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Laptop Requirement at SIPA

Effective FY13, first year students will be required to have a laptop. Second year students are encouraged to buy or lease one; these students will not be subject to this requirement for FY13.

Systems Requirements:

SIPAIT recommends the following minimum requirements for students at SIPA:

HARDWARE

Manufacturer

An IBM compatible computer or an Apple notebook

CPU

1.3 GHz Dual Core or higher processor

Memory

2 GB or more

Hard Drive

80 GB or more

Wired Network Adapter

Any make or model

Wireless Network Adapter

Any 802.11b/g/n-compatible Ethernet card

SOFTWARE

Operating System (OS)

Windows XP Professional/ Windows 7 or Mac OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard/Lion

Software

Microsoft Office Suite*, Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, Adobe Flash, IE, Firefox

Anti-Virus

Norton Anti-virus* or a comparable program

WARRANTy

Accidnetal Damage Coverage recommended

*Available free to SIPA students; downloadable from the CUIT software web site. Other software listed here can be downloaded free.

Note: All systems must have anti-virus and OS with the latest patches for access to the SIPA network.

  • Only English-language versions of Windows and Applications will be supported
  • Check with SIPAIT before major system and application updates (latest releases are supported only after SIPAIT has tested them.)
  • Beta versions of software are not supported.

What is supported:

Laptop support will be limited to software, drivers, viruses and operating system issues. Hours of support will be limited to weekdays (TBA). Students will need to sign appropriate liability waiver form before any work will be done on their laptops. A ticketing system will be in place so that service can be provided on first-come-first serve basis. Students will be responsible for warranty on hardware support from the manufacturer, and will need to contact an authorized vendor for any hardware issues.

Orientation and Software:

During the orientation/registration period, SIPAIT will meet with students to give them an overview of services offered at SIPA. SIPAIT staff will assist with helping setup student laptops during this period. SIPAIT will work to ensure access to applications and their data on the SIPA network. SIPA Students will be able to download Microsoft product under the MS Campus Agreement is already in place. It includes Microsoft Operating Systems, Office, Visio and Project. Norton anti-virus software is available free to all students.  Other software will be accessible over the network. ArcGIS will be available in the SIPA Labs only.

Purchasing Equipment:

Students can also purchase laptops at educational prices from the CU approved vendors. Columbia University has educational discounts with several vendors. Students can login to these from the CU portal and sign in to the "personal purchase" link with their UNI.

Loaner laptop Policy:

SIPAIT will have a limited number of laptops as loaners while a student's laptop is being worked on. Loaner laptop policy will be posted on the web shortly.