Anecdotally, it’s hard to say whether Ohio University is a campus of Mac or PC people.
According to Ohio University Tech Depot sales, Macs are favored. OU’s Tech Depot sold 144 Dells and 1,049 MacBooks over the past nine months. Additionally, the depot sold 324 iPads.
By these numbers, MacBooks account for about 88 percent of the depot’s computer sales, compared to about 12 percent from Dells.
But more PC devices are registered on OU’s campus.
A little more than 70,750 Apple products are registered throughout OU’s campus network, compared to more than 73,700 PC devices.
“Many students acquire their computers from other sources,” said Brice Bible, chief information officer for the Office of Information Technology.
OU faculty tend to buy more PC products, said Sean O’Malley, Information Technology Communications manager.
O’Malley explained that the Depot offers very high-end Dells, computers that most students do not want to spend all of their money on. The high-end computers are designed for engineering and other computer-centered majors that need the better performance from their computers.
“I need a PC mainly because of the software and programs that are only designed for windows because of the processing speed,” said Zach Schulman, a junior studying engineering.
The Depot’s contract with Dell, the statewide provider of PC products to state schools, is structured so that money isn’t lost depending on the store’s sales.
“(Information Technology) utilized statewide PC contracts that leverage the discounts obtained by many schools such as OSU and others. Therefore, the pricing discounts aren’t necessarily any better or worse given our volume,” Bible said.
At the Tech Depot, a MacBook Pro is $999; a Dell Latitude E6330 laptop is $1,093.45.
“A lot of people shop bottom line… they want to know how much money is coming out of their wallets… It is essentially a question of need. Do they need a business class machine or a consumer class machine?” O’Malley said.
jr200009@ohiou.edu
