For medical students starting at the School of Medicine in July 2012, the following notebook computer policies will apply.

The School of Medicine requires that all medical students have a newly purchased notebook computer. The School of Medicine will determine the models and specifications required. This year all hard drives will either be hardware encrypted or software encrypted. The School of Medicine will purchase the notebook computers and students will be required to reimburse the school for the purchase. The purchase price of the notebook computer will be added to the first year bursar’s statement as a fee.

The notebook models for the Class of 2016 have not been chosen yet. In early Spring of 2012, various models available at that time will be evaluated by the Office of Administrative Computing. In late April, the final selection of laptop models will be announced.

Last year, the Class of 2014 students had the option of purchasing one of four models:

• Dell Latitude E6320
• Dell Latitude E6520
• Apple MacBook Pro 13”
• Apple MacBook Pro 15"

The major differences between the Dell models and the Apple models were screen size, warranty and price.

Due to operating system requirements for certain eCurriculum features, the School of Medicine electronic exam systems, students purchasing either Apple model will be required to purchase and have installed Apple BootCamp and Microsoft Windows.

School Orientation starts July 11, 2012. Computer Orientation starts July 6th. In order for the notebook computers to be ready for students for the start of classes, the following timeline will have to be adhered to. It will take the office of Administrative Computing 3 weeks (beginning June 18th) to ensure that all notebook computers are imaged and ready for student Computer Orientation. It takes 3-4 weeks for the computers to arrive after the order has been placed and processed by Purchasing. The orders should be place no later than May 21st.

Students will be allowed to select the make and model of notebook computer that they want by going to a website (provided at a later date) between April 30th and May 21st. All students having selected and committed to a purchase by that date will received the best quantity discounted rate available at that time. Students choosing to wait longer to place their order will be required to pay the price at the time of order and may not be able to receive the quantity discount. In addition, students electing to order after May 21st may not receive their notebook computer in time. Loaner notebooks will be provided to late add students on a first-come first-served basis. There is no guarantee that all students will be able to receive a loaner notebook, depending on demand. The preceding dates are approximate and will be confirmed as we begin discussions with the two vendors.

There are rumors that Apple may release a new line of MacBook Pro laptops in June. That will be too late for the school to make the purchase and receive the laptops in time for the start of classes. Students who want to purchase one of the new laptops, IF they arrive in June, may make the purchase on their own. We will provide the minimum specifications in late April. Students purchasing MacBook Pros on their own will only be able to purchase the 3-year warranty, because the 4-year warranty is not available for consumer purchase. Students ordering Dell laptops will be able to make the purchase through the school at a substantially larger discount than Apple provides.

We are considering offering the option for selected students to purchase an iPad instead of one of the required laptops.  If this option is interesting to you, please delay making a computer purchase until mid-May when we are able to provide you with additional details regarding this iPad project.