Close up of the CEL

Tech requirements

Computer Science, Cybersecurity, & Data Science

Each student is required to have a reliable laptop capable of running software provided by the university, such as JetBrains IDEs, Jupyter Lab, Visual Studio, Wireshark, and other compilers and related programs. The following minimum specifications for a laptop are strongly recommended for students pursuing a major in the department. Non-majors in intro-level courses such as CPSC 1030, 2020, 2040, and 2080 should have a laptop but are not expected to meet these requirements.

  • CPU: Modern 64 bit processor with at least four physical cores
  • RAM: 16 GB (32 GB recommended)
  • Storage Capacity: 500 GB
  • Connectivity: Ethernet port (USB adaptor OK); Micro-SD reader (USB adaptor OK)

Most modern operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) should work fine; though Windows or Linux is preferred for cybersecurity majors. The minimum cost for a machine that meets the listed requirements is $600 (Windows) and $1400 (Apple). Virtual machine software, the Cyber Security Engineering Lab, and cloud compute resources will also be provided to support running required software.