Non-technical majors especially may not require a PC of their own given the availability of computers on the typical college campus, he said. And even if a student brings a system to school with them, they still may have to spend a few hundred dollars on software to get everything the school provides them, he said. In most cases, there's no need for that additional expense. I tell all my computer science students to just use the lab. They paid for it.
Financial aid covers the cost of the recommended system.
Wake Forest University is now in its second year of passing out IBM ThinkPads to its incoming students. Students get new, updated models when they hit their junior year. They also have their own inkjet printer from day one. And when they graduate, the computers go with them. Those practices are fairly uncommon as of yet.