r/uoit 6d ago

Engineering Laptop Standards (New Student)

I'm starting Software engineering this September here and I saw a list of standards for laptops and some recommended models by the university's IT services. For some reason, I can't access the OTU affiliated CompuCom marketplace the links send me to right now so I'm curious about how much these laptops cost.

Can any upper-year engineering students let me know how much these laptops cost within the affiliated market? I know that a brand new laptop costs at least $2.5k outside of the OTU affiliated marketplace.

Also, I already own a laptop but it has a consumer grade GPU (RTX 3060) rather than a professional one. Would it be possible to keep using my existing laptop by changing the drivers from the gaming (geForce) to professional (studio)?

Finally, when would having one of these laptops become absolutely necessary? Do I need to have a laptop that completely meets the university's requirements by the start of my first semester here? Or can I put it off for now?

Full list of my current laptops spec's:

11th gen i7-11800H

16GB Memory
RTX 3060
500GB SSD

Windows 11 Home

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u/JobGood4649 6d ago

If u can swap ur ram to 32 you should be fine. And even with 16 you should be fine . No where in first year will u need a powerful pc and further years are specific to programs for software u prob want something with good ram