Laptop Specifications

Minimum Specifications for Student Laptops

Students enrolled in the Electronics/Telecommunications and Instrumentation and Control programs at BSC will be required to furnish their own laptop computer for classroom and lab activities. The student laptops will be connecting to the NDUS (North Dakota University System) network and will need to meet or exceed the following specifications:

Hardware Specifications:

PC-based laptops only, no Macintosh systems
  • Processor: 2 GHz mobile minimum or Dual Core 1.6 GHz minimum
  • Memory: 3 GB of system memory
  • Graphics Processor: DirectX 9 capable
  • Hard Drive: 200 GB (minimum) with 15 GB free space
  • Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW Dual Layer (Internal or External)
  • I/O: 2 USB ports (minimum)
  • Wireless Hardware: 802.11b and/or 802.11g, MUST BE WPA2 COMPLIANT
  • Operating System Recovery Disks
  • Wired Ethernet Port (RJ45) 10/100 (minimum)

Software Specifications:
  • Operating System: Windows 7 minimum
  • Windows Office
  • Bismarck State College students who are enrolled for one or more credits can install Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus for FREE on their personal computers through Microsoft's Student Advantage Program. Visit our Microsoft Student Advantage Program page for more information and download.

A software client will be installed by the BSC IT department which requires the following:
  • Laptop must be current with all Windows updates
  • Current version of an antivirus program enabled with current  file definitions installed (Microsoft Essentials is available free to all registered students)
  • Must be clean of spy-ware

Policy Compliance:

All users attaching to or using Bismarck State College network services are required to conform to the following policies: