Students at UB are required to have access to a computer-access beyond what is provided in the University's public computing sites and School's labs. While ownership is not strictly required, ninety-eight percent of UB's students owned a computer, and most will find it essential for success in their academic pursuits. If you already have a computer, this site and the iconnect@UB site, will help determine if it complies with UB's and the School's support standards to ensure that it meets your needs for discipline-specific work in the School. Note: While the University specification provides recommendations for several different computing platforms, due to system integration issues in the School of Architecture and Planning, we do not currently recommend or support the Macintosh or Linux platforms.
Information on the University computing requirement can be found at:
The above site provides a MINIMUM guide of system requirements mandated by the University. However, due to the data-intensive and graphic-intensive nature of computer based work undertaken in the School of Architecture and Planning, the following upgrades to the minimum requirements are necessary:
- Processor: no Celeron.
- RAM: 1GB minimum; 2GB recommended.
- Hard drive: 60GB minimum.
- Removable storage: DVD+/RW burner and a 1GB thumb drive.
- Display: 17" minimum; larger recommended.
- Graphics card: 128MB minimum video memory; OpenGL compatible graphics card with 128MB video memory recommended for Architecture majors.
Additionally, students should acquire a supply of storage media (cd-r, cd-rw, dvd-r or dvd-rw) for storing and backing up their projects. Architecture majors must also have access to a 5+ megapixel digital camera with 256MB memory (minimum) for documenting their work and completing other course assignments.
Suggested Software
In addition to software required as part of the University computing requirement as detailed at http://www.buffalo.edu/iconnect/1_need.htm, the following discipline specific software is also suggested:
Undergraduate and Graduate Architecture Majors
All software is available at special discounted educational pricing through UBMicro, UB's on-campus not-for-profit computer store.
Laptop vs. Desktop
This will be the never ending question that incoming students must face while purchasing of a personal computer. With the university becoming more and more wireless everyday, most students are finding it convenient to own a laptop that can be used almost anywhere on campus. With the advantage of being mobile with your computer also comes some liabilities. If purchasing a laptop, please consider buying a security lock cable for the laptop to secure it whenever you might leave it unattended.