While construction has created an eyesore outside many University buildings, inside, the sight is much more appealing thanks to the newest additions to campus computing sites, including flat-screened monitors, new computers and new software.
- Paul Wong
- LSA senior Nathaniel Heinrichs uses one of the new computers in the Angell Hall Campus Computing Site. The University upgraded many sites this summer.<br><br>BRETT MOUNTAIN/Daily
While upgrades can be found in several locations, the most visible changes are in the Fishbowl where the older model iMacs and Dell computers have been replaced with black Dell Pentium IVs and flat panel display Macintosh computers.
“The aesthetic appeal alone makes for a brighter Fishbowl,” said LSA senior Will Sterburg. “I have to be honest with you, it is taking a little while to get used to it. When I walked in here it was a little shocking, but just an aesthetic thing, they look nice.”
Since the end of winter semester almost 370 computers have been replaced in the University”s 42 computing sites.
Some of the largest upgrades took place in Angell Hall with 150 new PCs and 90 new Macintosh computers. Additionally, 30 new computers were replaced in Rescomp sites, 20 at the School of Education Building and 77 at the School of Social Work, said Gregory Dumont, interim manager of Campus Computing Sites.
These new computers are used to replace older computers that have reached their warranty period of three years, Dumont added.
“We”re on a cycle, we try and do a third over a three-year period,” said Dumont. “We only try to keep a computer in the site during its warranty period, which is three years. All of them worked, but they were out of warranty.”
The University worked with account representatives from Apple and Dell to select the perfect computers to accommodate students while being able to get the most for the University”s money, said Dumont. “We work with them and they suggest a unit that fits our needs,” Dumont said.
The main aspects considered when selecting new computers for the campus computing sites are reliability and cost.
“We don”t need super, super high-end. We just try and get reliable and pretty fast, we also try and be economical,” Dumont said. “Our goal is not to have a computer down for longer than 24 hours.”
In addition to the new computers the University also purchased new scanners for the Angell Hall computing site and several Rescomp sites, as well as new printers in Angell Hall. In addition to the hardware, new software has also been added.
Albert Bertram, a student academic consultant for the Angell Hall computing site, said the transition to the new computers and software has been very smooth.
“The new computers have been working perfectly as far as we know,” Bertram said. “We”ve eliminated a lot of problems, fixed a lot of older problems.”
But not all students have had success with the upgrade. Students have had difficulty using some of the new programs and accessing their e-mail accounts.
“I can”t get my password to work and I have to redo everything. I think they suck,” said LSA senior Jodi Manko.