Student Computing at the Washington and Lee School of Law 2013-2014

Laptop Purchase Quick Notes

Once you purchase your laptop, plan on downloading Office 2010 (Mac = 2011) from our webpage. There is no cost to you for this software.
We support Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows XP sp3, or Mac OSX 10.6, 10.7,10.8
Quicklinks to the Dell Laptops and the W&L Mac store.

Feature	Minimum	Comments
Warranty	3 yr, NBD, Select Care	If you have a hardware issue then you don't have to ship your laptop away to be worked on. You might be without it for several weeks. Accidental damage coverage is good in the event of dropage, spills on the keyboard, etc.
Security Software	AntiVirus SpyWare Protection	Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast are both FREE and good.
Processor	Check with manufacturer and consumer product reviews.	Match your processor choice to your planned use. Hint: Word processing does not demand a top processor.
Memory (RAM)	2 GB (Win 7)	More RAM increases performance. We suggest a minimum of 2GB for PC laptops, more if you are running a 64-bit operating system.
Hard Drive	? GB	More important than the capacity of your hard drive is its performance speed. 7200rpm or a SSD (Solid State Drive) should be your minimum. Also, don't worry about storage capacity, just make sure you don't fill the storage more than 80%! You should also invest in an external USB harddrive to backup your laptop, or cloud storage if you are confident in your cloud security.
Display		This is a personal decision; some people do fine on a 12.1"; others prefer a 17" full sized screen.
Network	802.1X B/G/N Wireless Card	You need to connect to wireless N, our secure wireless network.
Operating System	Windows 7	The Campus Bookstore carries Windows 7 Pro for a great student price.

For additional questions or comments please contact LawTechnology.