Laptop Recommendations

The short answer is “YES”. 

We require all our students to have their own personal laptop computer.  Your laptop will become part of your everyday tools. By the end of the course, we want you to become proficient in managing your own laptop, including all the software installed on it. You will find such transferable skills invaluable for your future.

Unlike what many people think, the speed/performance of your laptop is probably least important. You will only need a very fast computer on rare occasions, and you can always use the Department’s loan laptops for such applications. Instead, here are the two most important factors:

• Weight – you will be carrying your laptop in your bag most of the time, so choosing a light-weight laptop is crucial. There is a reduced risk of you hurting your back.

• Battery endurance – your laptop battery lasting for the entire day at College is another important factor; it saves you having to carry the charger with you.

For these reasons, we strongly discourage you from purchasing a gaming laptop. They are heavy and their batteries do not last long.

Your personal laptop can run either Windows or Apple’s OS X. We do not recommend you run Linux because many software packages we use on our degree program are not compatible with it.  However, all applications software used on the course will run on Windows 11, and most of them also have a version that runs on Apple’s OS X operating system.

Many students on our programme purchase a M1/M2/M4 MacBook. They are particularly good for “creative” work. However, be aware that your computer may not work with a very small number of Windows-only software packages. This is not a problem; we have 24 loan laptops for you to use while in the building (see below). This issue may be resolved eventually as MacBook gains more followings among university students.

The Department has 36 laptops that you may borrow for a 4-hour loan session. There are 24 PCs and 12 MacBooks available on a first-come-first-served basis. These laptops are in self-service secure lockers operated using your Imperial College ID card. Borrowing a laptop is like borrowing a library book - if you do not return it within the due period, you may incur a fine.

We do not make official recommendations on specific models. However, it is worth noting that the department’s loan laptops are the following models:

• Apple: MacBook Pro 13”, 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD drive
• PC: HP EliteBook 840 G5, i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive, 15” display (or similar models)

Your personal laptop should have at least 8GB of RAM (if your budget allows, we recommend you consider upgrading to 16GB) and at least 512GB of disk storage.

Although your SSD drive must not be smaller than 256GB, we recommend you consider purchasing one that is between 512GB to 1TB. Otherwise, you may need to offload your photos, videos and music to a SSD external disk drive.

We provide access to any software you may need for the course. Imperial College has agreements with many companies, such that students may install some software free of charge on their own personal machines. We currently provide all MEng students an annual Adobe Creative Cloud licence. Further information on this will be provided by your Module Leader at the start of term.

There is no right or wrong answer to this question; it depends on your budget and the trade-offs you are willing to make. An Apple Mac is more expensive than an average PC, but likely to last longer. Many of our students use a PC and are happy with that. Likewise, many other students would vouch for an Apple MacBook!

You are strongly advised against purchasing a desktop machine. Instead, you may want to buy a lightweight external monitor and connect your laptop to it. This configuration is much more portable and useful.

If you, for whatever reason, are unable to buy your own laptop, please discuss this with Professor Peter Cheung at the start of term.

There are various printers around College that you can use to print your files, but they will be charged on a per-page basis. If you intend to print lots of paper copies, it may be cheaper if you use your own printer. However, we encourage our students to minimise printing and use online documents where possible. All coursework is submitted online in electronic form.

Most students have found a USB memory stick essential and a large capacity external hard disk (at least 1TB) useful for back up and transfer of files.

Purchasing a three-button mouse is advisable for Computer Aided Drawing classes.

Some students have found owning a tablet and a stylus (e.g. Apple Pencil) helpful, particularly when making electronic notes. However, this is not essential.

You do not need to pay for your own cloud-based storage (e.g. iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox). Imperial College provides each student with secure file space. See:

OneDrive for Business | Administration and support services | Imperial College London

Adobe Creative Cloud (Adobe CC) is a suite of creative software that is used in almost all our design-related modules. All our MEng students will be provided with their own personal Adobe Creative Cloud licence. Please do not purchase or subscribe to any software for the degree programme as we will provide this.

Contact Professor Peter Cheung at p.cheung@imperial.ac.uk with any questions relating to your personal laptop requirements.