Recommendations for Student Computer Purchases

The College of Engineering does not require students to purchase or own a computer. Many students have their own computers, a matter of personal preference.

For those who do wish to have a computer at college, Kansas State University's Guidelines for student computer purchases may be used. The College of Engineering has no special guidelines or additional requirements.

Both K-State and the College of Engineering provide many computing resources as part of the information technology environment. For this reason, new students may wish to defer making a decision about purchasing a computer until after they have been on campus for some time and are more familiar with the resources available to them.

Listed here are some specifics regarding the College of Engineering's information technology environment (Last updated May 2006):

• The College provides open-access computer laboratories, available to all Engineering students, with all course software provided. These laboratories have full Internet access. The College also provides printing services and network file storage space to students.
• The College tends to use mostly Microsoft Windows computers, with a small community of Linux/UNIX users and a smaller community of Apple Macintosh users.
• The College provides wireless access covering nearly all areas in the engineering buildings, and also offers wired network connections in several public areas in engineering buildings.
• A high-resolution monitor, a video card with 64 MBytes of video memory or more, and extra system memory (1GByte or more) can be beneficial when using upper-level engineering design and analysis software, e.g., AutoCAD, ANSYS, Pro/ENGINEER, and ArcView.