Technology Requirements

Laptop Computer Requirements

Many courses at Sierra Nevada College require the use of a laptop computer during class, for homework and class assignments, and occasionally outside of class during field trips or other extra-curricular activities. Almost every classroom has wireless and/or Ethernet connectivity. The residence halls provide Ethernet/wireless connectivity. SNC does not have “computer labs” for general use so each student must provide his/her own laptop computer. Any laptop meeting or exceeding the requirements below should be adequate. Occasionally, individual courses may require additional software. The syllabus for each course should describe any such requirements.

PC minimum hardware requirements:

  • 2.0 GHz CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 80 GB Hard Drive
  • 24x CD ROM or 8x DVD ROM
  • 800 x 600 display resolution
  • VGA output (to drive LCD projectors, monitors and displays)
  • Ethernet and wireless internet capabilities
  • If laptop has DVI output, then a DVI-to-VGA adapter is required

PC recommended hardware:

  • Intel or AMD Duo Core CPU
  • 2GB RAM or higher
  • 200GB Hard Drive or higher
  • 1024 x 768 display resolution or higher
  • A mouse, trackball or other optical pointing device

PC minimum software requirements:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP-3), Vista or Windows 7 (32 or 64) operating system
  • Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2010 or Apache OpenOffice (free)
  • Web browsing software (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari)
  • Adobe Reader X or higher
  • Decompression software (Winzip, RAR Extract Frog)
  • Anti-virus protection software (Microsoft Security Essentials, Norton, McAfee, AVG) with active subscription so that updates can be automatically downloaded

PC recommended software:

  • Adobe Flash Player (free download)
  • Adobe Shockwave (free download)
  • Internet Explorer 8 or higher
  • Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free download, skip trial offer)
  • Java (free download)

Mac minimum hardware requirements:

  • 2. 0 GHz Intel CPU
  • 2GB RAM
  • 80GB Hard Drive
  • 24x CD ROM or 8x DVD ROM
  • 800 x 600 display resolution
  • Ethernet and wireless internet capabilities
  • VGA adapter (Students must purchase their own)

Mac recommended hardware:

  • Intel Duo Core CPU
  • 200GB Hard Drive or higher
  • 1024 x 768 display resolution or higher
  • A mouse, trackball or other optical pointing device

Mac minimum software requirements:

  • OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard or higher
  • Web browsing software (Safari or Firefox)
  • The ability to share (create, modify, edit) files with the Microsoft Office 2007 environment which includes MS Word documents, MS Excel spreadsheets and MS Powerpoint presentations. (Microsoft Office: Mac 2008 or 2011)

Mac recommended software:

  • Installation of Windows XP using Virtual Box (Windows XP license required)
  • Sophos anti-virus software (free)

Mac/PC compatibility requirements:

  • Newer Macintosh Operating Systems (Leopard or higher) come with “Boot Camp” native on the platform, on which the Windows Operating System may be loaded. Installation instructions may be printed from the Boot Camp installation on Macs running Leopard. Installing Windows on a Mac requires time to “build” and will necessitate installation of drivers which come with the Leopard Operating System disk.

Please note: Installing Windows will also require Anti Virus installation and subscription as described in the PC Software Requirements section above.

  • One of the best ways to achieve compatibility with the PC, Windows, and MS Office environment is to acquire Virtual PC for Mac, VM Fusion or other similar software. This allows a Mac to emulate a Windows XP Professional environment.
  • Microsoft has a free one-month trial edition of MS Office Professional (PC) software which may be used to test Virtual PC for Mac (or other emulation software).
  • CDW-G (www.CDW-G.com) has an excellent price for Virtual PC for Mac and Windows OS and VM

Fusion can be obtained at www.vmware.com.

Windows-based software for specific courses:

  • SPSS (for PSYC 415 and PSYC 445)
  • ArcMap (for GIS and ENVS 421)
  • Minitab (for classes involving statistics)

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