Flat-Screens, G4s Arrive in Labs

Macintoshes around campus have gone on a diet.

Twenty-four new thin-screen Macintosh G4s can be found in the computer lab in the Science Center basement, and 24 more are divided evenly among the 12 House computer labs.

The new computers are fast--450 megahertz--and have 128 megabytes of RAM, meaning lots of applications can be run simultaneously.

According to Frank M. Steen, director of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Computer Services (FASCS), the 48 new computers were on sale at an excellent price.

"We needed to get new Macs and we took advantage of the sale," he wrote in an e-mail message.

Lab computers last only three to four years, as they are used 18 to 24 hours a day, explained Steen.

The new computers are replacing older Macintosh G3s, which are being moved to the general computer lab. Those in turn are replacing Macintosh 7300s, which have been removed from the lab and are being donated to charity, Steen explained. Thus all Macintoshes in use will be no more than a few years old.

But many students yesterday commented not on the machines' technical capabilities but on their cutting-edge design.

"They look really sleek," said Perry G. An '01, eyeing the two new Kirkland House computer lab Macintoshes.

FASCS also plans to buy 24 more iMacs for kiosks to replace some older machines, Steen said.

FASCS is also experimenting with new UNIX-based kiosks, donated by Sun Microsystems. There are three machines which use a UNIX operating system in the Science Center outside of Lecture Hall D, intended to serve the same purpose as the iMac kiosks--a place to quickly check e-mail and surf the Internet.

Some students praised UNIX's technical advantages.

"This is much simpler--it pops up our e-mail account right away," Nina Cannizzaro, a GSAS student in Romance Languages and Literature. "It also keeps the logout constant and take less time to reboot."

Jeffrey W. Bezanson '04 said he hoped students would take advantages of the UNIX stations.

"I'm a big UNIX fan. If these [kiosks] help acclimate more students to UNIX, it's a good thing," said Jeffrey W. Bezanson '04.

FASCS also plans new PC purchases for the PC classroom by the end of the semester.