MITB Laptop Specifications

Due to the stringent requirements for the installation of SAS clients, we have established a check list for students who require installation of the software to verify whether their laptop is suitable for use. Only laptops which satisfy the requirements will be installed with the SAS software.

  Acceptable Preferred Remarks
CPU Intel i5 Gen9/10/11 or AMD R5 4xxx Intel i5/i7/i9 Gen9/10/11 or AMD R5, R7 4xxx/5xxx  
RAM minimum 16 Gb 32GB and up  
Disk Space 512 GB internal SSD 512 GB / 1 TB internal SSD 1x 512 GB external SSD is preferred.
Operating System Windows 10 Professional/Enterprise/Educational Windows 10 Professional/Enterprise/Educational SMU IITS offers Windows Installation to MITB students without charge
MS Office 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019
MS Office 365 subscription		 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019
MS Office 365 subscription		 SMU IITS offers Office 365 subscription to MITB students without charge
Others  

Below courses will require GPU card:

  • Introduction to AI
  • Deep Learning for Visual Recognition
  • Natural Language Processing for Smart Asst
  • Recommender Systems

We have servers with GPU cards that students can do GPU programming for their assignments and projects. However, servers are shared, so there is a schedule for using GPU servers, and each student will be allocated to certain time slots to run their code. If you want to have your personal device for GPU programming, please get laptops with GPU card that meets below requirements:

  1. the processing power of the GPU card is at least 3000 GFlops on single precision.
  2. the GPU card has CUDA compute capability


Recommended GPU card models
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and up
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2060 and up
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3050 and up

 

Notes :

  1. These Operating Systems are not supported : Windows 10 Home
  2. Do not use laptop with domain created (eg : office laptop).
  3. Apple-Silicon-based laptops (M1-series) are not recommended across all MITB tracks.
  4. Some courses may require students to install Respondus Lockdown Browser. Thus, please ensure that your laptops meets Respondus requirement: What are the computer requirements for installations of Respondus LockDown Browser? – Respondus Support. Do note that Respondus Lockdown Browser does not support LINUX operating system.
  1. Are laptops equipped with AMD processors acceptable?
    For performance and compatibility, laptops with AMD Ryzen 4000 and up (5000 and 6000) are acceptable.
    For students with a tight budget, we recommend expanding your choices into laptops with such CPUs.
  2. Apple MacBooks acceptable?
    Currently, there are both Intel-based MacBooks and Apple-Silicon-based MacBooks in the market, even though Apple has stopped issuing new Intel-based Macs and MacBooks.
     
    1. For Intel-based MacBooks, please make sure your laptop has enough RAM and SSD. And you will need to bring your laptop to SMU IT Help Centre to install Windows 10 Education via Bootcamp.
    2. For Apple-Silicon MacBooks, these are conditions:
       
      • If you are an AT/FTA student, please prepare a Windows laptop, because some analytics software used in some courses only runs on Windows.
      • If you are an AI student, the current packages in use can run on an Apple-Silicon-based MacBook. However, we still recommend that you purchase a Windows laptop that fits the specification, because the software packages can change in the AI courses, and software package support for Windows is prevalent.
      • If you are a DT student with the intention of taking AT/FTA/AI courses, please follow the AT/FTA/AI laptop specification.
      • If you are a DT student with no intention to take any courses AT/FTA/AI courses, please consult DT instructor.

  3. Can you recommend a laptop for new purchase?
    As upgrades for laptop line-ups are done by manufacturers every year, we cannot recommend a particular model. Instead, we encourage you to do some research to find a laptop that best fit your needs. Here are some brands for your consideration: Lenovo, Thinkpad, Hp, Dell, Acer, Asus, LG, MSI, Huawei.
    Here is a list of factors that you can consider:

    • Budget
    • Brand preference
    • Wight
    • Other usage than study, for instance, gaming, etc.
    • Battery life

    Here is a link to purchase a laptop from SMU if you need a convenient way for your purchase. (Due to the pandemic and its impact on the supply chain, there may be delay in delivery. Please take note of the message on the webpage.)
    https://itsupport.smu.edu.sg/hc/en-us/articles/204920244-What-are-the-specifications-for-current-Notebook-and-MacBook-tender

  4. I am an AI student. Should I purchase a laptop with a recommended GPU for my study?
    Not necessary. The programme provides GPU computing capacity to students who take certain AI courses. In a normal situation, the provided capacity will be enough for your needs. Other than that, Google provides Google Colab that is free for students to use with some restrictions. The Google Colab is very popular among the MITB students. However, if you would like to have a dedicated GPU for study and other personal use, please choose a laptop that meets the following requirements:

    • The processing power of the GPU card is at least 3000 GFlops on single precision.
    • The GPU card has CUDA compute capability


    Recommended models include:

    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and up
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2060 and up
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3050 and up

  5. I do not have a laptop for my personal use, but I have a company laptop. Can I use my company laptop?
    We do not recommend using company laptops for the following reasons.

    • Your company laptop may have settings that would conflict with the settings required by some software used in the course, such as domain setting, administrative account restrictions, etc.
    • Your company may require copyrights on all the work you do on a company computer. This could potentially put you in unforeseeable legal trouble.
    • Some companies prohibit personal work on company-issued computers.

    Before deciding to use company laptop for your study, you should seek advice from your company’s compliance or legal team whether there could be possible violations of your company’s policy.

  6. An HDD is cheaper and has greater storage capacity per dollar. Why would an SSD be required? Can I use an HDD as my only storage?
    No, because in some courses, your laptop will process a lot of data. An HDD will not provide the required data transfer (to RAM) speed.
    Please make sure that your laptop has an SDD with at least 512GB and has 250GB free space. You can use an HDD as your second drive to store your data for learning and course/capstone projects.
  7. I do not have Windows 10 Education on my laptop. Should I purchase one myself?
    There is no need to, as SMU IT Help centre would be able to provide free installation of the required OS to MITB students.
  8. I do not have Office 365 subscription or any version of Microsoft Office. Should I purchase one myself?
    There is no need to, as SMU provides free Office 365 subscription to students. You can get your Office 365 copy using one of the following methods.
    • Log into your OASIS page using your account and password. You will then see an instruction to guide you through the installation process.
    • Reach out to SMU IT Help Centre for assistance on the installation
  9. My laptop has Window 11 installed instead of Windows 10. What should I do?
    Currently, we cannot confirm whether the software used in the MITB courses would have any issue with Windows 11. 
    In case you encounter any issue with the course labs, you can always approach SMU IT Help Centre to update your system to Windows 10.