Indiana State University has selected Dell as its recommended provider of laptop computers, effective with the 2009-10 school year.
New students who receive the ISU Laptop Award will get the Dell Latitude E6400, which features "dramatic improvements in performance, durability and security," according to Dell.
The laptops come with a three-year warranty and three years of accidental damage protection.
All incoming students at Indiana State are required to have laptop computers. Those who do not qualify for the ISU Laptop Award may purchase an E6400 at the university's discounted price. Purchases may be made at the university's on-campus Computer Store or online at www.indstate.edu/laptop.
The committee that reviewed prospective laptop providers unanimously chose Dell as the preferred vendor because the company is able to work with ISU to provide both a self-maintainer program on campus as well as off-campus service to students and university personnel, said Yancy Phillips, director of user services with the Office of Information Technology.
"Dell also provides name recognition and high visibility, which was not as prominent with some of the other vendors," Phillips said. "The company's Web site is also the easiest to use compared with other vendors, in terms of ordering, preparing reports and general appearance.
Now in its fourth year, the Laptop Award is for incoming students with a grade point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale who meet certain other requirements. This year, for the first time, new transfer students are also eligible for the Laptop Award in addition to new freshmen.
"Indiana State has become known as the ‘laptop university.' Everywhere we go prospective students are talking about the ISU Laptop Award. They know that when they come to ISU, they are at a place that is committed to helping them succeed. Making sure all students have laptops is just one more way of doing that," said Richard Toomey, director of admissions.
More than 2,000 laptops have been distributed to ISU scholarship recipients since the program began in 2006. This year's recipients will receive their Dell laptops during Fall Welcome Aug. 22-24.
The base unit comes with a 160GB hard drive, 2.26GHZ processor, 4 GB of memory, DVD burner, 256MB video card, 14.1 inch wide-screen monitor and a 9-cell battery designed to last up to 18 hours between charges. It is the same unit that the university provides to faculty.
Contacts: Yancy Phillips, director of user services, Office of Information Technology, Indiana State University, 812-237-2100 or yancy.phillips@indstate.edu; Sarah Wurtz, associate director and scholarship coordinator, Office of Admissions, Indiana State University, 812-237-3935 or swurtz@isugw.indstate.edu
Writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu