Laptop Recommendations
FREE Laptop Rental for CENG Students
All students in the College of Engineering are eligible for a no-cost rental of a new, high-end, Dell laptop capable of running the engineering and computer science applications needed in courses. The systems have a university maintained image where users have admin rights, and can configure the systems as needed for their majors. If any issues arise with the laptops, students can simply return the systems and rent new ones. ITS will handle any reimaging, warranty, or repairs. Click the button below to start the process.
Laptop Recommendations for Students
All students entering the College of Engineering (CENG) – either as a first-time first-year students or as a transfer student – are expected to have a laptop computer for class and homework use. Tablets, Chromebooks and other similar computing devices are currently too limited to comfortably perform all the functions you are likely to need as a CENG student.
You can purchase any laptop of your choice, but we recommend it meets the requirements listed in the table below.
| Laptop Attribute | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel i5 (or higher) or AMD Ryzen 5 (or higher) |
| Memory | 16 GB (or more) |
| Storage | 512GB (or more) Solid State Drive |
| Wifi | 802.11ac integrated |
| WebCam | Integrated in laptop |
| Screen Size | 13” to 15” |
| Discrete Graphics Card | Mechanical Engineering and those studying graphics, gaming or VR in Computer Science and Engineering would benefit from a discrete graphics card for better performance. See cards compatible with Solidworks. If you do not want to get a discrete graphics card, you can up your other specs (i7 processor with at least 32GB of memory) to get better performance with graphic software. |
| Operating System |
For Computer Science and Software Engineering: MS Windows 11 (newest release) or Apple Sonoma MacOS (newest release) For all other College of Engineering Programs: MS Windows 11 (newest release) strongly recommended* *Some software used in these programs, such as SolidWorks, ArcGIS, and Vivado, are not compatible with MacOS. We strongly recommend a Windows-based machine for this reason. If using MacOS, we recommend using our department or university provided remote desktop of cloud streaming applications for coursework. |
| Anti-Virus Application | Can be your own choice or you can use the one provided through Cal Poly’s software hub |
| Microsoft Office | O365 (can also obtain through Cal Poly’s software hub) |