The Undergraduate Office often receives questions about what kind of computers our students have or should have. Students are welcome to use the laptop or desktop of their choosing.
Many Computer Science students end up running a Mac OS/Linux or Windows/Linux system that either dual boots or uses VMware to run both at once. VMware requires extra memory (to keep both Windows and Linux running at once), so a good amount of memory in a laptop or desktop is important.
All seats in rooms and seating areas where CS classes are held have electric outlets--however, not all faculty members allow the use of laptops in class.
In terms of software, the university Office of Information Technology Software Licensing allows students to purchase many software packages for a fraction of the retail cost. In the introductory CS classes students download the Eclipse Java environment at no cost. As students reach their junior/senior level classes it is important for computers to have the ability to run Linux (and thus the GNU c/c++ compiler). You may also find software through the University of Maryland's TERPWare
Dedicated video cards do not matter for Computer Science majors, but they matter for video games.