All students in the MPS Program in Applied Statistics need to own a laptop computer running Windows (Windows 7 Professional). The laptop is needed for classroom use as well as for homework assignments and the MPS project. The minimum requirements for the laptop are listed below. Since SAS does not support Macintosh OS, MacBooks will meet the needs of MPS students only if they run Windows (as well as Mac OS).
If you do not currently own a suitable laptop, then a laptop can be purchased at the Cornell Store once you arrive in Ithaca. The cost would be between $1200 and $1700 depending upon whether you purchase a basic laptop meeting the minimum requirements or upgrade to more RAM, disk space, or better graphics. (A MacBook configured to run Windows might be more expensive than $1700.)
If you plan to purchase a laptop at the Cornell Store, please let us know in advance. That way we can notify the Cornell Store so that they have a sufficient number of laptops in stock for incoming MPS students. For more information about the Cornell Store, follow this link.
Minimum requirements:
Windows operating system
Core i7 Dual Core 2.6 GHz
8 GB RAM
256 GB hard disk or SSD
SAS license
You may find it advantageous to upgrade to a laptop with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB disk.
A SAS license (SAS 9.4) is required for your course work and can be purchased by students at Cornell, currently for $100. For information about SAS at Cornell, see http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/software_licensing/available/sas.cfm.
Additional Computing Resources
Cornell's state of the art high performance computing facilities hosted in the Center for Advanced Computing and the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research are also available to MPS students for course work and MPS projects.