It protects the computer not only form voltage spikes, but also from voltage sags and brief outages. Voltage sags occur occasionally and a surge protector cannot protect you from a sag. If you bring a computer you might want to bring a printer as well. There are networked printers in labs, but printing there involves gaining access to the lab and in some locations paying a modest fee. You only need a modem if you plan to use your computer while off campus.
Most computers come with network cards already installed.
We do not install these cards for you. New computers that the College purchases come with Windows 98 or Mac OS 9 operating systems. Desk is able to provide support for them. Most students and faculty use a standard desktop computer. Generally, the workstation computers have more RAM, disk storage, faster processors, and larger displays than the desktop computers.