Zach at the Help Desk released the latest batch of laptops for our faculty/staff borrowers on Thursday. So far we have processed (into Millennium) 17 available Dell PC, Model #E6430 laptops. Additionally, there will be 20 MacBook Airs eventually processed into Millennium. Armstrong will have theirs to loan out as well. Since there is not a built-in drive on the MacBook Air models, we have ten “Superdrives” which will be barcoded separately, and they can be checked out with a laptop (or without). There is a space on the top shelf of the fac/staff laptop cabinet designated for the Superdrives. We are using the previous laptop cases for the new laptops, but of course the tags and labels have changed. The Middlebury loaner ID numbers are printed on the luggage tags for easy reference. As Dan mentioned in an email, we have a new (and simple) loaner reset process for the Dell PCs, found in the Wiki. Not to be too repetitive, the folder lives in the LIS folder called “clean me,” and instructions are easy and quick:
— Login to the computer as yourself.
— Go to C:\LIS and double-click “CleanMe”
— Accept the UAC prompt (click Yes) to get admin permissions
— You will see a window that says “Delete inactive profiles on COMPUTER-12345? (Yes/No)”. Type “Y” for yes.
— The program will delete normal user profiles other than yours, then say “Done. Press any key to continue…”
— Press any key to close the window. That’s it!
As for the MacBook Air laptops, we will maintain the same loaner/reset process as we did with the older MacBooks. I have done this and it works well. Keep in mind that you will be using the USB to Ethernet connector, instead of connecting the Ethernet cord directly to the laptop. These will be in the pockets formerly used by the VGA adapters.
All of the Dell and Mac laptops are fully charged and ready for borrowers’ log in. I am checking the laptop cabinet for any of the older laptops which get checked back in during the day so I can replace them with newer models. Feel free to place them on my desk if you think of it (as opposed to placing them inside the metal cabinet).
The older Dell and Mac laptops will be transferred over to the student pool.
Enjoy the new models! Thank you Zach at the Help Desk, and to all others involved in getting these to Circ! I have a hunch that once the word is out, they will be checked out frequently.