What to Buy
OIT recommends that all students purchase an Apple or Dell laptop with a three or four year warranty for their time at Princeton as they offer the best warranty support.
Apple and Dell models may be purchased directly from the manufacturer or other retail suppliers. Princeton does not offer a purchase program for students.
Apple Education Pricing and Student Discounts: https://www.apple.com/us-edu/store
Dell Student Discounts Laptops for College: https://www.dell.com/Princeton
Humanities Recommended Models
Apple MacBook Pro 14”
- Apple M4 chip with 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
- 24GB unified memory
- 1TB SSD storage
- AppleCare+ for Mac 3 Years of Coverage
Dell XPS 14
- 14.5” Touch Display
- Intel Core Ultra 7 processor
- 32 GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- Complete Care Warranty 4 years of Coverage
Math, Science, Engineering Recommended Model
Apple MacBook Pro 14”
- Apple M4 Max chip with 14‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
- 36 GB of Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- AppleCare+ for Mac 3 Years of Coverage
Apple MacBook Pro 16”
- Apple M4 Max chip with 14‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
- 36 GB of Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- AppleCare+ for Mac 3 Years of Coverage
Dell Precision 5690
- 32GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- NVIDIA® RTX™ 1000 Ada Generation
- Dell Complete Care Warranty 4 years of coverage
Financial Aid/ Outside Scholarship
If you are an undergraduate student receiving need-based financial aid from Princeton please read Undergraduate Financial Aid Computer Purchases. Contact faoffice@princeton.edu for details specific to your situation.
Software
With a Princeton student netID students receive a Google Drive and Gmail account, as well as a Microsoft 365 license.
Additional software may be purchased through the Princeton Software Center
Graduate Students
We recommend that graduate students speak with their faculty advisor and/or departmental IT prior to purchasing a computer. But we do recommend the following models as the basic starting point.
Apple MacBook Pro 16”
- Apple M4 Max chip with 14‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
- 36 GB of Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- AppleCare+ for Mac 3 Years of Coverage
Dell Precision 5690
- 32GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- NVIDIA® RTX™ 1000 Ada Generation
- Dell Complete Care Warranty 4 years of coverage