Student Laptop Support
Do you use a laptop? The New England Law | Boston computer services support staff is here to help. The following is important information about system configuration for your PC or Mac.
Recommended System Configuration
If you need to purchase a laptop for use at NEW ENGLAND LAW, here's our recommended system configuration:
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo.
- Memory: 1GB for Windows XP, 2 GB for Windows Vista.*
- Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed. Windows Vista: Ultimate, Business or Home Premium (not Home Basic).*
- 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 anti-virus software, free options are available on the Internet:
- Anti-spyware software: Microsoft provides a pretty good free anti-spyware program called Windows Defender (though it does not work with Windows 2000). In addition, these subscription-based software packages are available:
- Network adapter: 802.11g integrated wireless card.
- Applications: Microsoft Office 2003.
- USB flash drive (a.k.a. thumb drive, pen drive) for backing up your data. These have become very affordable; we recommend at least 1GB of capacity. The actual capacity you buy depends on what sort of files you want to back up — just your documents, or music and photos as well?
If you're considering upgrading to Windows Vista, we recommend having at least 2GB of memory (RAM) and a dedicated video card with at least 128MB of video RAM.
However, we do not recommend upgrading, as it often opens up a real can of worms. A fresh install of any operating system is always preferable over an upgrade. If you do want to put Windows Vista on an existing computer, be sure to first run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to check for any hardware/software incompatibilities.
Many new low-priced PCs claim to be "Vista Capable." Essentially, this means they will be able to run the Home Basic version of Windows Vista, though not necessarily very well. The other marketing tag used by Microsoft is "Vista Premium Ready," which identifies a machine that will provide a better minimum configuration for the end user. Learn more here.
Historically, Microsoft‘s "minimum system requirements" for operating systems (and other software) are at the extreme low end of that category (i.e. it runs like molasses on a cold day). We recommend going a fair bit above what they deem as "minimum."
The Windows Vista interface is different enough from Windows XP that most users, especially power users, will have to relearn how to do many tasks that have become second nature in the XP or 2000 environment.
Minimum System Configuration
We support the following minimum computer configurations that you can use to connect to the campus-wide network.
- Processor (CPU): Pentium III, at least 1 GHz
- Operating System: MS Windows XP (with Service Pack 2)
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Storage: 80 GB internal hard drive
- DVD-ROM: DVD-RW
- Monitor/Display: 12" color monitor
Mac Users
Although Windows XP and Windows Vista are the recommended, fully and officially supported operating systems here, we are seeing more Macintosh computer users at New England Law. The IT support staff tries to help out whenever possible, but support is limited. We will be working to increase support for Macs on campus.
The following services are available to Mac users:
- Email access
- Wireless Internet connectivity
- Printing
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