<p>Just an FYI for engineering students. The official info from TAMU. They highly recommend you purchase this model and starting next year it appears to be a requirement.</p>
<p><a href="http://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/byod">http://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/byod</a> </p>
<p>Interesting! So, I guess as long as your student has a hardware-compatible computer (same GHz, GB, etc.) you’re OK? There was no mention of these “preconfigured device” possessing particular software or programs that may not be found on a comparable computer. It’s a great idea, but costly!</p>
<p>I guess costly depends on your point of view. It is about $500 less than buying the same model without the university discount. Some other laptop brands may be cheaper. Latitude’s are known for reliability. </p>
<p>As it says if you have own you are OK this year but it looks like next year it will be a requirement. I wish they would make this more well known since many students will get a new computer fro graduation and starting college.</p>
<p>I don’t see any software requirements but the Dell comes with Windows 7 Pro. Obviously Office would be needed on either. Possibly some engineering specific software later.</p>
<p>As for Apple…the screen is too small IMHO and it is pricey.</p>
<p>When my first S was a freshman in 2010 he purchased Office from A&M for like $10. They sell lots of software to the students at ridiculous prices…so hold off buying the software. They told us this at the NSC for him. </p>
<p>The good news about it being a requirement is that then it would be eligible for the AOC tax credit as a qualified expense. They still sell the Office software for like $20 to students and it can be installed on up to 3 computers. I think they can only buy it one time though.</p>
<p>I’ve owned several Dell & Apple computers over the years and have used a few Dells at work. Almost all of my Dell PCs died (hard) shortly after the warranty ran out e.g., 3 years & 1-3 months after purchase. </p>
<p>So, it’s great to see that the recommended Dell has 4 years of protection including ‘accidental’ damage. Now, with only about one-third of entering engineering majors graduating in 4 years (but roughly two-thirds graduating in 5), budgeting for a replacement laptop at the 3-4 year point, if possible, is wise (as is frequently backing up your hard drive).</p>
<p>I don’t want to pick too hard on Dell, because I recently replaced hard drives in a pair of 5+ year old Apple laptops (both of which still get heavy use). One hard drive died while the other was still working, but it seemed smart to be proactive given the age. The point is not that Apple is better than Dell, but that ALL such electronic items eventually die and 4-5 years is pushing the limits of what any laptop can reasonably be expected to last. As with all electronic items, Your Mileage May Vary.</p>
<p>I give A&M credit for picking the Latitude model over the Inspiron model. The Latitude is a better built and better supported device. It is geared towards business where as the Inspiron is geared towards home use. I hope it makes the 4 years+.</p>
<p>My daughter chose Apple but my son chose Dell. Each chose what they were familiar with. We did get a 4 year warranty on the MacBook just to be safe.</p>
<p>No disagreement from me on the Latitude over the Inspiron: I’ll take business-grade over consumer-grade all day, every day. </p>
<p>My soon-to-be Aggie engineer currently uses an iMac (with the Apple Care extended warranty) in a dual-boot configuration with Windows 7 (64-bit). He spends too much time doing the computer game <em>thing</em> for my tastes, but ‘gaming’ essentially requires one to live in the Win-doze world. I view a dual-boot iMac setup as a costly, best-of-both-worlds solution. For A&M, he is wanting a (somewhat fancy) laptop made by MSI running Windows 8.1. For our laptop search, I’m using a dual-boot MacBook as the benchmark machine against which we compare candidate laptops. The MSI machines compare well. They’re just not cheap and are NOT on the A&M discount list … </p>
<p>kldat1, Thank you for posting about the computer requirement. My son purchased a new computer recently however, it was not one of the two required by A&M. I called the Engineering Department and spoke to them about their new requirements. They said my son’s computer will be fine to use. As far as any software requirements, they said to wait until he is a student to see what he will need for classes. Also by waiting until he is a student, he will get software at a deep discount. </p>
<p>aggieing - thanks for sharing. What kind of laptop does your son have? My son too has a laptop that is about 12 months old and he just got a Surface to help with note taking. I really hate to buy a new computer now. Did the Engineering Dept. say what the minimum requirements were?</p>
<p>whciv01, you’re welcome! My son has similar computer specs as the two computers the engineering department is suggesting. It was a shock to see the new computer requirements for engineering students especially if you have a new computer. Here are the two computers’ specs they are requesting that you buy:</p>
<p>Dell Latitude E6540 - $1,466.00</p>
<p>4th gen Intel® Core™ i7-4800MQ 2.7GHz, 6M cache
8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3L Memory
500GB Solid State Hybrid Drive
AMD Radeon HD 8790M Graphics 2GB GDDR5
15.6in FHD (1920x1080) Anti-Glare LED
OR</p>
<p>Apple MacBook Pro 13” - $1,729.99 </p>
<p>2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
8GB 1600MHzDDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCle-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics
13” with Retina display</p>
<p>The engineering department advisor did not say what the minimum specs are if you already have a computer. </p>
<p>Here is a tip for those of you who have not had other children/siblings go through A&M and live in the dorms, although you can have a printer that is wi-fi capable, your computer must be wired to the printer in order to print. So when you are packing up, make sure you bring all the wires for the printer and computer. </p>
<p>And don’t even think about putting in a router…they will find you!</p>
<p>Here’s a question: will wireless printing work if you use an iPhone as a local hotspot and have both laptop and printer connected to it’s wifi signal?</p>
<p>As an incoming freshman, what do y’all think about getting a mac? I would prefer a mac, but I know that with engineering it can be complicated</p>
<p>@gsb - Since the engineering website specifically lists a MacBook you should be OK to get it or a Windows device.</p>
<p>FWIW, we bought our Macs through Best Buy. They usually run a graduation special and you got a college discount too. Best Buy is located across from the campus so it can be serviced (if needed) at their geek squad. They also have a rewards card that gives you store credit. Might want to compare this years prices with the offer from school.</p>
<p>As a current engineering student, I am surprised at the specs the college of engineering wants on these computers. You do not need a $1500 dollar laptop to run the software many of these majors require. </p>
<p>aGGieENGINeeR - Are you required to purchase the new laptop or just freshman? They have said the laptops are required, but if you have one you can use it. Does that mean you can use your laptop for the first year, but will need to replace it in their sophomore year with the “required version”. </p>
<p>I tend to wonder if they are doing this mainly to allow laptop purchases to be included in grant and scholarship </p>
<p>Also, students will be using these laptops for four years, so they need to be future proof. Hardware requirements for new software get tougher every year.</p>
<p>While it is true that the software is improving, my simple $500 HP laptop got me through everything I needed to use. SolidWorks is probably the most intense software you would see freshman year. It seems the best part of the A&M laptop package is the 4 year warranty plan. </p>
<p>I’m not in school now since I am working an internship for a year. When I get back, I will not be spending money for another laptop since I figure either my high end samsung laptop or IMac desktop will work.</p>