Our Labs
At the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, you'll have free 24/7 access to the college’s computer labs, which include over 300 Windows machines. All required software for engineering and computing courses is provided in the college’s computer labs. Therefore, while recommended, a personal computer is not required to complete our degree programs.
Computer Recommendations
Students should consider how they'll use their computers in engineering and computing courses when purchasing a personal computer. For example, you may buy electronic textbooks and would be expected to bring those books to class. You may often sketch out design ideas or mathematical expressions that you'll want to share with others, and of course you'll need to submit homework assignments electronically.
Laptop or Tablet PC Example Configuration
Below are example configurations for students who are purchasing a personal computer. These configurations are capable of running many of the student versions of various engineering and computing applications, however requirements may vary by program. Due to the software requirements for many MCEC courses, Chromebooks, Macs, or ARM-Based laptops are not recommended.
Minimum
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5 or AMD Ryzen 5
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel Integrated Graphics or AMD Radeon Graphics
Storage: 512GB Solid-State Drive
Operating System: Windows 11
Recommended
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 or AMD Ryzen 7
Memory: 32 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA or AMD Dedicated Graphics
Storage: 1TB Solid-State Drive
Operating System: Windows 11
Remember, these specifications are a baseline and can be increased to extend overall life and functionality of the system. For example, increasing the RAM and having an SSD as the HD storage device can extend the life of the system an additional one to two years and improve overall performance and multitasking capabilities.
Additional Hardware
Also recommended (for dorm or at-home use) is a docking station or adapter that supports a wired (Ethernet) connection to the university network, and connection to an optional larger external display.
Software and Operating Systems
All Engineering and Computing students should have a basic office suite and anti-virus software. Microsoft Office 365 is available for free for as long as you are a student at the university. It includes the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and more for both Mac and Windows. Also included is OneDrive, an online file service that provides you with 50GB of free cloud storage to store your documents and access them from any device, anywhere.
Engineering Majors
Operating systems other than Windows are not recommended for students planning to major in engineering disciplines. Although Apple computers have become popular, many applications such as Mathcad and Pro-E do not support Macintosh. Therefore, if you plan to buy a Mac, please be aware you may not be able to complete all coursework or use all software on that computer, and will need to use the provided CEC Academic Computer Labs. Chromebooks are not supported.
Computing Majors
Students in our computing majors are encouraged to get a machine that could eventually handle dual-booting or virtualization of Linux and Windows. We recommend a minimum memory of 16GB or more in order to install two operating systems concurrently.
Calculators
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and some MCEC classes restrict calculator use to the following models:
- Texas Instruments TI-30X and TI-36X
- Casio FX-115 and FX-991 models
- Hewlett Packard HP 33s and HP 35s models
If a student prefers a graphing calculator for use where otherwise permitted, then any of these will do:
- Texas Instruments TI-84 or TI-89
- Casio FX-9700 Series or CFX-9800 Series
- Hewlett Packard HP-30 Series or HP-40 Series
Less expensive scientific calculators are also an option, including:
- Texas Instruments TI-30X and TI-36X
- Casio FX-115 and FX-991 models
- Hewlett Packard HP 33x and HP 35x models