Bringing a laptop with you is not absolutely required, but it would be very difficult without one. There are computer labs around campus that are available to students, but their hours are limited. It is much more convenient to have all of your software installed on your own laptop.
Students typically do fine with either a Windows or a Mac machine. A lot of it comes down to personal preference. Most required software will run on either operating system, but we have occasionally had compatability issues with Mac; if you purchase a machine running the Mac OS (Apple), please ensure it has the capability to dual boot to Windows and run virtual machines (e.g. it should NOT use the M1 chip).
In general, we recommend that students invest in more RAM rather than paying for a top-end processor. The performance of software tends to be limited more by RAM than by processor power. A mid-grade processor (something like an Intel i5 or i7) will work fine in most situations.
As much as practical. In 2023, we would recommend a minimum of 16GB of RAM, and 32GB if possible.
You will pay a little extra for an SSD, but the boost in performance is worth it for most users. We recommend at least a 512GB SSD. An SSD that uses the M.2 NVME communication standard will give better performance.