As a Fulton School of Engineering Student You Have 2 Recommended Choices for Laptops

As a Fulton School of Engineering student you have 2 recommended choices for laptops. The two supported vendors are Dell and Apple. Dell has been the laptop of choice because it is compatible with all of the engineering applications. The applications that will only run on a pc based computer include SolidWorks, Labview, MathCAD, Pro/Engineer, and AutoCad.

With that said if you have an Apple laptop or want to buy one and need to run any of these applications there is a way to do it. You can purchase software called Parallels which is available from the ASU Computer Store in the Computing Commons building. This will allow you to install Windows in virtual memory space on your laptop. However there are a couple important things to remember before you attempt this. One is you should have at least 2 gb (preferably 4gb) of memory if you want to create large drawings in for example SolidWorks. You will also want to have a fairly new MacBook so you have enough processor speed to run these applications effectively.

When ordering a Dell laptop the preconfigured bundles are satisfactory for engineering applications however ideally it is always money well spent to upgrade the processor speed and cache and the memory. To do this click on the customize link and add what you want.

If you are ordering an Apple laptop from the website you will find there is no way to upgrade the memory. If you want more memory you will have to call the ASU Computer Store at 480-965-4488 to get pricing and instructions on how to order it.

To purchase either the Dell or the MacBook follow this link and you can select the one you want to purchase, http://gomobile.asu.edu.