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COMPUTER HARDWARE
REQUIRED /
RECOMMENDED
University of Houston
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
Tools/Media List
It is required that you have a functioning computer while
attending the College of Architecture and Design. Ideally
the computer you buy for Freshman Year will last for
your whole program. If you purchase a laptop with the
recommended specifications, this will be more likely to
be possible. Each new version of software requires
higher performing hardware.
For more information on these specifications in relation
to some of the software use at the College, please see
these links:
Autodesk Revit Recommendions
Lumion Recommendations
Rhino Computer Recommendations
Solidworks Computer Recommendations
Operating System
Minimum System Specifications
Estimated Cost = $1600
Notes
Apple computers are not recommended
as many of the primary applications used
in the field do not run on MacOS.
Screen Size
15"
15" with touchscreen
If you have or purchase a tablet in
addition to the laptop, there is no need
for the touchscreen on the laptop.
Processor
i7 Intel Processor i9 Intel Processor
9th or 10th Generation Intel processors or
AMD equivalent are recommended. More
cores are generally better.
Memory 16 GB
32 GB or more
Look up the graphics card on Passmark. A
score of 6000 is the minimum needed to
run Lumion while 10,000 - 16,000 is
recommended. See
here
for more info.
Hard Drive
500 GB SSD (Solid State Drive) 1 TB SSD (Solid State Drive)
NVIDIA or AMD with 4 GB RAM
NVIDIA or AMD with 6 GB RAM or more
Graphics Card
Warranty and Insurance
3- year warranty
Theft and Damage insurance
3- year warranty
Theft and Damage insurance
Accessories
Mouse, Data backup to cloud service
and/or external SSD, Camera, External
monitor, Security cable, Padded Sleeve
Mouse, Data backup to cloud service
and/or external SSD, Camera, External
monitor, Security cable, Padded Sleeve
Recommended System Specifications
Estimated Cost = $2000 - $3000
Windows 10 64- bit Windows 10 64- bit
