Layer 3 switch model?

Since this is your college project, I think your the one who needs to do the research and figure that out. Isn't that the purpose of your final year project?

You haven't properly defined the network, or the requirements. They could be layer-2 switches for all we know, which will bring your costs down. In the end, your port density and number of ports will still be your determining factor.

For the most flexibility I recommend the 3750s. I was doing all of my InterVLAN routing on a 1760 and bought a 3750G. My CPU usage went from 30 to 2%. The 3750 has stack cables that you can daisy chain and allow the switches to operate as a single collective - sort of like a blade switch. To me these are the best access layer switches in Cisco's portfolio.

Yes, but you must known what you want...

3750 - there are ok, but you can forgot about NAT, and some network protocols (like CLNS)- so you must know what you want. With routing software 3750 are expensive. Mayby better idea is 2800 series router? Bartosz Gagat

The original poster didn't give us much of a requirements analysis.

The 2800 series routers are *much* slower than the 3750 for any of the core 3750 multilayer switching functions (including QoS). The

2800 series is a considerable improvement over the 2600 series, but if you look at the switching and layer 3 stats, the 2800 series and the 3750 are in different leagues. The 3750s are gigabit wire speed layer 3 on -every- port simultaneously. The difference is that a 2800 series router is a full IOS router and the 3750 isn't -- no firewall feature set on a 3750 for example.

But we can't recommend either device to the original poster until the original poster describes the goals to be met (including budgetary.)