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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 memory specifications must be no lower than 16GB and the processor must be no lower than an Apple M1 or Intel i5. For users that require Adobe Creative Suite or for users doing video or photo editing or web development that takes up at least a quarter of their time, the minimum memory should not be lower than 32GB and the processor must be no lower than an Apple M1 Pro or Intel i7. For users who will be using their machines for video or multimedia development more than half the time, either the higher end Apple M1 Pro, M1 Max, M2 or Intel i9 processors may be worth consideration. We will update these requirements annually as the computer technologies advance.
If you are thinking Dell for business machines , do not purchase any machines outside of with no low to medium video demand, please try to stay within 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.
For Dell users hoping for better video performance, with higher video demands to run Adobe products, video production, or other higher GPU simulation functions, both Dell XPS and Alienware machines may be reasonably considered as a viable alternative.
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Following the end of the Covid-19 Pandemic, IS&T permanently closed its ATLAS hardware repair services. All users must now contact their machine manufacturers for service. Apple users may schedule appointments with the Genius Bar at an Apple Store. Dell users may contact Dell support to either have a technician come on site (depending on the warranty) or a box for the machine to be sent to depot for repair.
Please be aware the SHASS IT Support Team has never repaired machines or recovered data. We are not authorized Apple, Dell, or Lenovo technicians.
Lenovo
Going forward, Lenovo must be contacted directly for service issues and they will send a box for return to depot.
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Please be aware that back in 2015 we did not recommend the Macbook Air as a primary laptop machine due to its historically reported weak WiFi performance and limited number of ports. It was, however, an acceptable second laptop for travel as long as the user understands its limitations and potential connectivity drawbacks. We had also received a significant number of reports for the MacBook Air being unable to connect to the WiFi network at Hethrow Heathrow Airport outside of London for example. For the light weight primary Apple laptop solution, we continue to recommend the current 13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display. In 2019, the new MacBook Air is a considerably more powerful and flexible machine than it was in 2015 and the newest more powerful 2022 Apple Silicon MacBook Air is continuing to raise the bar on its predecessors. Be aware of its limits and pay attention to the hard drive size. Make sure you get a hard drive with enough storage to fit all your data from your old laptop.
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Finally, be aware of the Hard Drive (HD) sizes of the machine you're buying compared to the amount of data on the machine you currently have. Many of the new machines are coming with smaller but faster (and more expensive) solid state HDs while older machines tend to have larger but slower (and cheaper) platter drives. Make sure you have purchased enough storage space on the new machine to move all of your files, pictures, movies, and emails from your old machine. So when ordering your new machine, make sure to configure the size of the new HD in the new laptop accordingly. What we recommend is if your current disk usage is approaching half of the current drive, your new computer should be purchased with storage the next size up. For example, if you currently have a 512GB drive and you're using 250GB of it now, your new machine should be ordered with the 1TB HD for storage to make sure you have enough room to grow in the next 3-4 years.