<p>I'm going to be a freshman at the University of Florida in the fall, and I know that some of the courses for engineers require higher-end computers. My only concern is the courses that require 3D rendering. On the school website, they advise at least 4GB RAM with a 1GB dedicated graphics card. My laptop has 8GB RAM with an integrated graphics card. Even though the graphics card is integrated, shouldn't this work fine? Even if it uses 1GB of the RAM i still should have plenty of RAM for the rest of the program, right?</p>
<p>Your laptop is fine. For any, really CPU/GPU intensive applications, you’ll be able to use PCs/workstations in the labs. </p>
<p>@Gator88NE they have workstations in the labs for every student? Because I can’t imagine everyone will have laptops capable of what is needed</p>
<p>Sure they do (have enough PCs), not everyone needs a workstation at the same time! You’ll find that the workstations are only required when using something like CAD or Solidworks. Most of your applications will run on a laptop. </p>
<p>Gater88NE as usual is right. UF has gigantic computer labs in all departments of engineering. There is always a computer available for me, but I barely need to use them.</p>
<p>Another point is some of the higher level software requires very expensive licenses and you can only use them in the labs. This may be the case for you.</p>
<p>Besides that, I have ran large software on my own laptop before, which is a four year old machine.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>