...
Trying to purchase a computer, laptop or tablet is an area that is constantly changing. Many times a specific retail configuration is out of date a month after you purchase it. The systems that we recommend are models from manufacturers that have proven track records and most have components that are typically not not Beta or test items, rather they have components that are continually included in system configurations because they are established.
Within the College of Engineering and Computer Science , we have a mix of public teaching labs, most with PCs systems, some with MAC systemsMacs. These labs contain all of the licensed engineering software our students require. Most of the licensing for software we use , does not permit students to load install it on their personal systemscomputers, although this changes from time to time with a limited number of software applications.Most of our public labs are PC systems with 156 seats, For a list of what software students can install on their personal computers click the Software link on the left menu.
We have 5 public computer labs with PC systems for a total of 156 seats and we have a 35 seat MAC lab. All of these are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for use as teaching facilities and free use computer labs for you to do their your research and/or assignments. For a schedule of the computer labs click the Computer Labs and Classrooms link on the left menu.
Now that you have some idea of how our computer labs are set up, let us offer some recommendations outside of what your individual college department may suggest. We are providing a recommendation for both workstations, (either a desktop or mid-tower, which would be kept and used in their your room) and laptops which offer portability and will allow you to take the system to class and the library, etc.
...
Whatever PC Laptop you buy, please spend just a bit more and purchase the a 3 year or more warranty, and if you decide to acquire a PC laptop, purchase the or 4 year accidental warranty which protects the unit even if the damage is your fault. For Macs, a 4 year (including accidents ) warranty is available at the bookstore. This is one year longer than AppleCare, and AppleCare does not cover accidents. Believe us when we say that it will pay for itself!
...