Computer Requirements/Recommendations for
    Prospective Students

We are often asked to recommend computer specs for incoming engineering students. The campus has established the ACT program with both Dell and Apple. Typically, we recommend the higher level of Dell laptop hardware for Engineering students, with the following specs:

• Integrated wireless network connectivity
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.00GHz) 4M L2 Cache,
  800MHz Dual Core
• 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Panel
• 2.0GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
• Internal English Keyboard
• 128MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 135M™
• 80GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
• Standard Touchpad
• No Floppy Drive
• Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP3, with media
  (We recommend XP as the majority of the computer labs in Engineering are running XP. Note that you may have to pay extra to get XP now and you must have a laptop capable of having XP installed on it. Most new machines now are Vista-Only machines.) Windows Vista is supported but it is not being used in our computer labs at this time.
• 90W A/C Adapter
• 4 Year Limited Warranty plus 4 Year NBD On-site Service and CompleteCare

This program provides a depot level, local support service for machine purchased under it.

We would also not recommend purchasing any software other than MS Office before arriving on campus. Depending on the major, the necessary software can change. We are also in the process of implementing a Citrix environment where many of the packages will be available online. I would advise delaying the software purchases as long as possible.

This page has more information about the ACT program:
www.helpdesk.umd.edu/purchasing/about.html