New Computers

Purchasing a New Computer

We strongly recommend purchasing a new computer through the Duke Technology Center. They offer Dell and Lenovo computers that come with a warranty, and Apple computers which come with AppleCare (at an extra cost). For faculty, staff, and grad students, we can help you determine which machine would be most appropriate though our New Computer Request form.

We are also able to help troubleshoot these machines and have contacts with those providers should warranty services or more complex repairs be required.

Self-built custom computers and off-the-shelf computers made by other brands are not supported in the same way, and while we can give you our best effort in a limited time to resolve issues with such computers, we make no guarantees. This is also the case with computers that are out of warranty. We will give our best effort to resolve issues, but if the machine is no longer supported by the manufacturer, in most cases it should be replaced.

Windows OS and Computer Setup

It is best if Windows machines at Pratt run the Enterprise version of Windows. This allows the machine to join the domain here at Duke. The Education version is discouraged. If you purchase a computer outside of our channels, we suggest you bring it to the Service Desk team to deploy our version of Windows OS, install and configure our versions of applications, and join the computer to the Duke domain.

Pratt IT Computer Naming Convention

Machines that are set up by our team are typically named in a way that helps us identify the user or the location. Windows machines typically start with PSE (Pratt School of Engineering), and have the user's netID or computer's location, followed by a note of the type of machine it is.

PSE-AB12-LT

Macs follow the same format but are prefaced with EGR instead of PSE.

EGR-AB12-MBP

Again, this naming format helps us identify computers.

Custom Built Computers

If you absolutely need a custom built computer we suggest using Silicon Mechanics or Exxact, or any other company that will configure systems that work together, and provide some sort of warranty and support. To reiterate our point, we do not support custom built computers in the same way. We can provide a limited amount of time, and give our best efforts to resolve issues, but make no guarantees.

As of November 2025 we discourage the purchase of ASUS/ASRock/Gigabyte servers through Exxact and Silicon Mechanics due to on-going issues with those servers.

For New Students

Pratt students are expected to complete homework and laboratory assignments using software that requires considerable computing power and memory, e.g., SOLIDWORKS, LabVIEW and MATLAB. This software is available on some of the public computers and in departmental class labs, and much of it is also available for students to download to their individual laptops. Some of these products do not work at all in Macintosh (“Mac”) computers and some do not work very well on Macs.

Therefore, for Pratt students who choose to purchase a personal laptop with the intention of downloading and running engineering software on their laptop, it is recommended to purchase a PC that has at least 16GB of memory, 1TB of storage (solid state is preferred) and 802.11ac WiFi. We recommend Windows 11 operating system. Your screen size should be at least 14 inches, or you should anticipate connecting to an external monitor for some assignments. An external mouse with a scroll wheel is sometimes convenient.