Laptops have become an indispensable item for succeeding in law school. Recognizing this, the law school requires students to own a laptop running a supported version of Windows or Mac OS X. If you do not currently own a laptop, you will need to purchase one. If you currently own a laptop but it is more than two years old and/or does not meet the requirements below, now would be a great time to invest in something new. Remember, you will be using your laptop a lot over the next few years, so you will want something reliable. If you buy new, we recommend extending the manufacturer warranty to at least three years (if possible), so you will be covered throughout your time at the law school.

Your financial aid budget for your first year of law school includes an allowance for a computer purchase.

Drexel Accounts: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Once you’ve set up your Drexel accounts, they will require “multi-factor” sign-in. The first factor will be something you know: your account password. The second factor will be something you have: a phone or phone number that’s associated with you. This is the approach required by many financial institutions.

You will need to set up Multi-Factor Authentication to avoid interruption in sending/receiving Drexel email. Setup takes 5-15 minutes. (Everyone at Drexel will do this over the next few months.) Set up MFA before it becomes required to ensure continuity of email service. You will begin to receive emails to your Drexel account, so do not delay setup.

Please visit the Drexel IT website or the main Drexel website (then search for “IT”) to see the latest official information on MFA, and instructions for setting up your device for MFA.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Drexel University Information Technology (DUIT) provides up-to-date computer hardware recommendations for incoming students here.

Minimum Software Requirements

For Windows computers, we require Windows 7, 8, or 10¹. We recommend avoiding the low-end versions (Windows 7 Starter, Windows 8 RT) that typically come on lower-powered laptops, netbooks and tablets since they may not be compatible with our wireless networks or the exam software we use (Exam4). 

For Apple computers, Mac OS X 10.9 (“Mavericks”) or newer is required.². Whichever operating system you use, please make sure you’ve received the latest operating system updates. You should contact LawTech regarding operating system upgrades to ensure compatibility with Drexel systems and the Kline School of Law exam software.

Chromebooks, which run Google's Chrome OS, as well as laptops running other operating systems (Linux, etc.) are not supported as they may not be compatible with the various systems and services you'll use at law school and are definitely not compatible with Exam4.
Note: tablets running mobile software (iOS, Android, etc.) are not compatible with Exam4.³ Students may use such devices, but should not consider the tablet to be a substitute for a laptop.

You will be using your computer for research, reading and writing. During orientation, someone from the LRC (Legal Research Center) will help you get accounts with various web-based legal research systems (Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, etc.), so all you really need for those is a web browser and a PDF reader (Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader are two great Windows PDF readers. If you have a Mac, Preview is already installed and will open almost any PDF you’re likely to find).

Students will need Microsoft Office. All electronically-submitted assignments must be in MS Word (.doc or .docx) format.   Drexel University has partnered with Microsoft to provide a subscription to Office365, free of charge (as long as you have an active student account). Registration is required and may be completed at: http://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.

Software Requirements for Exam Software

For on-campus students only.

The exam software we use (Exam4) is currently available for Windows, 7, 8, and 10 as well as Mac OS X 10.9 ("Mavericks") and newer.⁴ You can find more information about Exam4 here.

1  Windows Vista reached “end of mainstream support” as of April 10, 2012 and reached “end of extended support” on April 11,2017.  While technically viable, there is no guarantee that university services will continue to be available for this operating system.

2  Apple does not publish specific “end of life” dates. Mavericks, while still available and technically viable, has been superseded by several versions. As such, there is no guarantee that university services will continue to be available for this operating system.

3  Excludes Microsoft Surface Pro, and other tablets running full-featured versions of Windows and/or OS X.

4  Legacy versions (Vista, OS X 10.6-10.8) may be available from the exam software provider, but there is no information regarding the duration of this availability.