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College of Design

  • After completing the Core (usually 2nd year), undergraduate students admitted into a Design major and Design graduate programs are presented with the opportunity to purchase a laptop through the College of Design Laptop Program. Click here to learn more about this program.
  • Architecture, Community & Regional Planning, BPMI, GIS, Industrial Design, Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture departments recommend Windows OS platform because select applications used in these majors may only be available for PCs/Windows OS. Windows can be run on a Mac using BootCamp or an application like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, but IT support for this will be limited and computer performance may be affected. The newest Apple M1 processor is not currently capable of running BootCamp. If you select an Apple with this processor you will need to utilize the College of Design computer labs to complete some of your classwork. Some software within the Interior Design program (and possibly others) will require your computer to have a discrete graphics card. These can be found in the Dell XPS 15 and Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro.If you choose a computer without this style of card you will need to utilize the College of Design computer labs. We recommend speaking with your advisor or College IT staff to determine what will work best for your needs.
  • Graphic Design and some Integrated Studio Arts users tend to prefer Apple’s Mac OS X platform, but there is not an official preference specified, and the configuration is the user’s choice.
    • Minimum/Economic: BPMI majors or those needing a computer until admitted into major program and wanting to participate in College of Design Laptop Program.
    • Recommended: Matches the College of Design Laptop program specifications since these are the recommended minimums for most majors within the college.
    • High Performance/Advanced: For majors that work with 3D modeling, animation, etc. to include additional memory, hard drive space, graphics card upgrades. Contact us at techcyteorder@iastate.edu to place a special order.

    Visit the College of Design computer requirements website for more information.


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    The computers listed in the links above are based typical use recommendations and specifications listed on the College of Design website for current computer models available to purchase at TechCyte.