Recommendations for purchasing a laptop

If you plan to purchase a new laptop, here are some recommendations to look at.

  1. Screen size suitable for use (traveler 13” or larger wide screen)
  2. Intel Core i5 or higher processor
  3. 4-8GB Memory preferred – 4GB Minimum
  4. 160GB or larger hard drive (If you travel with the laptop, think about a solid state drive)
  5. Built-in camera
  6. Wifi 802.11N
  7. Bluetooth
  8. DVD Burner
  9. Dedicated graphics card
  10. 3-year comprehensive support (onsite with accidental damage coverage)
  11. Windows 7 64-bit Professional or Mac OSX Mavericks

Purchase an external 250Gb or larger hard drive for backups. IOMEGA makes very good external drives with retrospect backup software.

Purchase a copy of Microsoft Office Professional

Note: If you are purchasing a personal laptop and are apart of the Institute, you may be eligible for an academic discount. For further information you can contact individual vendors directly.