LITS provides centrally managed and supported computers for campus faculty, staff, teaching computer labs, automation systems, select classrooms and campus spaces, student work, and more. Faculty and staff primary work computers are budgeted for replacement by LITS on a regular cycle. All other computers are deployed and replaced as budget and licensing (either LITS or departmental) allows, or as previously-enjoyed equipment becomes available. 

In addition to the hardware standards below, all campus-owned computers must be enrolled in the associated device management platform to ensure ongoing updates, data security, and central support from LITS staff. Computer models that no longer receive OS and security patch update support from Microsoft or Apple will not be allowed on the campus network.

 

• 1 Computer Hardware Standards for Faculty and Staff
• 2 Recommended Computer Hardware for Students

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Computer Hardware Standards for Faculty and Staff

The college's current standards have been carefully chosen because of their power, flexibility, quality, ability to meet a wide variety of campus needs and value for the money. Devices selected as campus standards are models the LITS staff can effectively troubleshoot, and obtain replacement parts, and for which the college maintains service and warranty support agreements. The college computing standards are reviewed and updated regularly by LITS staff in order to keep up with technological and industry changes, college needs, and product availability.

Beloit College purchases Dell and Apple laptops and desktop computers. Following are the general hardware technical specifications for computers currently purchased by LITS:

• Dell Latitude 3000-series business-class laptops (Windows) or Apple MacBook Air M3 laptops

• Intel Core-i5 octo-core processor or higher (Dell) or Apple M3 octo-core SOC processor

• 14-inch non-touch built-in HD display (Dell) or 13.6-inch non-touch built-in Liquid Retina display (Mac)

• 16 GB RAM

• 256 GB SSD storage

• USB-C charge + display output

• Wi-Fi 6

• Bluetooth

Recommended Computer Hardware for Students

All students can utilize Beloit’s many computer labs. However, most students also choose to bring their own desktop, laptop, or tablet computer.  If a student chooses to bring a personal computer, LITS suggests the following minimum hardware specifications for academic computing:

• Intel Core-i5 six-core processor or higher (Windows) or Apple M1 SOC processor

• 16 GB RAM

• 256 GB SSD storage

LITS also recommends reaching out to your advisor or professors in your chosen major/minor field before making a purchase to see if they have any recommendations.  Some fields of study utilize specialized software that may necessitate more robust hardware requirements than that of a standard computer.

Be sure to check out our Becoming a Beloiter - Technology Guide for more information on student technology resources.