Personal Laptops

Are COM Students Required to Own Laptops?

No, COM students are not required to own laptops although they are highly recommenced. For students without laptops, COM have a fleet of loaner laptops for use during class, Edit Bays for use outside of class, specialty editing suites on the 3rd floor of COM, and access to the BU Computing Cluster in Mugar library and elsewhere on campus.

I Can’t Afford a Computer or My Computer is Broken. What Now?

COM fully understands not every student can afford a laptop computer. We know that computers break, get stolen, etc. If a student is lacking a laptop, COM will have a limited supply of laptops available which students can borrow for the duration of class. These COM-owned computers will have the core applications (Adobe Creative Cloud, MS Office, etc) and will allow the student to continue learning along with their peers for the duration of the class. See our page about Laptops and Adapters for more information.

Does COM Provide Loaner Laptops For Other BU Courses? 

The COM Loaner laptop inventory is limited to use in COM taught classes. (Classes starting with the letters FT, JO, and CM.) We regret we can not loan laptops to use in other classes, even if the student is majoring in a COM subject. We suggest talking to the department administrator of the class in question as many departments at BU have similar resources for students in their programs.

Do I Need a Laptop to Use COM’s Specialty Spaces? (Edit Bays, Podcast Studios, etc.)

Most COM specialty spaces have computers in the room for faculty and student use. In many cases that computer is specifically configured to use the hardware in that space and should be instead of a laptop. Please talk to the COM Tech staff for more information.

I Prefer to Use a Desktop Computer, Where Can I Access One in COM?

COM has 40+ desktop computers for use by COM students which are located around the building. Most of these systems can be reserved by access COM’s reservation portal.

Do I Need to Purchase Any Software Before the Start of the Semester?

Many classes use applications found in the Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) suite, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere. BU has signed an agreement with Adobe which provides a full license to COM students (Undergraduates and Graduates) during their studies at BU at no additional cost. Visit the IS&T Adobe Page for more details and to request an account.

For Microsoft Office, students are eligible to download a licensed version to use on their laptops free of charge. For other applications, please speak with the course professor regarding where to download and/or purchase the applications needed for the course.

Note that many applications used in COM are available as free downloads, such as Blackmagic Resolve. Faculty should the Technical Operations Department at comhelp@bu.edu for information on possible education discounts available to students for paid applications.