Quinn School of Business

analyse this

Has anyone received a letter from the Quinn School regarding the laptop programme?

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Not got any yet.

Is there value to be had? I've my heart set on a Macbook, but I'll be persuaded to get a dell if they're very very cheap.

What sort of stuff are they offering?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

no, but I went online and bought one last night

haven't gotten a shipping email yet, but I got the order acknowledgement.

there is a link to the ucd student laptop offer on the ucd website

i think the dell site is dell.ie/ucd or dell.ie/quinn

there are hp lappies too, but I got a dell

Eire05

Ye, I'm ordering my laptop now. Did everyone put Quinn school as their shipping address? It's too confusing for me. Ha.

Raphael

If you're doing Commerce then a macbook might be a bad idea, the Quinn IT people are very mac unfriendly.

Red Alert

I have heard stories like that alright. The biz people here might fill you in on it but I believe there are one or two programs (not the usual office/internet) that people in some courses have to run.

If you are thinking of getting a macbook - no problem connecting it to the UCD network. If you have a couple of windows-only applications you have to use then Parallels desktop might be an option. This runs windows in Mac OS. The new intel macs can be dual booted into Windows as well (using boot camp and a copy of Win XP) - even if just to 'pass' ILTG's vendor-specific testing. If you were going down that route I'd recommend seeing what windows apps people have to use and trying them on a parallels-enabled Mac. I would definitely campaign for cross-platform apps to be used where possible.

Technically the idea of a business school blatently standardising on Microsoft (or any other) technology is a bit odd, although it does seem to be part of the american model to do so. IMHO part of learning business skills is to be given a task to do and then find the resources to do it to the standard required - whether that entails using MS Office, Mac/OpenOffice or an abacus and typewriter. Wedding a course to the technology of one vendor is just a bit too controlling for my liking!

Font22

best bet is to get a dell! i got one and its been great. plus if u go with the one that Quinn suggests there is no problem getting it fixed etc really quickly (very handy at exam time if something goes wrong!!!)

nellybelly

The main reason Quinn is so Microsoft-focused is because the same is true of business in general (apart a small number of areas like 'creative' industries). I was amazed at the relatively poor level of computer literacy in first year commerce students. To allow students to pass through college without forcing them to be exposed to the programs they will most likely use in their careers would be a major failure in the Quinn School's education.

However, if you are 'computer-literate' and you want a macbook, I'm pretty sure any program you will have to use, for which you can't find a mac alternative, should run fine in parallels on all new macbooks.

analyse this

Just found mine in the laundry basket!:eek: Haven't a clue how it got there!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Anyone know it they're tax deductable?:D

Eire05

Ha, that's what I want to know. It would be nice to get a little back.:cool:

Red Alert

analyse this wrote:

Just found mine in the laundry basket!:eek: Haven't a clue how it got there!

I guess you mean the letter, not the laptop?

skyhighflyer

As far as I remember their 'discount' is worth **** all, only about €50 at best. Just get a Macbook. True, the IT people might not support them but they won't break down like a Dell will.

ucdperson

Do not get a Macbook or anything else weird, OK you can work around for many activities and this may be educational in itself, but you will be required to do tests on various courses using your laptop. If you can't run the program, then you get no marks for the test.

Value is not the issue, standardisation is simply to ensure that if 50 people are to use some software in a class that they can do this without everyone spending the hour for the class fiddling with diverse operating systems and configurations.

Red Alert

If you get a Macbook (not advising specifically that you do either) in a MS-domainated course you should:

1. Plan on using an intel mac
2. Go find out what software the course uses - ILTG/Quinn/Smurfit sites are probably where you need to look. (I don't think MS Project runs on Macs, I'm guessing some business courses would use it)
3. Borrow a mac from someone, any of the Macbook or Macbook Pro's will do. See how this software runs. If it needs Windows, try using it with Parallel's desktop. The new macs can run windows natively as well if you need to.
4. Evaluate how it's looking so far. If what you tried runs OK with either mac versions or with Parallels then you're good to go. Just remember that support-wise you're on your own (if that's a problem for you).

My own perspective is that I'm an eng postgrad, so what made the Mac attractive is that I've all the usual Programming tools on it as standard, and that the two major applications (big one being MATLAB) run perfectly on it. Although I'm good with computers I'm not sure I'd like to be tinkering with my mainline application to get it to work all the time - I've got my research to do!

I would warn people also about the discount amounts. They're not that high, and when I got my Dell I didn't look too widely around at other options. Some dells are very nice too and aren't necessairly the recommended ones. (Dell X1 Burner is a great micro-sized one which would have been good on the line up). If you're hard on computers, IBM/Lenovo thinkpads are built like tanks and might be a good bet.