Laptop rental
The Navy will reimburse you up to $250 a fiscal year to rent a laptop. Here are two companies that cater specifically to HPSP students so consequently their rates are $250.
Cambridge Computers requires a $100 deposit that will be refunded once the lease is over. One thing about Cambridge is that they will charge an "upgrade fee" for leases shorter than 4 years, i.e., if you're a MS2 or older. Basically, this is to cover the costs of the year or two or maybe even three (depending on what year you are) that they aren't getting paid for. For example, I'm a MS 2 so I got a 3 year lease and had to pay a $125 upgrade fee (half of $250, which is the regular rate for a year of rental). Also the laptop displayed on their website isn't up to date. The specs provided to me for the current laptop as of this month (March 2008) are as follows:
HP 530 Notebook Computer: 1.83GHz Intel® Core™ Duo T2400, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB HDD, DVD±RW, Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG, Intel Video, 15.4" WXGA HD Display, Microsoft Windows® Vista™ Business
http://cambridgecomputers.blogspot.com/
Regarding Student Union, I'm not totally familiar with their policies but it seems like they offer variable term leases. However, their computers are a significant step below Cambridge's in terms of performance and specs.
http://studentuniononline.com/
Joseph Le josephle@umkc.edu
