Stanford University - Computers

Quick Stats

College Prowler Take

Students are very happy with the quality and quantity of computing resources at Stanford. The network is reasonably fast, and there are many well-maintained labs. Students generally recommend bringing your own computer; in particular, a laptop. However, if you don’t bring one, you’ll still be okay. The campus is heavily wired, and there are plenty of technical people around to help if you have problems. Every dorm and house includes a staff member called the Residential Computer Consultant, who is hired to help residents keep their computers running.

Stanford’s Internet services might actually be considered a bit slow, given the Silicon Valley location and heavy emphasis on computing. There are occasional outages, and sometimes bandwidth is a bit scarce for connecting to the outside world. For most regular users, however, the network will be more than sufficient. It should be noted that the local area network is excellent. Most residents in the dorms are using iTunes these days, so there’s always interesting music floating around. In addition, the computer labs are state-of-the-art. There is definitely an emphasis on Mac over PC, but PCs can still be found. It is also great to have a computer cluster right in your own dorm, which you can use anytime your roommate is making too much noise, your own computer is having a problem, or if you don’t have your own printer. Also, Stanford’s Unix lab is truly top-notch. For engineering classes, you will most likely work from Sweet Hall directly on the various Unix/Linux boxes, or you can connect remotely from your own computer to use them.

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Students Speak Out

Anonymous says:

I highly recommend bringing your... I highly recommend bringing your own computer. Every room has high-speed Internet access, and it’s remarkably convenient to be able to check your e-mail, Web browse, and IM from your own room. It’s much better to have a laptop than a desktop machine. Laptops allow you to take your computer with you when you study away from your room, and with the spread of wireless internet access, you can go online from a lot of places. Most importantly, you don’t need to worry about storing a laptop over the summer. 12345 Computers Report

Anonymous says:

The computer network is excellent.... The computer network is excellent. It’s very fast, and despite occasional hacker attacks, tends to be quite reliable. Wireless Internet access is becoming increasingly widespread, which is a wonderful trend for those of us with laptops. Every dorm has a computer cluster with, at minimum, several Macs, a PC, and a laser printer. The clusters get a pretty good amount of use, but they usually aren’t crowded. 12345 Computers Report

Anonymous says:

Most students have computers here,... Most students have computers here, so it’s hard to imagine getting by without one, but it can be done. It’s cheaper, and it’ll teach you to love Pine [e-mail service]. 12345 Computers Report

Anonymous says:

I have had a computer all four... I have had a computer all four years, but actually wrote most essays on cluster computers for two of those years. The computers are all actually really nice and new, but I definitely experienced my share of computer traumas during my time here—from crashes, to printer issues, to losing pages of papers. 12345 Computers Report

Anonymous says:

The computer network is easy to... The computer network is easy to use, unless you get nailed by a virus. Computer labs are fine, but no one really uses them. Definitely bring a computer freshman year—DJ Winamp has proved to be a must-have! 12345 Computers Report

Facts

Did You Know?

SUN Microsystems, which was started by Stanford graduate students, originally stood for Stanford University Network.

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