Computer Hardware and Software for Law Students

The IT office has received a few emails with questions about computer hardware and software for the coming school year, so we put together the information below to address the most common questions.

Required Hardware

The only important thing for Law students to know is that the we require students to have a laptop that works with the examination software (Exam4). You can read more about that requirement in the Academic Regulations, with the relevant portion below:

“Unless a student has an accommodation from Student Disability Services or demonstrates a case of severe hardship, a student is required to use a laptop or similar device and the approved exam-writing software to write essay or short-answer examinations.” – Academic Regulation 10.4

What that means practically is that you must have a device to take your exam on that is supported by the Exam4 software that we use. You can check the Exam4 compatibility page for more information, but the two important things to note are that:

1. The software does NOT support iOS devices (such as iPads), Linux systems, or Chromebooks.
2. Exam4 does not currently offer support for Windows 10 or Mac OS X 10.11, though they expect to support these by Fall 2015. If you are considering upgrading, we would encourage you to wait until these operating systems are officially supported by the examination software.

Hardware Recommendations

• The University’s recommended hardware is listed on this page, with the caveat that Law students will need to use laptops instead of desktops or tablets.
• If you are looking to purchase new hardware, please note that both Dell and Apple offer discounts to Memphis Law students.
• If you are in the state of Tennessee, you can combine the offers from Dell and Apple with the upcoming sales tax holiday starting next week on Friday, August 7^th for computers less than $1,500. You can find more information on the Sales Tax holiday in the following document: http://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/revenue/attachments/Computers.pdf.

Free Microsoft Office Suite

• All enrolled students are members of the Microsoft Student Advantage program, and as such, are entitled to a free copy of Microsoft Office Professional that can be installed on up to 5 devices. You can download the software by logging in with your University username and password on the following page: www.memphis.edu/getoffice. Students will also have access to the iPad and Android apps, as well as 1 TB of OneDrive storage.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email us at LawIT@memphis.edu. Thank you!