<p>1) It’s your last sentence that concerns me 
You don’t need a computer at MIT - there are many machines available for students to use in our Athena clusters - but it’s certainly useful to have a functional laptop, and most students do.</p>
<p>2) Check the IS&T website</p>
<p>3) “Windows, Mac, and various forms of Linux”. As for non-Macbooks, I see a lot of ThinkPads and Dells around. But I don’t pay much attention to this, though, so take that for what you will.</p>
<p>4) I just switched over to a new computer about a week or two ago. Just keep backups :)</p>