Computer Selection Recommendations for Engineering Students

Choosing an appropriate computer is a very important decision for incoming students in the College of Engineering. The University of Iowa has discount schedules with several computer manufacturers. Information on these contracts can be found at http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/demo/. You will need your HawkID and password to enter this website. This is the same user account and password that you use with ISIS. Please shop around, the University usually has good prices from vendors but there are sometimes better specials available to consumers.

The College of Engineering provides a number of computing resources for students. Students will need to use the College computer labs for access to some software due to license restrictions. Most student computer usage on personal machines will be for communications, document creation, information access and the course software that accompanies many textbooks.

Several of these specifications have been updated to accommodate the latest release of the Microsoft Windows platform, Vista.

**Desktop Recommendation**
Item	Recommendation	Comment
Processor	Any dual or quad core CPU	Dual core chips have significantly better performance in multitasking.
Memory	Minimum of 3 GB – more is better	Vista will need at least 1GB for reasonable performance.
Hard Drive	500 GB or larger	More is always better in hard drives
Optical Drive	Dual Layer DVD Burner	This is probably your primary backup solution. Burn critical files to disk on a regular basis.
Graphics	Dedicated video card with ATI or Nvidia chipset with at least 256 MB of RAM	Many engineering applications require this type of graphics hardware for reasonable performance. This will also be necessary to support the Aero interface in Vista
Network	Ethernet either 10/100 or 10/100/1000
Display	17” or larger LCD – DVI input is recommended	LCD’s using the standard VGA analog input tend to develop display quality issues over time due to the analog to digital conversion.
Operating System	Windows Vista	OS upgrades are available to students from the IMU bookstore at dramatically reduced prices under the Microsoft Campus License
Anti-Virus software	Symantec Antivirus is available from the University at no extra charge
Office Software	Microsoft Office is available from the IMU bookstore at dramatically reduced prices under the Microsoft Campus License

**Laptop Recommendation**
Item	Recommendation	Comment
Processor	Intel Core Duo or AMD Turion 64	The Intel dual core chips have significantly better performance in multitasking.
Memory	Minimum of 2-3 GB – more is better	Vista will need at least 1GB for reasonable performance.
Hard Drive	80 GB or larger	More is always better in hard drives
Optical Drive	Dual Layer DVD Burner	This is probably your primary backup solution. Burn critical files to disk on a regular basis.
Graphics	Dedicated video chipset from ATI or Nvidia with at least 128 MB of memory for Video	Many engineering applications require this type of graphics hardware for reasonable performance. This will also be necessary to support the Aero interface in Vista
Network	Ethernet either 10/100 or 10/100/1000 Wi-Fi 802.11 A/B/G	The Engineering College wireless network supports both the A and G connections but the A connection has proven more reliable and has better performance.
Weight	Easy machine to move back and forth between home and school: 6 – 9 lbs Machine that will be taken to class or the library occasionally: 4.5 – 6.5 lbs Machine that will be taken to class everyday: 3 – 5.5 lbs	The more often the machine is moved around the lighter you want the machine to be. The tradeoff is cost and to a lesser extent functionality. Most students choose the middle choice and don’t carry the laptop everyday.
Display	This is primarily a function of the weight class chosen above. The heavy machines will probably have 17” displays. The middle machines will have 14.1” to 15.4” displays and the light weight machines will have 14.1” or smaller displays.	Be careful choosing the display resolution. The highest resolution laptop displays may need the text sizes increased in windows in order to be comfortable to read. This can cause unusual behavior in some dialog boxes.
Carrying Case	A carrying case is strongly recommended.	The backpack style notebook carrying cases are popular.
Input devices	An external keyboard and an external optical mouse	These are very handy for long sessions of typing or editing.
Operating System	Windows Vista	OS upgrades are available to students from the IMU bookstore at dramatically reduced prices under the Microsoft Campus License
Anti-Virus software	Symantec Antivirus is available from the University at no charge
Office Software	Microsoft Office is available from the IMU bookstore at dramatically reduced prices under the Microsoft Campus License