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On this page: Background | Who is it for? | Who isn't it for? | How to get a laptop | What you get | Responsibilities | Info for faculty | Laptop specifications| Request and contact form

Background and purpose

"The Laptop Loaner Program" and "The Program" are used interchangeably in this document.

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The goal of the program continues to be to supplement significant (and now pervasive) personal ownership of laptops among MIT students with limited central resources to ensure that all current MIT students have the computational resources required to do their academic work.

Who is this program intended for?

• Currently enrolled MIT students who do not own a laptop, and need one for specific short-term academic work
• Currently enrolled MIT students who own a laptop that does not meet a specific academic need, which could be met by a model in the loaner pool
• Currently enrolled MIT students who own a laptop that is temporarily unavailable due to hardware or software failure

Who is this program not intended for?

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Please note that these are guidelines articulating the intent and priorities of the Laptop Loaner Program. In the past, the program has occasionally met the needs of groups and events in the "Who is this program not intended for?" category. The program will still accept requests falling into this category, but please be aware that such requests can only be accommodated after all other priorities have been accommodated, if equipments is available, and if there is no chance of such a request interfering with upcoming requests more in line with the program's intent.

How does one get a laptop?

Faculty sponsorship is no longer required for laptop loaner requests. Any currently enrolled MIT student can request a laptop directly from the program at Request a laptop from the Laptop Loaner Program (should go to a web form). Each participating student can only have one laptop out at a time. Any student picking up a laptop, once a request has been approved, will need to present a valid MIT ID. Laptop loans are tracked via students' MIT ID numbers.

What are the borrower's

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responsibilities?

Students taking advantage of the laptop loaner program are expected to take good care of the laptop and observe best practices related to the physical and network security and protection of the equipment. Equipment will be returned to the program in a timely fashion and in good condition before the lending period is over. Students are not responsible for normal wear and tear or hardware failure.

However, students are responsible for significant accidental damage to the equipment, lost equipment, stolen equipment in cases where theft was preventable (police report needed!), and other damage due to misuse or carelessness. In the event equipment needs to be repaired or replaced in this situation, the student's Bursar's Account will automatically be billed for actual repair costs or a replacement fee of $1000, whichever is lower.

Equipment will automatically be considered stolen and reported as stolen to MIT Police if it is not returned by the end of the lending period, unless special arrangements are made for the laptop's return. Students are responsible of initiating contact before the lending period ends and making acceptable special arrangements for the laptop's return, if it cannot be returned by the return date.

Students are responsible for removing any personal data from the laptop before it is returned to the program. The laptop will be re-imaged upon its return and any data on the laptop will be irretrievable wiped. No accommodation can be made for recovering personal or academic data left behind on the laptop once it has been returned to the program.

The standard "package" is a laptop, currently a Windows laptop, with a current, patched version of Windows XP SP3 installed on it, along with a standard set of software. We do not create custom software images for individual students' needs or to support specific classes a student may be enrolled in. However, students with loaner laptops are able to install software on the machine just as they would on their personal laptop. In addition, each laptop has VMware Desktop installed on it. If course-specific VMware images are available they can be run on these laptops. Details of what's included (hardware and software) are summarized below.

What are the borrower's responsibilities?

Students taking advantage of the laptop loaner program are expected to take good care of the laptop and observe best practices related to the physical and network security and protection of the equipment. Equipment will be returned to the program in a timely fashion and in good condition before the lending period is over. Students are not responsible for normal wear and tear or hardware failure.

However, students are responsible for significant accidental damage to the equipment, lost equipment, stolen equipment in cases where theft was preventable (police report needed!), and other damage due to misuse or carelessness. In the event equipment needs to be repaired or replaced in this situation, the student's Bursar's Account will automatically be billed for actual repair costs or a replacement fee of $1000, whichever is lower.

Equipment will automatically be considered stolen and reported as stolen to MIT Police if it is not returned by the end of the lending period, unless special arrangements are made for the laptop's return. Students are responsible of initiating contact before the lending period ends and making acceptable special arrangements for the laptop's return, if it cannot be returned by the return date.

Students are responsible for removing any personal data from the laptop before it is returned to the program. The laptop will be re-imaged upon its return and any data on the laptop will be irretrievable wiped. No accommodation can be made for recovering personal or academic data left behind on the laptop once it has been returned to the program.

Special information for faculty

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Faculty may occasionally sponsor academic programs with non-MIT-student participants and may need to request a small number of laptops for these participants. The program will attempt to accommodate such requests if possible. They will be prioritized below requests aligned with the intended use of the program, but before any similar requests without faculty sponsorship and requests not related to academic uses. An MIT account number will need to be provided for any such requests, since laptops cannot be directly checked out to individual MIT students in these cases. Replacement or repair fees that MIT students returning loaner laptops would be held responsible for will be the responsibility of the sponsoring MIT department in cases where laptops are requests for non-MIT students, and will automatically be billed to the provided account number.

What's in the package?

The standard "package" is a laptop, currently a Windows laptop, with a current, patched version of Windows XP SP3 installed on it, along with a standard set of software. We do not create custom software images for individual students' needs or to support specific classes a student may be enrolled in. However, students with loaner laptops are able to install software on the machine just as they would on their personal laptop. In addition, each laptop has VMware Desktop installed on it. If course-specific VMware images are available they can be run on these laptops. Details of what's included (hardware and software) are summarized below.

What's in the box?

The table below summarizes what is included in the standard loaner laptop package. Note that we can't usually accommodate requests for specific laptop models or configurations. While such requests are welcome and will certainly be considered, options are severely limited by machines and resources available in the loaner pool.

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