Buying a new laptop is never easy. To start with, you set a budget. Then there’s endless research needed. What kind of processor, what software? Then come the compromises – do I need touchscreen on my laptop? 14 inches or 15 inches? And, once you’ve narrowed all of that down, you’re stuck having to work out how much your budget can stretch.
Delen
Now, what if someone else did all that research for you. All of it, right down to taking into consideration whether you work with Maya or MatLab and need the best graphics card or swipe security. And, add to that, also gave you a hefty discount on the most appropriate brand. Sounds too good to be true – doesn’t it? But it is true.
Started in 2008, TU Delft’s Laptop Project brings students an offer every year to purchase a laptop on discounted prices. The laptops offered under this project are chosen after a lengthy process. The department of ICT in education provides the project team a set of hardware requirements per faculty, which is then discussed with various laptop vendors. ¨Once different tenders come in we discuss it with a delegation of students, faculty members, IT managers, the IT procurement team and others. Eventually we all decide on models that we feel will work best based on a number of parametres,” says Floris Krijgsman, one of the coordinators of the Shared Service Centre ICT.
The two laptops chosen this year are high-end HP models – HP Z15 and ultrabook model HP Z14. Offered to TU students via an online shop, the Zbook 15 will cost €998 while it costs around €1849 otherwise. The other model, Zbook14 costs €993 through the project and around €1400 otherwise. And, if you can’t decide between them, the project website has specs and details and even chart explaining which one will work best for which department at TU.
¨All software that is offered to students at TU should be able to run on these models. The SCC offers a warranty, perform repairs required and the Student IT Desk offers a wide range of assistance using the laptop in the student’s degree programme,¨ adds Krijgsman.
The project went live on July 11 and students can now place their orders online.
For more details: http://laptopproject.tudelft.nl
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