For our Math, Stats, and Computer Science students, we recommend the following computers, a 13” Dell XPS (touchscreen or non-touchscreen) or 13” Apple MacBook Pro.

Dell XPS 13 9315 (Non-Touchscreen)

-12th Generation Intel Core i5-1230U
-16 GB Memory (RAM)
-512 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
-1920x1200 Display
-Windows 11

Purchase at the UVM Bookstore

Dell XPS 13 9315 (Touchscreen)

-12th Generation Intel Core i5-1230U
-16 GB Memory (RAM)
-512 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
-1920x1200 Display
-Windows 11

Purchase at the UVM Bookstore

We strongly recommend students purchase a 4-year warranty plus accidental damage with their Dell laptop. This will help to protect your laptop in case of failure/damage and most service can be performed on campus through the UVM Tech Team.

Apple 13” MacBook Pro

- Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU and 8 core GPU
- 16 GB Memory (RAM)
- 256 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- Retina Display
- macOS 12 (Monteray)

Apple MacBook Air

- Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU and 8 core GPU
- 16 GB Memory (RAM)
- 256 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- Retina Display
- macOS 12 (Monteray)

Purchase at the UVM Bookstore

We strongly recommend students purchase a 3-year AppleCare+ warranty with their Apple laptop. This will help to protect your laptop in case of failure/damage and most service can be performed on campus through the UVM Tech Team. AppleCare+ can be purchased through the UVM Bookstore.

Due to our engineering courses utilizing more hardware intensive applications, the laptops we recommend to our engineers are more powerful so students can install and run those applications on their own laptop if they desire. We require a 15” screen for our engineering students, as it provides the best experience in our applications.

The computers we have identified that meets CEMS' requirements are a 15” Dell Precision Mobile Workstation or 16” MacBook Pro (please see notes about engineers using Macs below).

Dell Precision 5570

- 12th Generation Intel Core i7-12800H
- 16 GB Memory (RAM)
- 512 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- 1920x1200 Display
- NVIDIA RTX A1000 Graphics
- Windows 11 Pro

Purchase at the UVM Bookstore

This laptop is a higher end model with a dedicated graphics card. It will run our engineering applications with great performance through all 4 years of our engineering programs.

We strongly recommend students purchase a 4-year warranty plus accidental damage with their Dell laptop. This will help to protect your laptop in case of failure/damage and most service can be performed on campus through the UVM Tech Team.

Apple MacBook Pro 14”

While a Mac is an option for engineers at UVM, students need to be aware that they will not be able to run the majority of our engineering applications natively. This means students who bring a Mac to school will need to utilize our virtualized Windows environment to run those applications. This laptop is the Mac model we recommend due to screen size.

Apple MacBook Pro 14”
10-Core CPU
16-Core GPU
16GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage

- 10-Core CPU
-16-Core GPU
-16GB Unified Memory
-512GB SSD Storage
-MacOS 12 (Monteray)

Purchase at the UVM Bookstore

We strongly recommend students purchase a 3-year AppleCare+ warranty with their Apple laptop. This will help to protect your laptop in case of failure/damage and most service can be performed on campus through the UVM Tech Team. AppleCare+ can be purchased through the UVM Bookstore.

Recommended Accessories

We strongly recommend our engineers also purchase the following accessories.
- Wireless/Bluetooth Mouse
- 24" Dell USB-C Monitor (P2419HC)

We understand that our incoming students may already own a laptop that may not meet our requirements. In order to support students who are enrolled in engineering courses who own a laptop that does not meet our recommended specifications or is a Mac, we offer a virtualized Windows environment with all our engineering apps installed on it.

If you own a laptop with a screen smaller than 15”, we strongly recommend purchasing a 24” or larger monitor you can connect to.

We do not support Chromebooks or iPads as a primary computer device. Students who own just a Chromebook or iPad will need to purchase a laptop that meets our requirements.

CEMS applications are now available on the UVM Software Portal.

Virtual Votey is a virtual lab of computers that are configured like lab computers but can be accessed remotely. There are 150 virtual computers available in Virtual Votey. Virtual Votey computers contain software programs necessary for Engineering, Math and Computer Science classes that are too costly for students to purchase. In order to use Virtual Votey, you must first set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).  

• More information about MFA
• Set up MFA
• Configure VMware Horizon for Accessing Virtual Votey

• Student Printing Information

We recommend students use their UVM OneDrive for storage. Each student is granted 1 TB of storage in OneDrive.

Students have access to 8 large (27") monitors split between Votey 229 and Perkins 108. These monitors are intended to provide a larger screen to students who need to perform CAD or other graphical work that is better done on a large monitor. Additionally, these stations provide a wired mouse and keyboard to make navigation in those graphical applications easier.

Connecting to these screens is easy, there is a single USB-C cable that you will need to connect to the USB-C port on your laptop. This cable provides access to the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and will charge compatible laptops. If you run in to any problems connecting your laptop to these screens, please email help@cems.uvm.edu.

The Z: drive is the network drive for all UVM people. Data stored on the Z: drive is backed up each night and can be available from all CEMS computers and from off-campus. If you are off-campus, you must first run UVM's VPN software. Obtain and run VPN.

Windows 10

Open File Explorer and click 'This PC' in the left hand navigation column. Then click computer at the top of the window and then 'Map network drive.' The folder path you will use is "\\zoofs.uvm.edu\netid" replacing netid with your UVM NetID. Assign a drive letter, Z to be consistent with CEMS computer labs and check the two boxes under the path, 'Reconnect at sign-in' and 'Connect using different credentials.' Click OK and you will be prompted for credentials. Enter your UVM NetID and password and check the box to remember them and then click OK. Your UVM Zoo drive will now be mounted.

Mac OS

Click in the background area of the desktop. This will put you in the Finder. The Finder has a menu item "Go", when clicked drops down a submenu, and has an item "Connect to Server". That will pop up a dialog box that has a place to type in the "Server Address". Type in cifs://zoofs.uvm.edu/username substituting your netid for username. Another dialog box will pop up asking for Name and Password. Enter your netid and password, and the volume will be mounted.

• Using the VPN with the Cisco Client

Class accounts for those students NOT majoring in a CEMS discipline, but who are taking a course in which the instructor requires computer use, are created only at the behest of the instructor. If you are an instructor:  Obtain class accounts