The School of Business requires Windows, the use of an Apple laptop is very problematic and strongly discouraged for students taking School of Business Analytics classes. Several classes include instruction for Microsoft Access, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio and Analytics Solvers for Microsoft Excel for Windows. The aforementioned software is not available for macOS. Other software developed only for use on Windows Operating Systems may also be used and instructional materials and class demonstration have been developed for Microsoft Windows. Some lessons will be confusing for those using disparate systems. For these reasons all student computers must be capable of running Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office for Windows, which if not already installed, will require significant effort by the students. It is the students’ responsibility to provide compute resources capable of running requires class software***.
See the buyers guide: Recomended Tech 2020
The following laptop specifications are recommended for 2020-2021 academic year:
| Recommendation for Graduate Students & OPIM students | ||
| Technology | Minimum | Recommended |
| CPU – Processor | Intel Core i5 | Intel Core i7 |
| Intel Atom or Celeron processors are not recommended. | ||
| RAM – Internal Memory | 8GB-Win, 16GB-Mac | 16GB-Win, 16GB-Mac |
| Hard Drive – Internal Storage | SSD or NVMe Drive with 30GB of available space | SSD or NVMe drive with 128GB of available space |
| Ethernet (NIC) – Wired Networking | 100/1000 Mbps | 1000Mbps |
| Wifi – Wireless Networking | 802.11 b,g,n | 802.11 b,g,n |
| USB – Peripheral Port | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Additional Requirements for all laptops and programs |
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Intel Atom, Celeron and Mac Silicon ARM processors are not recommended. Software currently runs on x86 systems only.
| Recommendations for Undergraduate Students / Non OPIM Students | ||
| Technology | Minimum | Recommended |
| CPU – Processor | Intel Core i3 2.5G hz | Intel Core i5 >2.5Ghz |
| RAM – Internal Memory | 6GB-Win, 16GB-Mac | 16GB |
| Hard Drive – Internal Storage | SSD or NVMe drive with 80GB of available space | SSD or NVMe drive with 128GB of available space |
| Ethernet (NIC) – Wired Networking | 10/100/1000 Mbps | 1000Mbps |
| Wifi – Wireless Networking | 802.11 b,g,n | 802.11 b,g,n |
| USB – Peripheral Port | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Additional Requirements for all laptops and programs |
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Suggested Options:
- Insurance coverage for both damage and theft (strongly suggested, at your discretion)
- USB external hard drive or other means of backing up data files
- Use of a free cloud storage service such as Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, iCoud
The use of an Apple laptops is very problematic for students taking School of Business Analytics classes.** If a student chooses to use a Mac it is solely that student’s responsibility to make that device ready for classes, which will likely include installing the Windows 10 Learning Environment:
- UConn AnyWare provides a virtual lab accessible anywhere, anytime and on any device (software installation is not possible on virtual lab PCs).
- Students taking School of Business Analytics classes have access to a specialized Virtual Desktop Environment known as OPIM Virtual Desktop (OVD). It is recommended that students taking Analytics classes use OVD.
- School of Business ITS, is in BUSN Rm 225 and via email at help@business.uconn.edu, and provides support to School of Business students. Support includes: installing VirtualBox, and helping install Windows and MS Office for Windows, and relevant software support.
- Please visit s.uconn.edu/microsoft or s.uconn.edu/imagine to learn how to download, install and license Windows, Office and much more for your laptop.
** It will be the student’s responsibility to download and install all required software, clients, plug-ins and other software listed on the professor’s syllabus. Some assistance and instructions may be provided for Windows only.