Tech Tip of the Week: Laptop Requirements!

Graduate Laptop Requirements

The iSchool requires that all masters, Ph.D., and CAS students own a laptop. The laptop must run Windows 10 or macOS (10.14 or newer). Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones are not adequate.

Several courses use Windows applications, which Mac users will need to be able to run through dual-booting or a virtualization utility (such as Parallels or VirtualBox).

Minimum recommendations:

  • Processor:
    • Core i5 1.7GHz dual-core or better
  • RAM:
    • 8GB (12GB if attempting virtualization)
  • Hard Drive:
    • 250GB HDD/SSD or greater
  • Display Resolution:
    • 1920×1080 or greater
  • Administrator Access:
    • You must have an administrator account on the laptop
  • Warranty:
    • 2-year or greater warranty highly recommended.

For online courses, you will also need a headset with a microphone. Suggestions and more details here.

If you have concerns about this requirement or if you are uncertain if your current laptop will be acceptable, please contact the School’s Help Desk at (217) 244-4903, (800) 377-1892, ischool-support@illinois.edu, or through our TechChat. You can also find FAQs about the requirement here.

Undergraduate Laptop Requirements

A personal laptop is strongly recommended for all undergraduate students in the School of Information Sciences, and may be required for certain courses, but is not a requirement for the program at this time.

There is not a specific laptop recommended, it would primarily be based on student preference, and may be different depending on the types of courses a student may take (such as HCI/UX may use Adobe products and have a strong design component, and data science/data analytics may want to increase the Processor/RAM/Hard Drive).

The laptop must run Windows 10 or MacOS (10.12 or newer). Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones are not adequate. Several courses use Windows applications, which Mac users will need to be able to run through dual booting or a virtualization utility (such as Parallels or VirtualBox).

For online courses, you will also need a headset with a microphone. Suggestions and more details here.

If you have concerns about this requirement or if you are uncertain if your current laptop will be acceptable, please contact the School’s Help Desk at (217) 244-4903, (800) 377-1892, ischool-support@illinois.edu, or through our TechChat.

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