Updated 3/14/2024

School of Architecture Requirements

Minimum Recommended Hardware

Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-13980HX Processor or higher; ; 

Memory:  16GB or higher 

Graphics Card:  8GB discrete graphics card or higher ; NVIDIA RTX recommended

Primary Storage:  500 GB solid state drive or higher 

Display: 15" or more

Backup: External hard drive or cloud service 

Networking: Dual-Band (2.4GHz/5GHz) Wireless 802.11n 

Recovery option: Highly recommended  

I/O devices Physical: Keyboard and mouse (trackpad not sufficient) 

Extended Warranty: Highly recommended 

Optional accessories: Ethernet cable, webcam and microphone, headphones 

Recommended: Kensington laptop lock  

See also SCO.gatech.edu

Examples: 

ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 Intel (16″) Mobile Workstation

Dell Mobile Precision 5570 Laptop 7-12700H

We don’t recommend Apple laptops. 

SOFTWARE below is required to be installed on student laptops 

Operating System  

Windows 11

Adobe  

Creative Cloud...US$19.99/mo 

*Students should be able to access Adobe CC through the VLabs. If you are off campus you will need to connect to the network using the VPN. Once connected, you can reach VLabs through https://mycloud.gatech.edu and via multiple labs on campus. The most commonly used labs are Arch West 358 & 359. Once you've logged in, you can use you @gatech.edu email credentials to access Adobe CC and any of the apps you need to use.  

Autodesk  

Download Free Software 

3ds Max...free 

AutoCAD...free 

A 360...free 

Inventor Professional...free 

Maya...free 

Revit...free 

Robot Structural Analysis Professional...free 

Stingray...free 

FormIt Pro...free 

and more...free 

McNeal  

Rhinoceros 7...US$195  

Grasshopper 

Windows Version...free 

175+ Plugins for Grasshopper...free 

OIT 

Download Software Here 

EndNoteX8...free 

Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus...free