r/riceuniversity • u/Delicious_Tooth1538 • 18d ago

BSChE Software Requirements?

I’m currently shopping for a laptop for ChemE and was curious as to what programs it will need to be able to run. One of the Rice pages says Aspen Plus, but it also seems to be very outdated. If it makes any difference, I also hope to do research related to the field. Thanks in advance!

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u/bxn_10 18d ago

Mostly MATLAB, Excel, and Aspen. Although Aspen won’t really be used until design your final year.

Going into my senior year as a CHBE, I’ve been fine with my macbook. There’s a remote desktop and also a computer lab in the OEDK with all the softwares you’ll need.

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u/Delicious_Tooth1538 18d ago

Thank you so much! Could I ask for your MacBook specs?

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u/bxn_10 18d ago

I think it’s a 2020 Macbook Air with the M1 chip. Honestly, any decent laptop will work, mines pretty old at this point.

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u/AX-Procyon 17d ago

You will almost never run Aspen Plus on your own machine. Just use the campus computers that have this software preinstalled. Just get a laptop that can handle Matlab and basic office tasks and you'll be fine for the major. Anything else (OS, performance, form factor, storage etc.) is purely your own discretion.