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Student Computer Purchasing

As a WCU student you are required to have a laptop when you come to campus. Below you will find information about our minimum and recommended computer specifications, including some majors that have special requirements. WCU offers an Education discount through Apple and Dell, visit apple.wcu.edu and dell.wcu.edu to learn more. All WCU Faculty, Staff, and Students get free access to Microsoft Office 365 for their personal devices. View our setup guide.

Campus Computer Specifications

Campus Minimum Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor
8GB Ram
>250GB Hard Disk Drive
Campus Recommended Mac OS 10.15 Catalina or Windows 10
Intel i7 9th generation or AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
>8GB Ram
>500GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
College of Arts & Sciences
World Languages
Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor
8GB Ram
>250GB Hard Disk Drive
College of Arts & Sciences
English, History, and Philosophy and Religion
Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor
8GB Ram
>500GB Hard Disk Drive
College of Arts & Sciences
Communication
Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor
16GB Ram
>500GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
College of Arts & Sciences
Biology, Chemistry & Physics, and Criminology & Criminal Justice
Windows 10 (PC or a Mac running Windows)
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor (Processor must be at least 2.2GHz)
8GB Ram
>500GB Hard Disk Drive
College of Business Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor
8GB Ram
>250GB Hard Disk Drive
College of Education and Allied Professions Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processorr
8GB Ram
>250GB Hard Disk Drive
College of Engineering & Technology Windows Operating System
At least 8GB Ram
At least a 15" screen
An advanced graphic card to handle 3D graphics processing
Recommended Computer: Dell Precision Series
College of Fine & Performing Arts Mac OS 10.14 or Higher
2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, with 6MB shared L3 cache or 3.1GHZ quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz, with 8MB shared L3 cache
Intel iris Plus Graphics 640, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 or Radeon Pro 555 with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching Intel HD Graphics 630
8 GB Ram
>500GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
Other Recommendations: 15" Screen
College of Fine & Performing Arts
Interior Design Program
Windows 10 64-bit only
3+ GHz Processor
16GB Ram
>500GB Hard Disk Drive
Other Recommendations: Program does not recommend Mac, PCs are required to run the software programs. A display card with 4 GB GPU with 106 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant.
College of Fine & Performing Arts
Graphic Design Program

MacBook Pro - Minimum Recommended

  • Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
  • 32GB unified memory
  • 1TB SSD storage
  • 96W USB-C Power Adapter
  • 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display
  • Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 port
  • Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English

Windows Laptop - Minimum Recommended

  • 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700H
  • Windows 11 Home
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3050 Ti
  • 32 GB Memory
  • 1 TB SSD
  • 15.6", 3.5K 3456x2160
College of Heath & Human Sciences Mac OS 10.14 Mojave (or higher) or Windows 10
Intel i5 7th generation or AMD Phenom II Processor
8GB Ram
>500GB Solid State Drive
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