If you do not come to the labs, the labs will come to you-this is a quote attributed to JAD Alamo of MIT, USA This perhaps may be the need of the hour in many educational institutes offering higher degrees in science and engineering. Interpreted in a broad sense, for developing countries, a natural reaction is the cost to take laboratory work to students’ homes distributed across a geographical region viz., understanding whether the infra-structure facilities (mainly computer and communication technology related hardware and Internet access) are diverted as required, whether technical manpower is geared up to the challenges and whether these are within the reach of every student in a typical college or university who are spread across the globe. In this paper we discuss the potential factors impacting the adoption of virtual or remote laboratories for Computer Science. This discussion is of paramount significance during times of pandemic when institutions are forced to offer online education for theory as well as practice. This discussion is especially relevant to branches of engineering in which students typically learn through practice in a laboratory space. We outline succinct pointers and case studies involving bachelor’s study in Computer Science in the first year. For the National Institutes of Technologies in India our observations may serve a as broad guideline for Computer Science departments while transitioning laboratories from offline to online.