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School of Business Minimum Computing Requirements for the 2021-2022 Academic Year

May 3, 2021 / By
Barbara Snyder

All School of Business Undergraduate Students must have access to a portable computing device that meets the following minimum standards. Students are required to bring their laptops to class if asked by the instructor. Phones of any sort are not acceptable in place of a laptop, and also a keyboard is required.

  • Operating System: Windows Operating System 10 or newer is required. Mac users are required to install a virtual machine (VM) or Windows partition on the hard drive to run the Windows operating system.

    • We discourage the use of Macs with the M1 CPU (released late 2020) as it does not support VMs or partitions. Students are required to have access to a Windows computer or older Mac that supports the systems required by the School of Business.
    • For users with older Macs, it is the responsibility of Mac users to install and create this Windows VM or partition as business courses require the usage of software that runs on Windows (partition may slow laptop performance). Examples of partitions that can be used are VMware Fusion or
  • Memory: 8 GB (recommend 10GB or higher)
  • Video/audio streaming capability: Students must have a video camera and microphone that feed or stream audio and video in real time to or through the internet. Instructors may ask students to activate the camera and microphone for class activities.
  • Hard drive free space: at least 120 GB free space (recommend 250 GB free space or higher)
  • Network Capability: wireless capability required (recommend wired network capability also)
  • Software:
    • All Mason students can download the Windows operating system and VMware Fusion for free from the Microsoft Azure Portal and Vmware – OnTheHub (available once semester begins and registered in a Business School class)
    • Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise ()
    • Antivirus Software ()
    • Internet browser (Chrome or Firefox recommended)
    • Other software for individual courses may need to be installed

The cost of a computer can be included in the student’s estimated cost of attendance. In order to do this, students must provide a copy of their receipt or purchase order for their computer and submit that to their assigned Financial Aid Counselor.

This can be done once during the student’s academic program.

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School of Business
4400 University Drive, MS 5A1
Enterprise Hall 008
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: (703) 993-1880

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