Bring your own device

For the cohort starting in the fall semester 2023, the recommendation essentially only stipulates what is actually already part of everyday study: instructors can assume that students can generally bring laptops on site. If devices are required for a mandatory assignments or examinations, then they must continue to be provided on the part of ETH.

For cohorts starting in and after the fall semester of 2024, laptops are going to be mandatory, so they may be required for mandatory assignments and examinations. Due to delays in the course of studies, students who started before the fall semester 2024 could also slip into these cohorts.

No, it applies to all students who are new to a study program. The study program can be Bachelor, Master, Continuing Education, or Didactic Education. Students in joint master's, mobility, or doctoral programs are also affected if they are taking courses in a degree program for the first time. Bachelor's graduates entering the Master's program in the same subject are also affected.

The given configuration is a minimum configuration. You can of course use any device that exceeds this minimum requirement. An important requirement is that the size and weight of the device do not prevent you from carrying it around all day.

If your device deviates downwards from the minimum configuration in certain attributes, and if you start your study program during the recommendation phase, this is your own responsibility. For example, a smaller hard drive would probably be okay if you don't want to store a lot of movies or photos on top of that. You just can't plead "my laptop can't do that".

All mandatory assignments, tests, or exams can be completed with the minimum configuration. Any additional computing power required will be made available using virtual desktop or cloud-based solutions.

external pageProjekt Neptuncall_made offers devices at special conditions for ETH students. For students interested in this offer, more detailed information will be posted on the Neptun website by the end of July at the latest. Of course, you can obtain a machine from any point of sale.

Linux is a viable alternative for your everyday studies at ETHZ. Every operating system has its own set of supported software, and some lectures require either Linux- or Windows-only software; a problematic, which can be mitigated by either dual-booting the two operating systems or by using a virtual machine.

At ETH, some exams require the external pageSafe Exam Browsercall_made, which cannot be used in a virtual machine and runs only on Windows and MacOS. For this, a dual-boot setup is recommended.

Tablets or Chromebooks are not suitable as the main device because many software applications do not run on them. However, you can of course use tablets or smartphones in addition to a suitable laptop.

If you do not bring a laptop, you would have to accept disadvantages in learning activities that require a laptop and make up for them at home if necessary. For any mandatory graded performance assessments that require a laptop, if you are still in the recommendation cohort, you will be provided with a computer; however, you will have to accept the disadvantage of working on a machine that is unfamiliar to you and not set up according to your personal preferences.

Many lecture halls, seminar rooms, laboratories or work areas currently do not have enough power outlets to supply all seats with electricity. Your laptop should therefore have at least seven hours of battery life for standard applications such as word processing and web browsing.

We recommend waiting until you arrive at ETH to purchase software. ETH has negotiated special conditions with various software providers that are available to students. As soon as you have received information about your ETH-login, you can take the first steps. There, under "Software", you can find a link for activating Microsoft 365 (incl. Office, Teams, and cloud-services), as well as a link to the IT Shop, where under "Product Inventory", you can find certain software products that may be required for your study programme. A backup solution for Windows is offered by external pageProjekt Neptuncall_made to its customers; other vendors may have similar backup solutions.

external pageProjekt Neptuncall_made offers support at special conditions, also for students who have purchased their device from another sales point. Your other sales point may also offer support. For smaller or widespread problems, search engines or your fellow students might also be helpful.