This FAQ will assist you in choosing a computer to bring with you to Medical School. If you have further questions, contact the LRC Help Desk at 734-936-2239 or by e-mail at lrc_help@umich.edu. One of the LRC computer consultants will be available to assist you with your computing questions and concerns.

Contents

• Laptop requirement at the UofM Medical School
• Computer Sale at the Computer Showcase
• Financial Aid
• PC or Mac?
• What is a Tablet PC?
• What type/model of laptop should I get?
• Hardware requirements and recommendations
• What about software? Where can I get good deals?
• Software requirements
• What about my home Internet access?
• What about printing?
• Further questions?

You will be required to have a laptop at medical school.  Purchasing a laptop is a large expense, so we recommend that if you already have a fairly modern laptop (4 years or less), bring it to campus and try it. You can purchase a new laptop later if you need to upgrade. You can evaluate the suitability of your computer in advance here.

The educational technology plan includes promoting the use of laptops to allow students to access virtual microscope images in a laboratory setting, view lecture recordings, access web-portal and clinical training resources, and participate in the required Advanced Medical Therapeutics course offered online during the M4 year.  We feel that laptops and related technologies will continue to evolve, and increasingly impact patient care and medical practice.  A laptop will allow you to participate fully in the opportunities available to you and prepare you for your future as a physician. To learn more about the how the digital microscope will be used in your first year, please watch the videos that describe this technology on the Med Curriculum site.

			Using the Virtual Microscope at school 2:00 minutes
			Using laptops for Digital Microscopy 2:30 minutes

All laptops (new or old) will be required to use anti-virus software, and will be scanned for infection as part of your orientation program.

Financial Aid is available to students to help cover the cost of a new computer.  Purchases from the Showcase are available for billing via Student Accounts. A significant advantage of purchasing this way is that the Medical School Financial Aid Office will receive notification of your purchase and approve financial aid alternate loan applications to pay for your order at your request. The amount you owe, after financial aid has been applied, will appear on your Student Statement of Account in August or September.

A Tablet PC is a type of laptop that allows the user to write and draw on the computer screen with a special stylus (plastic pencil).

Tablet PC's are being adopted into many areas including healthcare, sales, manufacturing, and education. There are new programs coming out regularly that are increasing the usability of Tablets in the education arena.  With Microsoft's OneNote 2007 (part of the Office 2007 software package), you can take notes in class and drag and drop PowerPoint and other Office documents into your notes to write upon them.

Tablets tend to be more expensive than a standard laptop, and they come in many different configurations. Size, processing power, storage space, as well as optical drives are often sacrificed to reduce the size of the device.  Tablets come in many sizes to accommodate different needs.

In the end, a Tablet PC is a laptop with a little extra. Some students choose to use Tablet PCs for their laptop requirement.


If you wish to see how one of our students uses a tablet PC in his medical school studies, go to the following URL:

			Using a Tablet PC at Med School 2:30 minutes Class of 2010 student, James Rienhart, talks about how and why he choose a tablet PC for use at medical school.

For more information on Tablet PC's, you can find a wealth of information, opinions, and models at Microsoft's Official Site, as well as several others listed below:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc
http://www.tabletquestions.com
http://www.tabletpcpost.com
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com

Microsoft maintains a list of many available Tablets here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/
evaluation/products.mspx

The hardware requirements and recommendations listed below have been selected to ensure that your laptop will be able to use the software and other computing systems necessary for your curricular computing activities. Processor and operating system recommendations are specific to a PC; others apply equally to a Mac or PC.

The University's Computer Showcase offers excellent deals on software to students. For example, Microsoft Office, which normally sells for over $400, at the Computer Showcase costs $47.17 (plus tax).

The Medical School requires the use of a variety of software programs. The good news is that students get a discount on Microsoft Office, and the better news is that the other software is free. Here is the list of necessary software:

Microsoft Office – Office 2007 for Windows, 2008 for Mac
(http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu – both cost $47.17)

Microsoft Windows XP Pro or Vista Ultimate – both are available from the Showcase (XP Pro - $14.15, Vista Ultimate - $18.87)

Apple iTunes – free (Mac or Windows)
(http://www.apple.com/itunes)

McAfee VirusScan 8.5 (PC) or Sophos Anti-Virus (Mac) – free
(http://virusbusters.itcs.umich.edu)

**NOTE: all laptops should use antivirus software – if you already have your own that works well, then you do not need to install these UM-provided versions

RealPlayer – free (Mac or Windows)
(http://www.real.com)

Enounce 2xAV (Optional – Windows only) – for speeding up lecture videos with RealPlayer
(http://www.enounce.com – costs $29.95)

Aperio ImageScope  (Windows) – free
(http://www.aperio.com/download.asp - Free ImageScope Viewer link)

**NOTE: The following two items allow Intel-based Macs to run the Windows Operating System (XP or Vista) in conjunction with the Mac Operating System.  These are optional programs, but allow Mac users to install Windows and be able to run any Windows program, too.  They both require the purchase and installation of Windows.

Parallels Desktop for Mac (Optional - Mac) – allows Windows to run on Macs but requires XP or Vista to be purchased separately.  Available from UM Computer Showcase ($75) or www.parallels.com for $79.99 – downloadable version)

Fusion for Mac (Optional – Mac)
(http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu for $36 or www.vmware.com for $79.99)

You can test whether your existing computer is sufficient here.

High-speed Internet (aka: Broadband) access is recommended. Many students use the Internet to download and stream lecture videos.  These files can be over 120MB for each hour recorded.  Download speeds vary with Broadband service.  Here is a quick table listing speeds and the estimated time to download an average 120MB lecture video.

~ = option is not available

Speeds are affected by several factors (time of day, number of concurrent users, wireless vs. wired access, etc).  The rule of thumb is to get the fastest you can afford.

In Ann Arbor, the two services are DSL and Cable broadband. The options include:

• Cable http://www.comcast.com
• DSL http://www.earthlink.net or http://www.att.com

You have 500 pages of free black and white printing per semester at Medical School and other campus computing labs. The cost of black and white printing at these labs is 6 cents per page once the 500-page limit is exceeded.

You can print from your laptop to the Medical School printers (LRC and Furstenberg labs) as well as to many printers around UofM's campus by using mPrint.

Contact the LRC Help Desk’s M-F 8-5 at 734-936-2239 if you have questions.  Or email us at lrc_help@umich.edu and one of the LRC staff will be available to assist you with your computing questions and concerns.  We will help you with your personal computing needs as much as possible.  If we don’t know the answer, we will help you find someone who does!