All first-time entering students are eligible to receive a laptop from UCT at a cost. This is due to laptops being a mandatory requirement to study at UCT. You will have the opportunity to opt-in while completing your registration declaration. The UCT laptop terms and conditions are also included in the registration declaration process.

Your registration declaration can be done prior to coming to the First Year Campus Reception, or while you're there.

Laptop specifications

Standard laptops

Architecture students only laptop

Dell 13.3 inch or Lenovo 15.6 inch

Core i3

8GB RAM

250GB SSD

Dell Inspiron

Core i7

8GB RAM

512GB SSD

Opt-in to receive a UCT laptop

  1. Once your student account is activated, you will receive a registration task to complete in PeopleSoft.

  2. Only eligible students will be presented with a question to opt-in for a UCT laptop. By clicking Yes, a separate laptop task will be allocated to you.

  3. This task can also be viewed in the Tasks tile in PeopleSoft.

Laptop collection

You can collect your laptop during the First Year Campus Reception, which will take place at the UCT Sports Centre.

Laptop costs

The costs for the laptop and laptop bag will be added to your student fee account, which is then payable by the end of 2022. For students who receive NSFAS funding, the book and learning material allowance will be used to cover the laptop cost over two years.

  • Standard laptop: R8400
  • Architecture students only laptop: R17 133

Available software

There is no need for you to purchase software as all UCT students are covered by our institutional licences.

Opt-in later

If you initially opted out of receiving a laptop, but require one at a later stage, please log a call with the IT Helpdesk using one of the following methods: