The private Catholic university Seton Hill has made a costly pledge to give students both a MacBook and an iPad when they come to the Pennsylvania institution next fall.

Here’s more about the project: “Beginning in the fall of 2010, all first year undergraduate students at Seton Hill will receive a 13″ MacBook laptop and an iPad. You will have complete access to these mobile technologies for classes as well as at all times for personal use. After two years, Seton Hill will replace your laptop with a new one–one that you can take with you when you graduate!”

We will undoubtedly learn more about the digital textbook possibilities of tablet computers over the next few years, but this kind of investment could spell the future of the textbook industry–replacing costly print books with costly tablets. (Via CrunchGear)