Student Laptops
Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Minimum Laptop Specifications
The following laptop configuration was developed by the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management. These are recommended minimum configurations. Students may also want to consider a 1TB or larger USB external hard drive for backing up their computer system.
- 4 Core / 8 thread processor minimum (Intel 8th Gen i5 or i7, 7th gen i7 only, no U series iItel processsors; AMD Ryzen series processors)
- 16GB RAM or higher
- HDMI port and cable for external monitor/projector
- 512GB SSD
- Webcam and mic (required)
- Wireless N or better
- Gigabit Ethernet (internal or external) recommended
- Wireless 802.11g/n (minimum), 802.11 ac dual band (recommended)
Dedicated WORKSTATION class video card required (nVidia Quadro or AMD FirePro/Pro)
- Construction Management - nVidia Quadro P620 – 4GB GDDR5 graphics card or higher
- Civil Engineering – nVidia Quadro P620 – 4GB GDDR5 graphics card is acceptable, however, the nVidia Quadro T1000 – 4GB GDDR5 graphics card or higher is strongly preferred
- Architectural Engineering - nVidia Quadro T1000 – 4GB GDDR5 graphics card or higher (Quadro T2000 – 4GB GDDR5 recommended)
Students with laptops that do not meet these minimum requirements will not be prohibited from enrolling in courses, but their ability to participate in classroom activities and to complete assignments may be severely hampered. Workstation class video cards are strongly recommended due to engineering software being designed to support or require workstation video card acceleration. Support for students with laptops that do not meet these requirements will not be provided.
As an additional consideration, students are expected to use their laptops over the course of several years. Due to the nature of how laptops are used, an extended warranty may be a worthwhile option to consider.
Macintosh Laptops
The College of Engineering and Applied Science Office of College Computing does not officially support Mac OS. If a student choses to purchase an Apple laptop, it should meet the similar specifications listed above or “MacBook and MacBook Pro (Apple) configurations 4 or 5” as published by the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning (DAAP), link below. The relevant Macintosh specifications are on the third page of the linked PDF file, below. Additionally, they should be able to run Apple Bootcamp with Windows 10 Professional 64-bit for software that may require a Windows platform. A Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapter will also likely be needed.