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Hardware support levels and recommendations

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See also:

• Definitions of support level terms
• Software support levels and recommendations
• Printing recommendations

To be eligible for support from LSCR under our annual desktop support program, computer hardware must meet certain minimum specifications, which are detailed below. In general, we recommend that computers be replaced every three years, and computers older than four years may not be supported.

Also detailed below are our recommendations for new purchases. Note that computer models and configurations available from different manufacturers change often. The recommendations below are current as of the date this page was last updated. In addition, LSCR recommends that all computers be purchased with a three-year extended warranty (next business day service, if available).

Please check with your LSCR consultant for a detailed computer recommendation before purchasing your computer. LSCR reserves the right to refuse support for any machine below our suggested levels. Please see Definitions of support level terms for details about the terminology used in the tables below.

Macs

If you have a Mac model not listed above, you can check with us to ascertain its support status.

Below are our recommendations for new computer purchases:

* The MacBook Air is recommended only for use as a secondary machine.

Note that we recommend more memory (3 GB or more) for certain memory-intensive applications, such as Photoshop and digital video editing software, or for running Windows under Parallels.

PCs

Desktop PCs with processor speeds below 2 GHz and notebook PCs with processor speeds below 1.5 GHz are not supported. A minimum of 1 GB of RAM is required for support. If you are not sure whether your computer meets these standards, please contact us.

Below are our recommendations for new purchases:

Note that we recommend more memory (3 GB or more) for certain memory-intensive applications, such as Photoshop and digital video editing software, or for running Windows Vista (which is not currently recommended under LSCR's annual desktop support program as of the date of this document).