All students in the School of Architecture are required to provide their own personal laptop computer that runs the Windows operating system. Additional requirements and recommendations for hardware and software are given below.

General Advice

Academic life in the School of Architecture is dependent upon personal computers for communications, scheduling, research and personal work. Computer use is also required in a number of School of Architecture courses. Here's some advice on purchasing a computer.

The University provides many software packages, such as for virus protection, for free. The University also makes educationally priced software and hardware available to students. This option can be explored along with other potential suppliers. Additional resources, including computer labs, imaging, scanning, and printing facilities are available in the school. These facilities are important supplements to personally owned computers. A required computer orientation is held for arriving students at the beginning of the academic year. 

For Incoming Undergraduate Students

If you are an incoming FIRST YEAR undergraduate intending to enter the School of Architecture, we recommend that you DO NOT purchase a brand new computer right away. Instead, we recommend that you bring with you an older computer — one used in high-school for instance, or a used, smaller, or perhaps a new but inexpensive netbook-style machine — for the first year. The computer requirement and specification listed on this page then applies to the second-year of study, when students begin their design and planning studios and more intense computer-related work. 

The first year of undergraduate education does not require a significant computer, nor the purchase of one. General email, web, and word-processing uses are prevalent during the first year. In the fall of the second year, students will begin working with graphics, CAD, and GIS modeling applications. Deferring computer purchase to the second year then allows the laptop purchased to last more effectively through the fourth year of study. Historically, many laptops purchased at entry to the first year need to be replaced prior to the fourth year of study to be effective for use with the more intense work of the later years.

For Incoming Graduate Students


Graduate students begin graphics-intense work right away, so the requirement and specifications below apply fully to entering students. The above deferral does not apply to entering graduate students.

Required Computer Configuration

New Computer Purchase

This is a mid- to high-level configuration suitable to effectively work with the most common graphics software packages used in the school.

• 2+ GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or better processor (Windows or Macintosh*)

• Windows 7** (Professional or Home) or Mac OS X

• 4 GB RAM ***

• 250 GB hard drive or greater

• 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Network

• Wireless Network (b/g, (n optional))

• CD-DVD writer strongly recommended

• 15"+ laptop screen size

• 3-year warranty strongly recommended

* Note: For students choosing Macintosh computers, the Windows operating system is available to students at UVa for $10, and can be installed to run through either BootCamp (dual-boot setup) or through a virtual machine like VM Ware Fusion or Parallels Desktop (both available at Cavalier computers). Through these, an Apple computer can run any Windows-based software used in the school.

** Note: Though most new Windows computers will come with Windows 7, both Windows XP and Windows Vista are supported at the school.

*** Note: more than 4GB of RAM is helpful for high-end graphics work, but you must have either MacOS or 64-bit Windows 7 to take advantage of this. 32-bit Windows will not see more than 3.3 GB of RAM.

Existing Computer

If you already have a laptop computer that you wish to bring, this is a minimum standard that you should target to make this machine usable for software you will be running at the school.

• 2 GHz + (single) processor speed

• Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 (Professional or Home) or MacOS X 10.4 +

• 2 GB RAM absolute minimum

• 160 GB hard drive or greater

• 10/100 mbps Ethernet

• Recommended Wireless Network Card

• CD-RW/DVD reader

• 15"+ laptop screen size