Need A Back To School Computer

By Ang Biondo

 

 

I hope everyone had a great summer.  I’m sure with family get-togethers, summer travel, and the usual fix-it projects around the house everyone’s been busy and not having much time left for computing.  Other than e-mail most people don’t tend to think about computers until this time of year when we realize our kids are soon off to school.

 

Well it is that time of year again, and with the start of school right around the corner everyone is hustling and bustling to find a suitable computer for school or to take to college.  Between tuition, books and supplies, the added expense of a new wardrobe and possibly housing expenses it doesn’t leave much for a decent notebook computer.

 

However, today’s college curriculum mandates the use of high tech tools such as computers and calculators, etc.  It leaves us no choice but to invest in these expensive tools if we want our children to stand a chance in today’s scholastic environment.  

 

Note (important):

 

·         For the freshman college student just off to school it’s probably a good idea not to rush into things.  The college will assign the new student an “edu” address.  This is a unique e-mail address each student is assigned by the school which they use to communicate with their professors for various assignments etc.  Once assigned an “edu” address (usually once registered or the 1^st day of school) it opens a host of educational academic discounts for the new student.  This e-mail address is needed to be eligible for the deeply discounted computers, software and various school related supplies they will use throughout their college years.  If the student has been assigned their “edu” address they can go ahead and start using it.  If the student has not yet been assigned an “edu” address and is able to wait until one is assigned the savings can be astronomical if he/she waits until then to purchase their computer and any software they will need for the classes they have chosen. .

·         Microsoft along with other major computer and software manufactures offer deeply discounted products to students but require they use their “edu” address when ordering.

 

Note:  It is important the student does not share his/her “edu” address with anyone.  The address is for use by the student only and is sometime registered to one computer only.  If this is so, they must place their orders from that computer and only that computer.   Be sure to check and understand the rules for use of your “edu” address.  It is a privilege and privileges can be lost.

 

Today’s economy has put a damper on the ability to run out to your local computer and electronics store a buy a computer off the rack.  Competition, theft, and high overhead has made it virtually non-feasible for these stores to maintain walk-in stores.  Most have closed their doors and gone the way of the internet to cut cost and become competitive.  The stores that I am aware of that have done so are:

 

List of Stores that closed and converted to internet stores (probably not complete)

 

·         Circuit City                 http://circuitcity.com/

·         CompUSA:                 http://www.compusa.com/

·         Computer City:           http://www.computercity.com/

 

List of Businesses with stores and also on-line: (also probably not complete)

 

·         Best Buy:                    http://www.bestbuy.com/

·         Office Depot               http://www.officedepot.com/

·         Office Max:                 http://www.officemax.com/

·         Staples                        http://www.staples.com/

 

On-line stores offering computer and electronics (more than likely not complete)

 

·         Direct Buy                   http://www.directbuy.com/

·         Computer Geeks        http://www.geeks.com/

·         New Egg                     http://www.newegg.com/

·         Tiger Direct                 http://www.tigerdirect.com/

·         Zip Zoom Fly               http://www.zipzoomfly.com/

 

Some Major Computer Manufacturers who offer discounts to students:

 

·         Apple Computer®™   http://www.apple.com/mac/

·         Dell®™                       http://www.Dell.com/

·         Gateway®™               http://www.gateway.com/

·         Hewlett Packard®™   http://HP.com/

 

Some Software Manufacturers who offer deep discounts to students using “edu’s”:

 

·         Autodesk®: http://www.autodesk.com/        (makers of AutoCad)  AutoCad® is a computer aided design program used by architects and engineers in the design of their products and is capable of wire, 3D and 3D rendering as well as animating and rotating 3 dimensional objects . This product sells for $3000 plus dollars depending on the options included with it, but is available to the student for a 48 or 60 month license for about $150.

·         Adobe®™: http://www.adobe.com/ (Adobe Acrobat products)  The standard version of Adobe Acrobat usually sells for about $400 but is available to the student for about $150.  This product includes “OCR” software which allows the student to scan text into a document.  The hours saved in typing over the course of the year is invaluable.

·         Microsoft®™: http://www.microsoft.com/    (Window’s® OS, and MSOffice®, and Visio®, etc.)  Most everyone is familiar with the capabilities of Microsoft Office® which sells for around $400.  Microsoft Office Ultimate® is available to the student for about $59.  Microsoft® Visio® is a valuable tool for students who’s curriculum includes detailed drawings and charts, etc.  Visio® sells for around $400 but is available to the student for around $150.

 

Note: the prices reflected above are not current and used only as samples to give the student an idea of the savings available to them with their school’s “edu” enrollment. 

 

Other equipment that will prove useful to the new student:

 

·         Document Scanner:  A document scanner is an essential tool for students to scan documents and convert to “PDF” files with Adobe Acrobat® or a suitable conversion program.  However a document scanner is just that, it scans pages.  For more universal use the student may want to consider a flat bed scanner which allows the student to scan pages from a book as well.

 

For those with limited funds (most of us) and need to start slowly, there is a host of free software available on the internet for downloading that will suffice and are great alternatives.  Some of these are:

 

Open Office®: Open Office is a Microsoft Office® alternative or look alike which is an open source product and has all the bells and whistles included in MS™ Office® plus.  Open Office® is a full office suite of which all products are fully compatible with the Microsoft® counter-part applications in MS™ Office®  It is capable of saving files in “PDF” format and is offered free to the public. Program developers are encouraged to participate in further development of the product.

 

Open Office® can be downloaded directly at: http://www.openoffice.org/

 

PrimoPDF®:  PrimoPdf® also offers a free document converter which allows you to print anything to a “PDF” (Adobe® portable document file format) document.

 

Portable Document Files, or “PDF” for short can be accessed and read by anyone with the free Adobe® Acrobat® reader program available for download from Adobe® (listed above)  The student will find that most documents and homework assignments they are required to submit will more than likely require to be in “PDF” format.

 

Computers on the cheap:

 

It will be hard to beat the deeply discounted offers to the students using their “edu’s”, but with all the other expenses involved at the start of the school year, that is sometimes not enough.  Remember college is multiple years and multiple semesters so you will be able to take advantage of your “edu” discounts throughout your college years. 

 

You might want to consider a used or refurbished computer for your 1^st semester and buy a new computer for your 2^nd semester or even at the start of your 2^nd year.  By this time you know exactly what you are looking for in a computer and optional peripherals.  You can probably sell your old computer to someone who is in a similar situation as you were when you started, and if you want to leave some of the data you accumulated for your courses during your 1^st year, you might be able to make a small profit to boot.  (Don’t forget to remove all personal information before selling it.)

 

Some ways to save:

 

Check the links listed above for deals.  Look for “close outs”, “open box”, “factory refurbished”, and “re-certified”:

·         Close outs:  Last year’s models.  Vendor’s carry many products on consignment and  usually want to clean out their inventories.  They are offered incentives by the manufacturer to sell them rather than return the products. (usually carry a full factory warranty)

·         Open box:  The seal has been broken on the packaging, or the unit was used in display and cannot be sold as new by law.  (Usually carry a full factory warranty)

·         Factory refurbished: Unit is usually returned because it did not meet expected customer specifications, or had a minor factory defect.  The factory refurbishes the unit and resells as a refurbished unit.  Factory refurbished units usually carry a 30 to 90 day warranty.

·          Re-certified:  These units are generally older models on lease to large corporations for use by their executives and employees.  Usually banks, insurance companies, large corporations, etc.  Thus the reason for so many of the same unit.  These computers are almost always maintained by a factory representative on the job site.  They usually have an older operating system installed (probably Windows® XP Pro), a larger hard drive than normally equipped and probably a full compliment or maximum amount of memory installed, making them good candidates for a freshman college student.  More than likely it will not have wireless capability, but is easily remedied with a PCMCIA Ethernet adapter available for $10 to $40 on line.

 

Note: in 90% of all occasions electronic equipment will fail within the 1^st 48 hours of use.  In the case of all electronics new or used, you can simulate a burn-in by leaving the computer running continuously for 48 hours.  If it doesn’t fail in that time, you will probably never have a problem with it unless its abused. 

 

Factories burn-in the motherboards by placing them in an oven for a specific period of time at a higher than normal temperature to emulate this 48 hour period.

 

 

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