Princeton’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) recommends that all students purchase an Apple or Dell laptop for their time at the university. These brands are suggested because they offer the best warranty support.
You can buy Apple and Dell models directly from the manufacturers or other retail suppliers. The university does not offer a specific student purchasing program.
Undergraduate Humanities
Apple MacBook Air 13”
- Apple M5 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
- 16GB unified memory
- 1TB SSD storage
- AppleCare+
Dell 14 Plus Laptop
- 14", Non-Touch, 2.5K, IPS, WVA, Anti-Glare, 300 nits, ComfortView Plus
- Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 258V (47 TOPS NPU, 8 cores, up to 4.8 GHz)
- 32 GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- Windows 11 Pro
- Complete Care Warranty 4 years of Coverage
Undergraduate Math, Science, Engineering
Apple MacBook Pro 14”
- Apple M5 Pro chip with 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
- 24 GB of Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- AppleCare+
Dell XPS 16
- Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 285H (16 Cores, up to 5.4GHz Turbo)
- 32GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5060, 8GB GDDR7, 45W
- 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.
Graduate Students
We recommend that graduate students speak with their faculty advisor and/or departmental IT prior to purchasing a computer as their work may require specific hardware. We recommend the following models as the basic starting point.
Apple MacBook Air 13”
- Apple M5 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
- 16GB unified memory
- 1TB SSD storage
- AppleCare+
Dell 14 Plus Laptop
- 14", Non-Touch, 2.5K, IPS, WVA, Anti-Glare, 300 nits, ComfortView Plus
- Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 258V (47 TOPS NPU, 8 cores, up to 4.8 GHz)
- 32 GB Memory
- 1 TB Storage
- Windows 11 Pro
- Complete Care Warranty 4 years of Coverage