I realized now that I may want to use laptop instead of handwring, for which I am registered. Aside from the fact that the State bar may not allow me to change this late, I am extremely nervous about possible laptop malfunction, inability to download, etc. It's just a machine after all, and I don't trust them:))) your advice? experience?

It's not a big deal if you experience a technical issue on the day of the exam. If it arises, they'll just make you write the exam, which happened to me during the July '08 exam. Fortunately, I was able to resolve my tech issues during the lunch hour, and I was able to use my laptop for the remainder of the exam.

Use the laptop! I was amazed at how many people I knew chose to write their exam this past July. I think you're at a big disadvantage if you do so. Going into the exam, I knew my laptop wasn't the best so I borrowed my girlfriend's (she has a high-end Toshiba) and had no problems. Don't think I would have passed if I had to write it. I was cutting and pasting and going back and deleting constantly throughout the essay portion...

California Bar Exam Feb 2007, the only time they had ExamSoft techs on hand, before or since, to reinstall the software after it crashed on a lot of people's laptops state wide. Friends in Sacramento and San Diego told me that there were people there waiting to have the software reinstalled so it wasn't a localized issue. Leaving the first morning session in Ontario, there was a line of at least 30 people waiting for the techs to diagnose the problem but most repeaters suspected that the software was defective as CA always has to have some new modified version every bar exam. Had to reboot my computer after every question. Thank god there was no race horse fact pattern.