University of South Florida

School of Architecture & Community Design

USF College of Design, Art & Performance

Required Laptop Policy

(Revised: 06.26.2025)

General Introduction

In order to successfully complete SACD course learning activities and degree programs, students enrolled in ARC 5361 Core Design 1 and other graduate level studio must provide a personal computer in the studio during studio class meetings. In order to meet this requirement, the SACD strongly recommends that students purchase a LAPTOP COMPUTER capable of running the software specified below.

A laptop computer allows students to conduct the majority of digital work, which is an integral instrument within architectural design education and professional practice, in the design studio. The studio is the primary place for the exchange of design ideas, critique, and synthesis, and the faculty at SACD believes that student's’ regular presence in the studio is critical for maximizing their architectural design learning.

The laptop is preferred over a desktop in order to address the limited design studio space available to each student. The mobility of the laptop allows the student to easily and quickly transform a relatively small desk space into a variety of configurations suitable for physical model making, hand-drawing, hand-drafting, design research, and design writing as well as digital drawing, modeling, graphic design, and digital fabrication.

SACD will continue to maintain more powerful systems in the computer instructional laboratory for intensive computing requirements when they are not being used for scheduled classes. Students may begin their digital work on their laptops and, if needed, transfer files to the teaching lab computers for final development.

Because the laptop is an educational requirement at SACD, some of the cost of a new computer purchase may be factored when determining a student's financial need. Qualifying guidelines change occasionally, so are best requested directly from the USF Office of Financial Aid. Please review these guidelines prior to choosing and purchasing a computer. The decision regarding a student's eligibility for a budget adjustment may take six to eight weeks, so students are strongly encouraged to plan ahead. For those that cannot include a laptop in their financial aid, the USF Federal Credit Union is one source for additional loans.

 

SACD Hardware Specifications

The USF IT Service Desk provides support for MyUSF, email accounts, workstations, connecting remotely to USF resources, business systems and more. Visit USF IT’s Remote Resources for more information. 

Please note that the SACD advises against the purchase of a Mac because some software products, like REVIT and Enscape, are not available for Mac operating systems. While they can be run on some Mac systems with Bootcamp software and Windows 10 installed (at additional expense), they run less efficiently. 

An extended on-site warranty for hardware is strongly recommended. 

  • CPU/Processor Recommended: 14th gen Intel Core (i9 or better) or AMD Ryzen (7 or better)
  • RAM Minimum: 32 GB, strongly recommended; 16 GB expandable to 32 minimum;
    Graphics: “Discrete” Graphics Card Only – 8 GB min; >18,000 PassMark G3D Points required (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, AMD Radeon RX 7900M, etc.)
  • Display Minimum: FHD (1920 x 1080) or better
  • Storage Minimum: Solid State Drive (SSD) – 1 TB or higher
  • Ports: HDMI, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer; USB 3.0 or newer; Headset
  • Mouse: 3 Button Scroll-Wheel
  • Operating System Minimum: Windows 11 64-bit or higher
     

SACD Software Specifications

All computers used on the university networks must have up to date software security patches and up to date antivirus software.

Before buying a hardware system with preloaded software, review the software that USF provides to students at no cost (e.g. Microsoft 365) and compare the hardware vendor’s software prices with academic student pricing available on USF’s software catalog or elsewhere. The following software expectation comprises a basic software set-up for most design learning activities. Additional software may be expected for individual courses.  

When comparing prices, ask for the academic version and be prepared to provide proof of student status.

Always be sure to download software from an authorized site.

  • Anti-virus Software: USF IT does not recommend specific Antivirus software for personal use. AVG Anitvirus is a free, downloadable product that provides basic protection.
  • Word Processing: Microsoft 365. USF provides the full Microsoft 365 suite for free to all students, faculty and staff.
  • Image Editing: Adobe Photoshop (Part of Adobe Creative Cloud – download available free to students upon Special Request from the USF IT Software Catalog.)
  • Desktop Publishing &  Illustration: Adobe InDesign & Illustrator (Part of Adobe Creative Cloud – download available free to students upon Special Request from the USF IT Software Catalog.)
  • Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD): Academic version. (Download available free to students via Autodesk Education Community)
  • Building Information Modeling (BIM): Autodesk Revit Architecture ((Download available free to students via Autodesk Education Community)
  • 3D Modeling & Rendering: As directed by a course instructor or otherwise preferred by the individual student.