends covering the laptop with your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.
Backup
A backup option with adequate storage for all your important files is critical. Consider an external hard drive or plan to use cloud storage such as Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, which is included with your Hartwick account. The TRC can help with configuring your backup options, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
Extra software
Many vendors will attempt to upsell customers on extra software or services; often pushing Microsoft Office 365, antivirus software such as McAfee, and their own IT services (looking at you, Best Buy 😒)
We highly recommend saying no to any and all of these offers (excluding warranties as mentioned above). Every Hartwick student already has access to a full Microsoft Office 365 suite and a dedicated IT helpdesk right here on campus that comes included with tuition. We do not charge extra for our support services*.
Third-party Antivirus is not deemed as necessary as it has been in the past in our professional opinion, due to most operating systems being equipped with robust security measures already built-in. However, we can recommend decent free third-party antivirus or cybersecurity consulting if a student is concerned.
If you have any questions about technology at Hartwick, please contact the Technology Resource Center (TRC) at technology@hartwick.edu or call 607-431-4357.
*We do occasionally offer limited uncertified hardware repair for out-of-warranty devices on a case-by-case basis. In such instances we can provide the labor of sourcing and repair at no extra cost, but students will be asked to purchase their own replacement components.