With half a million dollars worth of new equipment, the Mariposa Hall computer labs are now the most technologically advanced labs on campus.

Three of the labs contain a total of 70 Apple G4 computers, while the other labs have over 80 Pentium III 750 Gateway computers said Brandon Abell, Information Technology consultant for arts and letters.

In addition, all computers have 17-inch monitors and each lab has new furniture that includes monitor risers in some rooms and padded rolling chairs for all desks.

“The students are going to be able to do a lot more things on these computers,” said Abell. Students majoring in graphic design, interior design, art, photography, family and consumer science and social work will use the labs, which contain the fastest computers on campus. The computers in those labs designed specifically for the art, design and photography students will also have additional software, including Adobe Photoshop, PageMaker, Flash, Dreamweaver and Quark Express.

“All labs will also have Hewlett Packard laser 8000 printers and some rooms will have scanners and color inkjet printers,” Abell said.

Abell does not plan to schedule print periods every half-hour as they do in the other computer labs on campus, although he will monitor the amount of printing in an effort to keep costs down.

Sacramento State is most likely going to start charging students to print from all computer labs next semester, including Mariposa Hall, said Abell.

Print costs in the new computer labs will be kept down in part because the labs are only open to students in specific majors.

Abell said that he eventually wants to get locks on the door that will allow students to swipe their Sac Link cards through a sensor. This sensor would be programmed to admit those students in specified majors.

Abell is also planning to hire lab assistants during the first few weeks of school. “I want to recruit help from the classes that are using these computers,” Abell said. “They will mostly help with basic applications, not technical work. My goal is for the people who use these computers to also work in the labs.”