Not necessarily. Most universities these days have plenty of computers on campus to use and are running the software required. I also know if I do end up requir

Not necessarily. Most universities these days have plenty of computers on campus to use and are running the software required. I also know if I do end up requiring to install some software the school doesn't have already (which hasn't happened yet) they have virtualbox installed so I could go spin up a VM and do it through that. I've never felt like I had to own a personal computer. Granted I have never wanted to sit around on campus all day doing my assignments so I go to my apartment to work on them. If all they are going to be using their computer for is note taking and essay writing a chromebook will be just fine. If a prof requires an assignment in the word format (which I've had one do sadly) you can still export a google doc in the word format or you can just go to one of the many computer labs and just copy paste into a word file. With a little bit of work you can even run Ubuntu on them. I've actually worked on a good number of my programming assignments from my chromebook. If they're doing some kind of arts program then you are probably looking at getting a Mac as most prof seem to expect that's what you are using. If you just want a safe pick go with something running Windows.