For New School students sick of hauling their laptop on their daily commute, or of forgetting it as they rush out the door, the university will now offers a new solution. In mid-January a laptop rental kiosk was added on the fifth floor of the University Center. The dispenser allows students to rent a laptop for up to four hours and then return it to the machine, rather than having to check one out from the library or Innovation Center. The dispenser is stocked with 14 Macbook Pro laptops and 10 Window PCs and aims to make the checkout process more efficient and widely available.
The kiosks are managed by Laptops Anytime, a company that specializes in providing laptops to universities and public spaces. To use the kiosk students just select the laptop they would like to use, agree to the terms of use, and then swipe their Newcard. “The laptops need to be returned within four hours or before the building in which the kiosk is housed closes, whichever comes first,” said Lillian Sartori, assistant vice president of technology. “Fees are applied only when the laptop is returned late, damaged, or lost.” All transactions at the kiosk will also be recorded.
As for privacy and security of students’ information, that is left up to the students to manage. It is no different than using any public computer on campus.
Though this is the only kiosk available at this time, more could be in the University’s future. “We will be examining how reliable the kiosk is in serving students, the frequency with which it is used, and the degree to which it is manageable,” Sartori said. “If we see that it is successful, we will consider installing more.”
Photo: Orlando Mendiola
Taylor is a journalism + design junior from Florida.
