The School of Pharmacy does not have a laptop computer requirement. However, we do recommend that all students have access to a personal computer (with at least a Pentium 4 chip) with high-speed Internet access and a printer. Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 and antivirus software are recommended as well.

For your computing needs it is strongly recommended that you purchase from the Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI — www.unc.edu/cci). CCI offers Lenovo desktop/laptops at a discounted rate, along with an on-site three- or four-year warranty. Warranty issues, as well as, any other technical problems you may experience can be addressed at one of the many walk-in help desk locations throughout campus. This year CCI has begun to offer a "Thinkpad Protection" warranty which covers most accidental damage claims. The School of Pharmacy has full wireless coverage.

You will be allotted approximately 500 copies for printing needs at the various UNC printing locations on campus, a home printer is strongly recommended.

UNC Information Technology Services (ITS — http://its.unc.edu) has started basic MAC hardware and software support, ITSOP will follow suit starting in July 08.  Please email itsop@unc.edu with any questions you may have, please use the subject line "Incoming PY1 student question".

Information for ECSU Students

Pharmacy students on the Elizabeth City State University campus are also recommended to have access to a personal computer (with at least a Pentium 4 chip) with high-speed wireless Internet access and a printer. ECSU has a network authentication and validation security system called Clean Access in place to prevent infected computers from gaining access to the network and infecting other systems. ECSU students are provided with a free copy of Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition (v10 and v10 Vista), which is required by Clean Access for access to the wireless network. Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 are supported, and pharmacy students will receive 500 sheets of paper free for printing. Student at the ECSU campus can go to http://itcweb.ecsu.edu/portal/ to learn more about Clean Access, download the Symantec Antivirus software, gain access to on-line training, and become familiar with policies, guidelines, and initiatives specific to ECSU. Incoming student on the ECSU campus should email pharmit@mail.ecsu.edu with any questions. Please use the subject line “Incoming PY1 student question."