School of Business Laptop Computer Initiative

For 2008-2009 Incoming Students

The School of Business aspires to be the most technologically advanced business school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The school has recently moved into Snead Hall, a contemporary, state-of-the-art building in which individual student power and data outlets have been installed in its tiered case study classrooms.

Beginning in the Fall semester of 2008, entering freshman and transfer students will be required to purchase laptop computers if they do not currently own a laptop capable of meeting our specifications. Laptop computers provide students with a mobile computing environment. Laptop computers also foster team-building and collaboration in preparation for being part of the mobile workforce.

Combined with our advanced classroom environment, every classroom becomes an interactive learning environment with high speed access to instructional resources and the World Wide Web. In conjunction with Lenovo and Dell, laptop bundles of appropriate hardware and required software have been assembled for your convenience.

There are certain advantages to choosing one of the recommended bundles. Students who wish to provide their own laptop should carefully review the specifications outlined below. These specifications are acceptable to access the university network and operate instructional materials but it may be necessary to upgrade or replace your system in the future.

It is recommended that you buy your computer a few months before arriving on campus to become familiar with it. It is also recommended that you buy a computer more powerful than the minimum specifications to offset obsolescence as long as possible. The recommended bundles should extend throughout your career, but new hardware and software developments sometimes make a computer upgrade and/or replacement necessary. A printable version of the specifications and optional accessories can be obtained here.

Laptop Hardware Specifications

Laptop Software Specifications

Recommended Optional Accessories

In addition, computers connecting to the university residential network are required to be validated under the Clean Access policy. Please refer to the Clean Access Agent page for more information.

Recommended Bundles

Dell	Lenovo
Dell is proud to offer VCU Business students huge savings on pre-configured systems. Each system is backed by Dell's award winning customer service and technical support and comes with Next Business Day onsite service and Accidental Damage Coverage. Our Latitude line of systems is powerful and sturdy, and perfect for any student. Click the button below to be connected to Dell and follow the link for VCU School of Business Recommended Bundles.	Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks are the preferred choice of America's leading universities. Lenovo is proud to offer Virginia Commonwealth University students special prices on our Industry-leading ThinkPad Notebooks. ThinkPad T Series notebooks are the ultimate education tool, providing the perfect balance of performance, portability, and increase productivity. Our award wining T Series notebooks are now EnergyStar 4.0 certified to further reduced your total cost of ownership. Click the button below to be connected to Lenovo.