The college bookstore will be selling computers with an on-line ordering system. The Office of Computing Services will have a list of vendors as well. See the bookstore for details or contact Computing Services. Some of this software will be provided with the ResNET package, others will be available from the college bookstore. You can find additional information about Cornell Computing Services and ResNET in the Office of Computing Services section of the Web Page.
Computers are expensive.
Most faculty require that papers and other submissions be in a printed or electronic format and will expect you to do electronic research and communicate using E-mail. Having a computer will make this easier and more convenient for you.