Required Laptop Program

Architecture at UIC engages contemporary methods of architectural design and presentation. In support of this, the school requires that all students own and bring to studio a laptop computer. This policy affords students the best possible design education. The advanced software used by architecture students requires more powerful and more expensive laptops than those that are used by other students. The financial aid formula for incoming undergraduates and first year graduates already considers the added expenses of the required laptop program.

Below is a list of general laptop computer and software requirements for students entering the school in Fall 2009.

Laptop Computer Minimum Specifications

Processor: Intel Core2 @ 2.00 GHz
Memory (RAM): 1 GB RAM
Hard Drive Storage: 100 GB, 7200 RPM
Removable Storage: DVD+/-R
Video: Fully Open GL compliant video card with 256 MB dedicated memory
Ethernet: Gigabit integrated controller 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
Wireless Ethernet Card: Only 802.11g cards with support for 802.1x with EAP-TTLS. More...
Operating System: Windows XP or Vista, any edition except "Home Edition"
Warrantee & Insurance: 3 or 4 year extended warrantee; separate policies are required to cover damage, spillage and theft.

Suggested laptop computers:

Apple Computers
15” or 17” MacBook Pro NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics + 9600M GT (256MB or 512MB GDDR3 memory) graphics processor.
UIC's Micro/Station includes special MacBook Pro packages. Additional software is needed to run Windows on a MacBook Pro.

Lenovo
W700
W500

Hewlett-Packard
8710w
8510w

Dell
Precision M6400
Precision M6300
Precision M4400: UIC's Micro/Station is now offering a special discounted rate for the Dell M4400. Please visit their site for more information.

Software

The software students will be exposed to changes constantly but includes: AutoCAD, Maya, 3ds Max, Rhinoceros, Maxwell and more.

Adobe Creative Suite Professional Design 3 includes required programs Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat Professional. Education-priced copies are available from the UIC Bookstore, JourneyEd.com and other sources.

Wordprocessing, Spreadsheet, Presentation software such as MS Office, Wordperfect Office or StarOffice. MS Office is available as a student version from the UIC Bookstore.

AutoCAD, 3ds Max and certain other Autodesk products are available for download as Educational Versions with student account at http://students.autodesk.com You must possess a UIC email address.

Anti-Virus: UIC provides the latest version of Symantec Anti-Virus to all students at no cost from ACCC.

Rev. 6.10.2009