Students who are planning to major in the geological and environmental sciences should have either a Mac (desktop or laptop) or Windows 10 system.
Due to the required software programs you will be using in the department, Chromebooks and iPads are going to be very challenging to work with (particularly during periods of online learning) and therefore we do not recommend them as they cannot download software without considerable modification.
Programs that you will or may be be required to use as part of your GES coursework (available through the Bookstore for free):
- MS Word
- MS Excel
- MS Powerpoint
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Google Earth Pro
- Matlab
- Endnote
- ARCGIS
- PAST
You can run some (but not all) of these programs remotely through https://udesk.appstate.edu.
During face-to-face classes, we have Windows 10 desktop computers with this software available for all students. However, if you want to do work off-campus it would be useful to have a computer than can run these programs (particularly the Adobe suite and Matlab).