As part of Seton Hall's Mobile Computing Program, sophomore students will begin receiving their new laptops on April 19 during laptop refresh.
Recently, PC Support Services has developed a program, called a Request for Proposals, which allowed PCSS to set up meetings with vendors and review the technology they offer Seton Hall's Mobile computing program.
"PC Support Services had meetings with vendors to review technology road map to decide the most advance platform for the University Mobile Computing Program," Irene Wang, asset manager for PCSS, said.
PCSS and Procurement requested proposals from Dell, Lenovo, Hewlett Packard and Acer (CDWG) but only received responses from Lenovo and HP.
PCSS and Procurement required proposals from the vendors to meet minimum specifications currently used in the Mobile Computing Program.
Requirements for the laptops in the Mobile Computing Program include Intel Arrandale Duo Core Processors, 320 GB hard drives, 4GB of memory, graphics cards with 512MB video memory, integrated wireless cards, integrated webcams, Bluetooth connectivity capability and 9 Cell Li-ION Batteries.
"Dell declined to bid, and Acer was unable to bid based on SHU's requirement," Wang said.
IT and Procurement have reviewed the proposals from the Lenovo and Hewlett Packard companies. They reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad T510 and HP Elite 8540p laptops along with the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 and HP Elite 2740p tablets.
Junior Steven Giarratano received the Laptop Refresh last year as a sophomore. Since he is a physics and engineering major, he received the Lenovo ThinkPad x200 tablet computer. He explained that this laptop is extremely important for his classes.
"In class our teacher uses a program called Dino," Giarratano said. "My professor wrote with a stylus pen and whenever he wrote notes on his laptop, they were automatically transferred onto our laptops. It's a good feature and it's one thing that I like about them."
Sophomore and Resident Assistant Michael Grajales said he has had many problems with his current laptop.
"I've gone through so many loaner laptops this year so I'm hoping that (the new laptops) last longer and that they're lighter in weight," Grajales said.
PCSS recommends that the university select the Lenovo ThinkPad T510 laptop and X201 tablet. According to Wang, the Lenovo ThinkPad laptop has a very good reputation among the other participants in the Mobile Computing Program, particularly for their very reliable titanium outer casing.
"While all the units specified in the bid met the required specifications and there are no significant differences among the models," Wang said.
Sophomore students are currently awaiting their laptop refresh in April and anticipating the updates that will come with the new laptops.
Sophomore Angelica Rodriguez said she is looking for the laptop to be smaller in size, faster in speed and contain a webcam.
Resident Assistant and sophomore Alyssa Alfano said she has had no problems with the current laptop she has, but, hopes that the new laptops will be sleeker and more compact.
"I really wasn't happy with the size and weight of our laptops," Alfano said.
Jacqueline DeBenedetto can be reached at jacqueline.debenedetto@student.shu.edu.
