College of Engineering Instructional Technology

This section is for prospective or incoming Engineering Freshmen and Students who are seeking information regarding personal computing purchases. The following tips and guidlines are designed to assist you in making smart decisions regarding purchases for your personal computing needs as an engineering student at Rowan University.

Recommendations for Hardware Purchases

  1. Keep in mind that you’ll want your computer purchase to last approximately four years.  Make a purchase that is state-of-the-art technology while minding your budget.  Use the recommended minimum specifications below as a guideline.
  2. Students are welcomed to purchase Mac Desktops or Notebooks for personal use. Please note that note, however, that not all applications used within the college of engineering are available for the OSX operating system.
  3. Eng IT highly recommends you make your purchase from Dell or Hewlett Packard (HP).  Rowan has an operating agreement with these two vendors that will allow our Dell or HP Certified IT Staff to make repairs and order overnight replacement parts (while under warranty) for almost any model Desktop or Notebook without having to deal with the manufactures’ tech support personnel. 
  4. Understand that Engineering students that purchase their own PC will still rely heavily on the computer labs in the Engineering building.  The engineering software used in conjunction with engineering courses is specially purchased and licensed for instruction purposes.  This software is often extremely costly and licensed for Rowan lab PCs only (Rowan Engineering IT Staff will not install software on any student PC).  Typically, most Engineering software applications are only available to institutions and business, and will not be available for individual sale.
  5. Rowan University no longer supports Floppy Disk media.  Instead, we highly recommend that students invest in Flash Memory Sticks (USB Keys).  These can be purchased at any retail electronics store or via online vendors such as Amazon.com.  A 1.0 GB USB Key or higher is recommended.
  6. Rowan Hall (the Engineering Building) is outfitted with a wall-to-wall 802.11g (54 Mb/s) wireless network. 

Notebook or Laptop Purchases (minimal required specifications)

  • Smaller (14” or 15”) screens are highly recommended.  Large 17” or Widescreen displays tend to add significant weight to a notebook.  The less it weighs, the easier it will be to lug across campus.
  • Required Minimal Specifications are
    • 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU
    • 2 GB Memory
    • 80 GB Hard Drive
    • Built-in wireless 802.11g

Desktop Purchases (minimal required specifications)

  • 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 (or Pentium Dual Core)
  • 2 GB Memory
  • 80 GB Hard Drive
  • 10/100 Network Interface Card

Recommended Software

  • Microsoft Office Applications: Word, Excel, Power Point (available in a package called Microsoft Student)
  • Virus Scan Software: McAfee

For Further Information

For further information regarding these recommendations, or other questions, feel free to contact the Help Desk at any time.  You may reach the office directly during typical business hours (Weekdays, 9am to 4pm during Spring & Fall Semesters).