App UPC
Information and practical resources for the day to day of UPC students (in catalan)

From the ETSAB IT Service we want to help you get started. For this, we have made an initial guide to help you choose the hardware, with the most appropiate basic characteristics to correctly work, and the basic software to be able to study your degree.

Software

Next, you will find a list of basic software that we believe will help you to take advantage of your computer, and then, you will be able to see the specific software that you will use throughout your career.

For each program you have the following information:

• OS: for wich operating systems are versions available
• Offers for students: there are many programs that are free or have a discount for UPC students.
• Trial version: there are programs that have a trial version
• Typology: how the program is catalogued
• Web: link to the program's website
• Basic guide: we have prepared a small basic guide for many programs.

To help you find the information that interests you, you can sort the list by the column you want, in ascending or descending order, by clicking on the header of each column.

Basic installation

• Antimalware: Malwarebytes
• Antivirus: Avast Antivirus
• Browser: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox
• Office software: LibreOffice   |   (Licensed alternative): Microsoft Office
• PDF editing and printing: CutePDF Editor
• PDF viewer: Adobe Reader
• Multimedia player: VLC Media Player
• File decompressor: 7-Zip

For detailed information on the basic software see the Software section.

Specific software installation

• CAD: AutoCAD   |   Others: Microstation, DraftSight
• Modeling: Revit   |   Ohers: SketchUp, Rhinoceros, Blender
• Rendering: Artlantis   |   Others: V-Ray, LuxRender
• Image edition: GIMP   |   Other: Raw Therapee, Hugin, Inkscape
• Structure calculation: WinEVA   |   Others: Robot, CYPE
• Mathematical calculation: Maple
• Mathematical representation: Geogebra
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): QGIS   |   Others: ArcGIS
• Energy simulation: Archisun   |   Others: Calener-VyP, Netlogo
• Light simulation: DIALux   |   Others: Heliodon
• Modeling: Pepakura Designer

 
For detailed information on the specific software consult the Software section.

On your personal computer you can install all the programs that are free and also those that the manufacturer has an offer for students (both UPC and ETSAB). Also, for some programs, there is the option of a temporary trial version.

In this link you will find the complete list of all the software installed on the computers in the ETSAB computer labs.

Features

Before going into the hardware characteristics, you have to decide what Operating System you want and what screen size you need. For your studys, you can choose mainly between two options, but there are others:

Windows

Windows is the most popular and guarantees compatibility with the vast majority of programs.

Mac OS

Mac OS is available in the high quality but relatively expensive notebooks: Apple MacBook. It is a stable operating system, with a very well designed interface and a very simple and comfortable navigation system. On the contrary, it has compatibility problems with professional software such as Revit, 3DStudio Max, ArcGIS, etc.

Linux

Linux is not installed as standard in any laptop, but is an alternative. This operating system grew and continues to grow thanks to the cooperative work of thousands of programmers around the world. It requires programming knowledge to install and use it.

Others

In the world of open source operating systems like Linux there are many interesting alternatives, without going into details, these are some of them: Reactos, Freedos, FreeBSD or Haiku.

Hardware

Specs

1. Screen: The size does not have to be excessive with 15 "you already have enough. It is not essential but if you want to improve your experience with the laptop, we recommend that the screen be LED and FullHD.

2. Processor: Core i5 or higher. We recommend that you look at the stem and the model. You can find a very powerful i5 and an i7 that is not so powerful. Also, as an Intel alternative, you have AMD that have a lower price but it is more difficult to find in laptops.

3. Graphics card: minimum 2GB of dedicated memory, recommended 4GB or higher.

4. RAM Memory:  minimum 4GB, 8GB or higher recommended.

5. Hard disk:  minimum 250GB. Advisable 7200 rpm or SSD or a combination of the two, but at a minimum you need 64GB of SSD to notice a difference.

Exemples