Computing Facilities Help Desk

Recommendations for Computers and Accessories: Memory, Storage, Operating systems, and Software

Though the Clark School of Engineering and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department do not have minimum computer requirements, we can offer students recommendations for computer purchases as well as an idea of the kinds of software that will be used.

We recommend a laptop for portability. It does represent a higher cost than a desktop but ultimately it may be worth it. For a laptop, we recommend 1 GB of RAM and a reasonable CPU (AMD or Intel does not matter — do not get the latest unless you want to spend the money — one or two speeds back from the fastest is usually the sweet spot — dual core is nice but not required). We suggest checking Microsoft's site for the minimum graphics requirements for Vista as this will undoubtedly meet all graphics requirements for any EE software but we recommend sticking with Windows XP at this point.

You will need a CD ROM but a floppy isn't required (almost all of the optical drives will read DVDs but many won't write them - writing DVDs is not a requirement but you will want to be able to write CDs). We recommend a USB key if you do not already have one to make it easy to move files to/from lab machines and your laptop. We recommend a 40 GB drive at a minimum (80+ GB is probably a better target especially if you plan to store pictures and/or music). Unless battery life is imperative, we recommend a 7200 RPM drive as it is significantly faster than a 5400 RPM drive.

We also recommend an external backup drive. They are not too expensive and can save you if you have hard drive issues. If you have a desktop, you could use that for backup rather than an external drive. We provide a network drive that you can store school work on which is backed up but you cannot use it to store music, video, etc.

Recommendations for Software:

The software you use will depend upon the classes that you will be taking and some of it cannot be installed on student laptops due to licensing issues. We can offer a quick summary of the software that should work on your laptop. Do not purchase the software that isn't free until you need it, as different professors use different software.

- Cadence PSPICE (can be installed on laptop but requires network connectivity to check out license)

- Matlab (can be installed on laptop but requires network connectivity to check out license). Student version is available as well if you want to work offline or you want specific toolboxes.

- National Instruments LabView (can buy a student version for around $80 - don't buy until you enroll in a class that requires it)

- Modelsim (free starter license is available)

- X Windows for graphical access to Unix/Linux systems (can get free versions such as xming, xfree86, etc.)

- SSH for text access to Unix/Linux systems (free versions such as putty)

- Assorted cygwin related programs (free but don't install them unless the professor requires them or you want them - the list varies with class and professor). You may not need to bother with Cygwin if you already have linux available but it may depend on what the professor requires.

There are a bunch of other basic programs such as Adobe reader, a word processor, a spreadsheet program that would be helpful, as well. There are usually academic discounts. Check out http://www.oit.umd.edu/slic for software licensing deals associated with UMD.

Recommendations regarding Operating Systems:

Some of the Engineering software will not run on a Mac operating system, so students may find the greatest utility using Windows. However, a Mac should enable students to easily access the Glue system, which has most of the software that is used for ECE classes.

It really comes down to preference. Windows may be a better fit for the ECE environment, but a Mac will work as well.

For additional questions, please contact the ECE Help Desk.

Updated August 2007

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