Laptops: added expense
Rob Amaefule
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: News
Incoming students joining the Western Illinois University broadcasting department will have an assignment to complete even before stepping foot into Sallee Hall in the fall 2009 semester.
Students in Broadcasting 101 will be required to purchase a personal laptop compatible with running both Adobe Audition 3 and Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Academic. The department will also mandate students to buy an external hard drive capable of storing a minimum of 160 GB with either a firewall or USB 2.0/2.1 connection.
The broadcasting department has already recommended three MacBook laptops for potential broadcasting students to look into on the department Web site.
The first two MacBook options are 15-inch notebooks with the second option having slight enhancements over the first. The third option is a 17-inch laptop that contains a faster processor, more memory and a high-resolution glossy widescreen display.
With technology modifying the state of the media, Department Chair of Broadcasting Sharron Evans felt it was necessary for the department to make the decision in order to keep up with the changes.
"With newspapers taking a turn for the worst and broadcasting facing today's rough economic times, I felt it was important for us to better prepare our students for the future," Evans said. "Requiring incoming students to have this equipment on their own should help them become more handy with the material and make them more marketable once they graduate and look to enter the work force."
The cost of these laptops, however, isn't exactly student friendly.
The price for the laptops begins at $1,999 for the first option, $2,499 for the second and the third option totaling $2,799. In addition, the Final Cut software will cost students an additional $500 with an educational discount.
However, the department has made it possible for students to use the credit union as a way to alleviate the price. In addition, the equipment can be covered under financial aid if students aren't able to purchase the requirements out of pocket.
Students in Broadcasting 101 will be required to purchase a personal laptop compatible with running both Adobe Audition 3 and Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Academic. The department will also mandate students to buy an external hard drive capable of storing a minimum of 160 GB with either a firewall or USB 2.0/2.1 connection.
The broadcasting department has already recommended three MacBook laptops for potential broadcasting students to look into on the department Web site.
The first two MacBook options are 15-inch notebooks with the second option having slight enhancements over the first. The third option is a 17-inch laptop that contains a faster processor, more memory and a high-resolution glossy widescreen display.
With technology modifying the state of the media, Department Chair of Broadcasting Sharron Evans felt it was necessary for the department to make the decision in order to keep up with the changes.
"With newspapers taking a turn for the worst and broadcasting facing today's rough economic times, I felt it was important for us to better prepare our students for the future," Evans said. "Requiring incoming students to have this equipment on their own should help them become more handy with the material and make them more marketable once they graduate and look to enter the work force."
The cost of these laptops, however, isn't exactly student friendly.
The price for the laptops begins at $1,999 for the first option, $2,499 for the second and the third option totaling $2,799. In addition, the Final Cut software will cost students an additional $500 with an educational discount.
However, the department has made it possible for students to use the credit union as a way to alleviate the price. In addition, the equipment can be covered under financial aid if students aren't able to purchase the requirements out of pocket.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Iroquois Pliskin
posted 4/13/09 @ 5:24 PM CST
hm....my macbook only cost $1300 and is fully capable of running all that software without slowing down....good thing the economy is booming and everybody not only can afford college easily, but blow money on a laptop of that proportion when there are already editing bays provided, or else this would be one of the dumbest ideas ever. (Continued…)
Zach
posted 4/13/09 @ 10:12 PM CST
I'm just here to applaud the first comment.
Joe
posted 4/14/09 @ 10:34 AM CST
There are plenty of capable PC laptops on the market that outperform those macs at a fraction of the price. If these students are naive enough to pay the Apple tax I have no pity for them!
Iroquois Pliskin
posted 4/14/09 @ 5:54 PM CST
Well, i'm not a Mac fanboy by any means, but Macs are far better when it comes to digital video editing, so I actually do believe that macs are the only way to go when it comes to that, but PC or Mac, it doesn't matter. (Continued…)
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