Checkout Laptops
Laptop computers can be checked out by engineering students, faculty and staff at the student desk in the Fiedler Learning Commons. They are not to be removed from the Engineering Complex without PRIOR approval by CECS and must not be taken off-campus. In fact you won't be able to effectively use them off-campus or anywhere that a good connection to K-State Wireless is not available.
These laptops offer the same software and capabilities as the Fiedler Learning Commons desktop computers.
How to check out a laptop
Laptops may be checked out from the Fiedler Learning Commons student desk with a valid K-State ID card or reserved online.
The laptop will be checked out to you for a period of four hours (or less if the Learning Commons will close sooner). You must return the laptop on time as someone else may be waiting to use it. If no one else is on the waiting list and you return it on time, you may renew for another checkout period.
Usage guidelines
- Do not take the laptop out of the Engineering Complex.
- Laptops will only have wireless network access in areas with wireless coverage.
- Do not loan the laptop to others.
- Return the laptop on time.
Good things to know
The laptops must be connected to the campus network (either wireless or wired) to work properly. A network connection allows you to authenticate (log in) using your eID, use our installed software and print to our network printers.
If you want a wired connection, you can check out a network cable from the Fiedler Learning Commons to connect the laptop to any live network wall jack. In the absence of a network cable, the laptop will make a wireless connection, assuming you are in an area with wireless service.
Note not every network wall jack in the Engineering Complex is live. We install extra network jacks and have yet to activate some of them.
Important cautions
- A reboot or logout will erase any files you have stored on the laptop hard drive. To prevent data loss, store your data files on a flash drive, One Drive or a network drive.
- Wireless networking is ABSOLUTELY INSECURE. Anyone on the wireless network can see, unencrypted, everything you send or receive. You should not use a wireless connection to transmit or receive sensitive or confidential data such as credit card numbers or purchases, student grades, banking or financial transactions, etc.— anything you would not want publicly known. If you need to protect the privacy or confidentiality of information you send or receive, use a wired connection to a network jack instead. There are exceptions to this rule such as if a website begins with "https" rather than "http" — but assume your wireless network traffic is unencrypted unless you know otherwise.
Problems? Questions? Need help?
- Report problems immediately to the Fiedler Learning Commons student desk where most questions can be answered.
Frequently asked questions
- How can I reserve a laptop?
Laptops may be reserved at the Fiedler Learning Commons student desk with a valid K-State ID card, or reserved online. - How can I save my data?
You can save your data to your K-State OneDrive account or any USB memory device. You can also save data to any network drive you have access to. - Can I print from these laptops?
Yes, they can print to the same network printers as the Fiedler Learning Commons desktop computers. - What software is on these computers?
The software should be the same as installed on the Fiedler Learning Commons desktop computers. - Are these laptops the same as the checkout laptops in Hale Library?
No. These laptops are provided by the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, and are configured and managed by CECS (Engineering Computing Services). They are entirely separate from the laptop computers available for checkout in Hale Library.