 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
 |
THREE NEW iMAC FLAVORS TO COLOUR THE CAMPUS If you want to get an information technology person to smile, ask them about iMac’s. The friendly new penta-flavoured offerings from the Apple computer company have gained a worldwide following, and now they are about to take Calvin by storm. Calvin has ordered 80 new iMac’s in three colours -- more precisely, flavours: grape , strawberry and blueberry. The other two flavours are tangerine and lime, but nation-wide sales patterns have indicated that grape, strawberry and blueberry are the American tastes of choice -- except in Denver, where tangerine is selling well, said Henry De Vries, vice president for information technology. Humour aside, the purchase of the new computers presents a great step up for Macintosh computing power at Calvin. De Vries explained that in the original budget proposals for computer purchasing, no money was allocated for the eventual replacement of computers. However, the two percent tuition increase last year was used to give the information technology department “a better way to manage the whole infrastructure of the college in terms of information technology.” The first room to be filled with the new computers will be the math Mac lab, affectionately known as the “Math-ematica” lab because of the program of that name running on all the computers. According to Mathematics and Computer Science professor Earl Fife, this lab is used primarily for calculus classes. The Mathematica program “does nearly everything you would need to do in most any undergraduate class,” said Fife. There are nineteen computers in the Mathematica lab, and these will hopefully be replaced over spring break as a shipment of strawberry computers arrives, said De Vries. The 266-megahertz G3 computers will provide ample computing power to run Mathematica, but thanks to their colours they will also be used as decor, he said. Campus architect Frank Gorman was asked to choose the colours of the computers to be bought and to plan a design for the lab, which will be remodelled and joined with the adjunct UNIX lab over the summer. Although the moneys were allotted for the computer purchases last year, no Macintoshes were purchased at the time because of economic uncertainties with Apple. However, the release of the iMac and a five-quarter run in the black for Apple gave Calvin the security it needed to purchase the new Macintoshes. The new iMac’s will increase computing power on campus, but they will also do so at a low cost. Whereas a regular tower system would cost in the area of $2,500 per system, the iMac’s are being purchased at a fully configured price of about $1,350 per unit. |
|||
 BACK TONEWS |
|||||
|
|
|||||
