Bringing Your Own Laptop

Recommended configuration

If you would like to bring your own laptop to Vermont Law School, here's the recommended configuration. These recommendations are prerequisites for incident support from our IT help center.

• Processor: Pentium 4, Pentium M or Centrino-M
• Memory: 1GB (2GB for Vista **)
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional or Home Edition, with Service Pack 2 installed. If you are have Windows 2000, you may purchase a copy of Windows XP Professional SP2 for $20 from the help center. You may install it yourself, or pay a fee of $60/hr for the help center to install it for you. It takes about 2 hours if you need us to back up your data, and one hour otherwise.
  ** About Vista: The VLS IT department does NOT recommend MS Vista at this time. We will not support MS Vista. If you plan to purchase a computer with Vista, or upgrade to Vista at any point, we recommend 2 GB of RAM.
• Anti-Virus Software: You need to be running fully updated anti-virus software such as Symantec or McAfee before connecting to our network. If you do not have this, it is available to you free of charge from the VLS IT Department (you must be on campus).
• Network Adapter: 802.11g integrated wireless card
• Applications: The following software is available from our Help Center at a cost of $25 per product once you arrive. You may install it yourself, or pay a fee of $60 to have it installed for you. This software licensed and available to Vermont Law School students, at media pricing (the cost is just to cover the media it's on):
• Windows XP Professional, SP2 - $25
• Microsoft Office 2003 for PC - $25
• Microsoft Office XP for PC - $10 (limited supply)
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac-$25
• WordPerfect X3 - $25

How to obtain this software

To purchase this software, visit the IT department on campus. Just provide the IT department with a valid student ID- you will receive the CD(s) and your student account will be billed for the amount. You may install this software yourself, or have IT install it for $60.


Mac Users

Although Windows XP is the recommended, fully and officially supported operating system here, we have several Macintosh computer users at the law school. You will find that many of the services we offer are available through a web browser, and do not require a PC running Windows. The IT support staff tries to help out whenever possible, and have been working to increase support for Macs on campus. In spite of this, these are some of the services that are still available only to PC users on campus:

• Network printing
• Computer exam completion - Some professors allow students to complete exams using a laptop and special software
• Paid repairs and other support by IT staff

Some services that are available to Mac users are:

• Access to E-Mail
• Access to Network Files
• Wireless Internet Connectivity