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For those areas on a 4-5 year hardware renewal schedule and not the usual 3 year, please be aware that you must purchase a mid to high end model machine to ensure the computer has enough power and resource to run newer software at a minimally acceptable performance level 4-5 years down the line. Minimum RAM must be no lower than DDR3 8GB and the processor must be no lower than an i5 running at 2.9Ghz. For users that require Adobe Creative Suite or for users doing video or photo editing or web development, the minimum RAM must be no lower than DDR3 16GB and the processor must be no lower than an i7 processor. We will update these requirements annually as the computer technologies advance.
If you are thinking Dell, do not purchase any machines outside of the Latitude, Optiplex, or Precision lines. Dell drops available spare parts for all other models once the maximum warranty period has expired. Of particular note Inspiron notebook spare parts are not available 1 year after they're sold once their warranty expires. Once these laptops die, there is no way to repair them if someone doesn't already have the spare parts.
Apple and Dell warranties
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