The Clock

Issue date: 5/9/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ian Masse

The PSU computer store recently changed the way they do business on campus. The store closed its physical location on Merrill St. in favor of direct online sales.

On May 1, the Computer Store on Merrill St. was revamped to house solely repairs and computer maintenance.

"This Computer Repair Center will continue to service all hardware repair requests on campus," a press release from Information Technologies Services said.

ITS hopes this will better streamline the repair process when it comes to Dell computers offered through the school.

"This move [consolidation of repairs to one central location] combines the hardware and software support services into one location, which in turn should mean faster, more consistent service for the PSU community," the press release said.

Computer repair personnel will remain on campus, but they will be stationed at the repair office. "The ITS Desktop Support Team will also operate out of this location," the release said.

Dell computers sold to students in past years will still be covered by previous warranties, "For PSU machines that are still under warranty, the repair technicians worked directly with Dell to procure and install replacement parts," The press release said.

The decision to relocate the central operations of computer sales from a physical building, to online sales, came up due to the evolving buying habits of PSU students.

"For the past several years the Computer Store has been seeing a decline in the number of new purchases," the press release said.

Joanne Guilmett, from Internal Institutional Sales at the newly reorganized store offered insight into the lack of sales through the University Computer Store, "A lot of students end up getting deals on computers through their parents," Guilmett said.

ITS has traditionally offered special discounts and packages for faculty staff and students through Dell, "Students, faculty and staff will have the ability to purchase a machine customized for their needs directly through Dell at a discounted price," the release said.

This is a change from the previous system where PSU students, faculty and staff had the ability to buy Dell computers through the University itself.

Many incoming first year students have opted on bringing their own computers from home, as opposed to buying computers from the on campus store.

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