CEE Department Computer Resources

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering supports a shared computing teaching cluster with Windows PCs. The teaching cluster is available to students currently enrolled in the department's courses. This cluster is ONLY for use with courses taught in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. It is NOT for other university classes or research use or general engineering use or personal use. Please use other clusters/computers available around the campus. Computer Cluster FAQ (PDF)

Stanford users also have access to a variety of central computing resources provided by other university units.

• Computer settings/setup for Y2E2 building
• Speaking of Computers - Guide for Students & Faculty
• Computing & Communication Resources - Useful documentation, related web pages, and pointers to Stanford technical support.
• Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SUL/AIR)
• Stanford Help Request System (HelpSU)
• Residential Computing (ResComp)
• SUNet ID - Stanford University Network ID and Leland Accounts
• Secure Computing
• Getting on the Web at Stanford
• Service & Repair
• Software Resources
• Essential Stanford Software
• Network connections

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Q & A

Q. I will be a new student at Stanford in the Fall. What computer should I get?

A. Students in Structural Engineering and Geomechanics (SEG), and Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) mostly have Windows computers to be consistent with those computers used for teaching. Students in Environmental & Water Studies mostly favor Macintosh computers.

Q. What is the minimum configuration for personal computers on the network?

A. Stanford University has a number of websites with suggested configurations:

Academic Computing Recommendations for Students

School of Medicine, Information Resources and Technology

IT Services Recommendations on When to Replace Computers

Q. Should I buy a Mac or a PC? Should I buy a laptop or a desktop?

A. Both Macs and PCs are used and supported on campus. About 70% of undergraduates have PCs, about 35% have Macs (some have both).
Laptops are overwhelmingly more popular than desktops because of their mobility and the widespread availability of wireless networking on campus.

Q. What features should I get on my computer?

A. Different users have different needs, and the features of your computer (like screen and hard drive size) will depend on what you want and how you work. If you’re buying a laptop, you may want to consider a larger external monitor and keyboard. In our experience, memory is more important than processor speed. These days, even slower processors are more than fast enough for most purposes.

For storage and backup, the best and safest way to move files around is to copy them over the Stanford network, and all students currently get 200 MB of storage on central servers. For removable storage, we recommend USB flash drives and rewritable CDs and DVDs. All three hold a lot of data, and are convenient when your computer is not networked. Many students also have small external hard drives as an easy and high-capacity way to backup files, an important task.

For networking, make sure you have built-in Ethernet on your computer, and built-in wireless as well if you get a laptop. The ease of setup, simplicity, and reliability makes built-in interfaces preferable to external third-party cards. If you’re getting Windows Vista, choose the Home Premium or Ultimate version (not Home Basic). If you’re planning on using Windows XP, XP Professional is more secure and has better networking capabilities than XP Home, which also makes it easier to do things like share files or printers. As for software, basic applications for Macs and PCs (email, anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc.) are freely available to the campus community.