College Guidance
ALL NEW UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS entering UNC Charlotte are required to have a personal laptop computer to support their college experience. In addition, some colleges have additional requirements or recommendations:
| College | Additional Requirements / Recommendations |
|---|---|
| Belk College of Business | All students are required to have a laptop with the Windows operating system. |
| Cato College of Education | No additional requirements. |
| College of Arts + Architecture: School of Architecture | The NinerReady computer may not meet your needs. Faculty recommend a computer with a dedicated processor comparable to Intel® Core™ i9-13900H and a graphics card comparable to the NVIDIA® RTX™ 3500 Ada Generation, a computer with 32 GB RAM, a hard drive with 512 GB SSD storage, an external mouse, Adobe Creative Cloud software, and Rhino 3D Modeling software. |
| College of Arts + Architecture: Digital Arts Majors | If you are a Digital Media, Graphic Design, or Illustration student, the NinerReady computer may not meet your needs. Faculty recommend laptops be capable of running the latest version of Adobe CC, which includes video editing. Since our labs are equipped with iMacs, faculty recommend a MacBook with a M1 Processor (or newer), at least 32 GB of memory (RAM), and 1 TB SSD internal storage. Should you choose a Windows laptop, faculty recommend an Intel Core 8 Processor or newer, at least 32 GB of memory (RAM), 6 – 8 GB of video memory (GPU), 1 TB SSD internal storage. Additional recommendations include an external mouse, an external 2 – 4 TB SSD drive, and a drawing tablet. |
| College of Computing and Informatics | No additional requirements |
| College of Health and Human Services | No additional requirements |
| College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences | No additional requirements. |
| College of Science | No additional requirements. |
| The William States Lee College of Engineering | The hardware recommendations are required for Engineering students. See the NinerTech Store for more details. |
Apple’s new Mac Books (with an M1 chip) require a Virtual machine (ARM only). The latest version of Parallels Desktop may meet this need and can be purchased from https://software.charlotte.edu.