Announcing the Rules for my Free Computer Giveaway

4 Is The New 1

Earlier this fall, I teamed up with HP for the Freshman 15 giveaway and was able to give a brand spanking new laptop to a most deserving student. As I announced a couple weeks back, HP, now teamed up with Microsoft, has returned with an even sweeter offer: 4 brand new computers for me to give away; not to mention printers, software, DVDs, the whole works…

Today, I officially open my contest. The rules are listed below and you have exactly one week to enter.

But before I continue, I should clarify, in case you’re wondering: I get nothing out of this promotion. (Sadly.) That is, HP is not paying me. Their hope is that by giving away thousands of dollars of free stuff they will generate good will with you guys. My interest is only that I like giving you free stuff!

The Official Rules

The rules for my contest are as follows:

• You have to be a current college or graduate student to enter.
  
• You have to e-mail me by midnight EST on Wednesday 12/17 with a proposal for how you would play Santa Claus at your school this season if you were to win. In other words, make a pitch for how you would distribute this equipment at your school if you were to win the contest. (Of course, I assume that you’ll keep one of the machines for yourself!) Is there a club that really needs it? Do you have an idea for a campus-wide contest? Do you have a plan to use the giveaway to drum up some media attention or raise money for a worthy cause?
• You don’t have to live in the United States to win.

To select the winner, I will start randomly selecting entries to read. The first proposal that I come across that I consider to be “really cool” will win the prize. The definition of “really cool” is left to my discretion, but my threshold will be really high. Please don’t bother entering if you’re a not a student or if you know me — in both cases you won’t win.

The Prizes

Listed below are the prizes the winner will receive. Wherever possible I included links to unbiased reviews. (Actually, I stole the review links from the post over at Student Bloggers, so my many thanks are sent in their direction.)

I should add that from my own personal experience (by which I mean screwing around with it at Staples) the TouchSmart computer is as fun to use as it looks on TV. Though I wonder if, over time, a user might get bored with the slowness of touching the screen and return exclusively to the mouse?

I will also note that my officemate Alex here at MIT loves his HP Mini. It’s very small. And very light. But he runs Debian Linux on it with no real complaints.

But enough of my thoughts, let’s get to the goods…

Hardware:

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC (review)
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC (review)
  
• HP Pavilion dv4 Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live) (review)
• HP Mini 1000 (with XP) (review)

Accessories:

• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO Printer
• HP 564 Photo Value Pack
• HP MediaSmart Connect (review/demo)

Software:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate/Home Premium or Microsoft Windows XP pre-installed on all units (Mini 1000 runs XP)
• Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses
• Microsoft Windows Live
• Corel VideoStudio X2

Panda-Related Merchandise:

• Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-ray disc)

Other Participating Blogs

Below is the full list of participating blogs. Each of these sites is holding their own contest on their dates with their own rules. Check them out (especially the other student blogs) for 49 other chances to win.

• Gotta Be Mobile
• Geek.com
• Gear Live
• One Day, One Job
• Student Bloggers
• Study Hacks – Demystifying College Success
• HackCollege
• Neowin
• Small Biz Vista
• JK On the Run
• GeeksRoom
• CíberPrensa
• Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
• Living – In Theory
• Moosh in Indy
• Morningside Mom
• Thoughts on poetics & tech
• Techmamas
• Stop, Drop & Blog
• Down-to-Earth Mama
• merlot mom
• BostonPocketPC
• Notebooks.com
• Geekzone
• I Started Something
• Bleeping Computer
• The Gadgeteer
• Planet x64
• Digital Home Thoughts
• Digital Inspiration
• Geeks!
• MediaBlab
• Geek News Central
• The Digital Lifestyle
• GearDiary
• Last 100
• Geeks To Go!
• Liliputing
• OSNN
• Slashdot Review
• SlashGear
• Gadgetell
• Windows Connected
• Techie Diva
• Noticias Tech
• Eliax
• La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
• Barb’s Connected World
• Carlos Alberto
• InfoWester

It’s the season to do good. I look forward to reading your proposals for making the holidays even more merry.