Recommended Computer Specifications

The following are hardware and software recommendations for both current and incoming students in the College of Engineering and Computing.

Please note that it is highly recommended that students purchase a personal computer based on the Windows Operating System. While students may purchase a personal computer from Apple based on macOS they may encounter interface problems with some of the software packages that the department and college utilize. In addition, some engineering software packages (like SOLIDWORKS) are not developed for macOS.

Hardware Specifications

The recommended hardware specifications seen below operate under the premise that students will purchase a laptop or tablet/convertible form factor.

	Minimum	Recommended	Ideal
Operating System	Windows 10	Windows 10	Windows 10
Processor	Intel Core i5 (Quad Core)	Intel Core i5 (Quad Core)	Intel Core i7 (6 Core) or i9 (8 Core)
Memory (RAM)	8 GB (2666 MHz)	16 GB (3200 MHz)	32 GB (3200 MHz)
Storage	256 GB (SSD)	500 GB (SSD)	500+ (SSD)
Graphics	Integrated Intel UHD	Integrated Intel UHD	Nvidia Quadro T1000 (4GB GDDR5) or Similar

Additional Information

Some software companies, like Dassault Systeme’s SOLIDWORKS Corporation, also have unique recommended system requirements.

Software used in Curriculum

• ANSYS (2020)
• Autodesk AutoCAD
• MathWorks MATLAB (R2020a)
• Microsoft Office (365)
• National Instruments LabVIEW
• PTC Mathcad (Prime 3.1)
• SOLIDWORKS (2020)

Last updated: 5/10/2021