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Every Howest student needs a laptop that meets the requirements of the chosen programme.

Specific hardware is required for each programme. With the proposed devices, every student is perfectly equipped to follow all the lessons in the curriculum. Through our partners (StudentenLaptop and Lab9), Howest students can join the group purchase for their laptop and other hardware. This includes an affordable warranty and service package.

Each student is free to purchase the right hardware through another sales channel. Please pay close attention to the technical specifications and the offered service and warranty.

Which laptop models that are recommended and allowed for each study program for the upcoming academic year, is determined at the beginning of May. To give an idea of what will be recommended, you can see the models for the current academic year below. We recommend that starting students, who want to buy a laptop for the coming academic year, wait until the line-up for their starting year is available.

Howest - laptop

Laptop requirement and market situation (Academic year 2026-2027)

At Howest, having your own laptop is mandatory for your degree program. Due to global investments in AI data centers, hardware prices (especially for memory and storage) are currently rising sharply. A price drop for the new academic year is not expected. Consequently, the devices in the group purchase are unfortunately more expensive than usual due to this market situation.

You have two options at the moment:

Option 1: Purchase via your own channels

We advise you to consider buying a device yourself now, using the recommended configuration for your program. This way, you may avoid further price increases. However, you will lose the advantageous 3-year warranty and service package associated with the group purchase.

Option 2: Buy via Howest

You pay the current higher market price, including the advantageous 3-year warranty and service package.

Please note: this advice only applies to Windows PC laptops and does not apply to Mac.

Select your study programme and see hardware models

Academic year: 2026-27

These hardware models are unauthorised.

Unauthorised model

To learn to work with the software used in the curriculum, your hardware must meet certain minimum specifications. Therefore, the models below are not allowed in the curriculum.

  • Chromebook