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Department of Mechanical Engineering: laptop and equipment advice

Find out what you should bring with you for your first year studying any of our mechanical engineering courses.


Factsheet

Computer equipment

Our Department has a site licence for all the academic software that you will need as part of your degree, most of which you'll be able to download to your own PC. We have recently upgraded our CAD labs; however, capacity is limited so we still advise our students to buy a laptop.

Several key pieces of engineering software are Windows only and we strongly recommend a Windows laptop that meets the minimum required specifications for Autodesk Inventor.

Mac OS users will be able to access a cloud-based virtual machine with GPU acceleration.

The new Apple Silicon won't be able to use Bootcamp and only a VM(I.e Parallels) with Windows 11 can be used. Likewise, a Chromebook will not be able to run the software needed.

Laptop minimum specifications

  • Intel laptop i5 or i7
  • 8Gb of RAM, preferably 16Gb
  • A hard drive capacity minimum of 512 GB and preferably SSD
  • if possible a dedicated graphics card for Inventor Pro
  • HDMI/DisplayPort adapter to connect to external monitors
  • conventional mouse with central wheel

We have a Windows Azure Cloud-based option to allow you to access the software via a web app or a remote desktop. So even if your laptop can’t meet these specifications, you will be able to work effectively.

Drawing equipment

Engineering design underpins all our undergraduate engineering courses and starts in week 1 with a focus on visual communication through formal engineering drawings, isometric views and design concept sketches. While not compulsory, we suggest you buy the following:

  • pencils: mechanical pencils of two different thicknesses: 0.5mm and 0.9mm and a softer lead (HB and 2B are useful)
  • ruler: 300mm ruler (transparent)
  • set squares and a protractor: both 30/60˚ and 45/90˚ will be needed (those found in school maths sets are generally too small - 200mm is more suitable)
  • eraser and erasing shield: this will be very useful in helping you to modify areas of a detailed drawing by covering the lines you wish to retain so that you can easily erase only those you do not
  • compass/circle/ellipse templates:
    • a proper technical drawing compass with a thumb wheel for circles (>25mm <150mm)
    • circle template for smaller circles (<25mm)
    • a 300 ellipse template for Isometrics will save a good deal of work

Enquiries

If you have any questions, please contact us.


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