Computer Requirements

Computer Requirements

The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering further requires that students have access to and on-going use of a laptop/mobile computer for engineering courses in order to be able to function in the current learning environment. Some courses offered by the college will require the use of mobile computers for coursework. Students are required to access electronic forms of information, submit assignments and communicate with other students and faculty electronically. In order to do so, the requirements documented below must be met.

The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering does not make any specific recommendations regarding your choice of Mac or PC computers. Depending on the software required for some courses, Mac users should be prepared to run Boot Camp software (provided in utilities on the Mac) so that they can run a Windows operating system. NOTE that the new line of Mac laptops (Apple Silicon processor line, e.g., the M1) are not currently able to use accelerated x64 virtualization. Therefore, they cannot run the standard (x64) versions of the Windows OS and Windows programs. Thus, they should be avoided if a student’s degree program relies on Windows.

The Windows OS is available at low or no cost through the UF Bookstore and via the DreamSpark program offered to all engineering students. Students and faculty in all engineering majors use both types of computers with equal success.

We recommend purchasing a computer with as much memory and processing power as reasonably affordable. Student computers should be capable of running software such as MatLab, AutoCAD and SolidWorks.

Please visit the University of Florida student computing requirements
page for additional information.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Component Minimum Configuration
These minimum specifications are not necessarily available in new computer configurations currently on the market and are provided as a reference for a minimally configured computer. Some departments may have specific requirements that are more restrictive than these general recommendations.
Processor Intel 8th Gen i5 or i7
Memory 16GB RAM
Hard Disk 500GB HD
Video Card 1024×768 Resolution – High Color
Video Screen 12” (1600×900) A touchscreen is not required.
Sound Card Any type with audio input. A microphone is required for a variety of online video conferencing and chat applications that are available at UF and used in various ways, including virtual advising and academic instruction. 
Mouse / Keyboard A physical keyboard and pointing device is necessary. Students should not rely entirely on a touchscreen device
Camera A webcam is required for the variety of online video conferencing and chat applications available and used at UF, including virtual advising and academic instruction. 
Network Hardware Wireless (Wi-Fi 802.11b)
Network connectivity is required in many classes. Additionally much of campus is covered by a campus wireless network
Operating System

Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Operating systems other than Microsoft Windows are allowed. However, in most cases, a Windows based operating system will be the best choice since it will be the easiest path towards software compatibility in departmental courses.

Mac users will need to be able to run the Windows OS. 

Backup Hardware

UF students are provided a large amount of storage in both Microsoft Onedrive and Google Drive for cloud backup.

   
Battery 2hr Minimum
Current notebooks run between 1.5 and 5 hours on the included battery. It is suggested that an optional battery (or extended battery) be purchased.

 

Recommended hardware Requirements

Component Recommended Configuration
Processor Intel 9th Gen i7
Memory 16GB RAM
Hard Disk 500GB (or larger) SSD
Video Card 1024×768 Resolution – High Color Discrete/dedicated (such as NVIDIA/AMD
Video Screen 14” (1920×1080) A touchscreen is not required.
Sound Card Any type with audio input. A microphone is required for a variety of online video conferencing and chat applications that are available at UF and used in various ways, including virtual advising and academic instruction. 
Mouse / Keyboard A physical keyboard and pointing device is necessary. Students should not rely entirely on a touchscreen device
Camera HD Webcam
Network Hardware Wireless (Wi-Fi 802.11b)
Network connectivity is required in many classes. Additionally much of campus is covered by a campus wireless network
Operating System

Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Operating systems other than Microsoft Windows are allowed. However, in most cases, a Windows based operating system will be the best choice since it will be the easiest path towards software compatibility in departmental courses.

Mac users will need to be able to run the Windows OS. 

Backup Hardware

UF students are provided a large amount of storage in both Microsoft Onedrive and Google Drive for cloud backup.

   
Battery 8hr minimum

 

Minimum Software Requirements

Software Description
Office Suite Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and database information must be in a format readable using Microsoft Office. Documents may be transmitted in native, HTML, PDF or ASCII formats at the discretion of the faculty. This means both information provided by the faculty for students to use and information provided by students for the faculty will conform to these formats. The document transfer format will be in either one of these two office native formats, HTML, PDF or ASCII. Any software that can read and write to these formats is acceptable. However, the student is responsible for making sure documents function correctly in one of these two formats.
Mail Client Students are required to have and regular check their Gatorlink email address. All official communication with a student is sent to this email address.
Web Browser The most recent versions of Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox are required. There are many online applications for registering for classes and downloading University-wide site-licensed software that require these browsers. Other browsers, such as Opera, Chrome orSafari, may work but are not officially supported.

UF and Engineering Special Purchasing Programs for Students

Dell Notebook Discount
IBM Laptop Solutions for Education
HP Academy