as an alumni of OMSCS here are a few things I want to say: 1. exams can be taken on a chromebook now (you couldn’t until a year ago) so that part should be cov

as an alumni of OMSCS here are a few things I want to say: 1. exams can be taken on a chromebook now (you couldn’t until a year ago) so that part should be covered. 2. more ram is good because classes will give you a VM so you can buils it locally and test it in a VM (what almost everyone in class would do) 3. unfortunately some VMs only work well in a windows virtual box environment . and that’s where I think you might run into problems. the thing is the TA will automate his tests for grading. So if the testing on your end was not done correctly (like let’s say locally instead of the VM provided or the environment suggested) then you will fail the grading tests. So be very careful there. 4. You might want to automate things yourself to get things done faster. In that case you may want to run multiple instances of the VMs provided. My MBP was broken so i ended up using a desktop for completing the whole thing which was a mistake because it was too inconvenient especially during tests. however many students were able to finish the course with a 200$ thinkpad so it’s doable. But then there were those who also had a powerful ryzen desktop for classwork with dual monitors and a laptop for test. So i guess it all depends on your comfort level with your setup.