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Minimum Recommended System Configurations - October 2007

Summary: This document is directed at providing guidance for systems suitability for faculty and staff university
work. It aids departmental and workgroup computing support staff when recommending the purchase of faculty and staff laptop, desktop, and server computers.

1. take full advantage of the Campus computing and network environment
2. improve interoperability among computing platforms
3. work with campus resources from off campus when possible
4. encourage hardware acquisitions which remain usable for at least three year life cycles.

Note: Mimimum for our purposes does not mean marginal. The specicifations listed below are for computers that will be quite adequate for most users for at least three years.

• These are general purpose configurations. Research activities often require specialized configurations.
• We make recommendations which represent the minimum configuration which meets the above objectives, but recognize that in some departments other solutions better meet local needs.
• We recommend Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista [11] for university use. "Home" versions are not recommended for use on University equipment. Windows NT and Windows 98 are no longer supported.
• Windows Vista is supported in some, but not all, environments. Much software used for academic purposes needs upgrading to function under Windows Vista. Research before purchase is a must! Check with your local computing support office for recommendations. Some older hardware and software may have to be replaced in order to work with Windows Vista. Vista Home editions are not recommended for University systems. Guidelines for Vista-ready PCs.

• Laptop/Notebook computer considerations:
  1. Transfer of information:
     transferring information between your Laptop/Notebook and your UCI networked environment can be as easy as buying a USB flash drive (aka thumb drive, pen drive), or it may require the set-up of the laptop as networked. Preparing your laptop for wireless networking is strongly recommended.
  2. Expandability:
     Laptop/Notebooks should be expandable - both memory (RAM) and device attachment (slots/ports). Operating systems, applications and external devices tend to demand ever-increasing system resources, so expandability is important to ensure that they remain usable during a three-year life cycle.
  3. Desktop docking and display:
     Sometimes it might be best to purchase a mobile workstation with desktop docking ability. In this case, an inexpensive display might be suitable for the mobile workstation while a large, full-color screen and dock stay in the office. Alternatively, a mini-dock which provides only a subset of additional interface ports may be enough. NACS and AdCom Services have some experience with these options and are available to offer advice.

  We try to keep this document up to date, but prices and capabilities change rapidly.
  A desktop PC workstation around $1100-$1200 (incl. monitor) will usually meet the goal of remaining fully usable over a three year life cycle.

  
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  Hardware Recommendations

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  System Class [1]	Intel Desktop	Intel Notebook	Mac Desktop [10]	Mac Notebook	Servers
  CPU	Core 2 Duo [3a] or AMD64 X2 [3]	Core 2 Duo [3a]	2.0GHz Core 2 Duo	2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo [3a], [9]	Server requirements vary greatly, depending on: application # of users expected lifetime of server uptime requirements future applications Because servers are often expected to serve a large number of clients for several years, expandability is often a key requirement. Check with your software vendor about recommended system configurations, and consult with other users with similar needs before purchasing servers. Also consider storage space (rackmount), power supply/UPS, RAID configuration.
  Memory [4]	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
  Disk [5]	80 GB or more	80 GB or more	80 GB or more	80 GB or more
  Optical	DVD±RW
  Monitor [6]	19" LCD or larger	[9]	19" LCD or larger	[9]
  Network [7] [8]	10/100/1000 BaseT	10/100/1000 BaseT and wireless ethernet (802.11b/g)	10/100/1000 BaseT	10/100/1000 BaseT and wireless ethernet (802.11b/g)
  Backup	Purchase an external hard drive, or use institutionally available backup over the network
  Graphics processor	To support the Windows Vista Aero interface, the graphics processor should support WDDM and DirectX 9.0. 128 Mb graphics memory.
  Ports	All desktops and laptops should haveat least two USB 2.0 ports easily accessible. IEEE 1394, sometimes known as FireWire or i.Link, is another type of port that may be useful.

  [1] Several system manufacturers offer all-in-one configurations. These configurations may be desirable for situations in which desk/office space is at a premium, or for energy savings.

  [2] New Intel processor designs also include a Processor Number, which indicates processor features other than clock speed. Not all Pentium 4s are created equal! See http://www.intel.com/products/processor%5Fnumber/
  
  [3] AMD64 processor lines include Opterons– servers and workstations, Athlon 64 X2– desktops and notebooks, and Turion 64 X2 mobile technology – notebooks. "X2" are dual-core processors.
  
  [3a] Core, Core Solo, Core Duo, and Core 2 Duo are the names of Intel's newest CPU chips. They have varying capabilities regarding multimedia and/or power consumption. Read more about Intel's CPU line.
  
  [4] Pay particular attention to that maximum configurable amount of RAM and the slot configuration. Aviod configurations where increasing RAM requires discarding existing modules. If budget is a concern, consider purchasing systems with 1 Gb of RAM and buying an additional Gb from a 3rd-party manufacturer.
  
  [5] Hard disk upgrades are often reasonably priced. Some users may require more disk space. It is not unusual to need 250 Gb or more, especially if you store many graphics files. USB flash drives are usually used to for transfer of files in lieu of floppies..
  
  [6] For laptops, suitable screen sizes often depend on how the computer will be used. Monitors should be capable of 1024x768 (XGA) resolution or better.

  [7] Laptops should have, a wireless network card, a network card and a modem. Network cards should be 10BaseT / 100BaseT / 1000BaseT auto-configuring Ethernet. Many current wireless cards support the emerging 802.11n standard as well.
  
  [8] Modems are used less frequently than before, and generally included with laptops.
  
  [9] Laptops serve a variety of needs. For example an "ultra mobile" lightweight laptop may have a 12" screen, a 60Gb, hard drive and a 1.2 Ghz processor. A "desktop replacement" is likely to have a 15 or 17" screen, an 1200 Gb drive, and as much RAM as a desktop system. Consider the user's needs.
  
  [10] a Mac Mini may be acceptable for light-duty administrative work.
  
  [11] Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Ultimate are the recommended versions of Vista for University computers. Vista Enterprise is available only to departments enrolled in the UC-MCCA leasing program or purchasers of Software Assurance.

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  Software Recommendations

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  Operating System:

  Windows: Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista (Home Editions may be acceptable if you'll be keeping your computer at home. )

  Mac: Mac OS X 10.4

  Linux: RedHat Enterprise Linux 3, or other currently supported variants.

  
  For all operating systems, you should regularly apply the most recent security patches.

  Productivity Software:

  Win/Mac: Microsoft's Office suite (Office 2007, Office 2003, Office XP, Office 2004, Office v.X) is widely used.
  Note: Office 2007 documents saved in "compatibility mode" are compatible with prior versions of Office.
  Note: Word Perfect (6.0 or later) is an acceptable alternative within some departments, but MS-Word is the preferred document format for sharing documents between departments.

  Email:

  All: Webmail

  Windows: Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook 2003 Outlook 2007, Outlook Express
  Macintosh: Mail (included with O/S), Microsoft Entourage

  Win/Mac: Eudora 6.23 and above
  Distribution link: http://licenses.nacs.uci.edu/Eudora

  Many departments utilize centralized Email; please check with your Computer Support Coordinator

  Internet Tools:

  Win/Mac:

   

  Browsers: Netscape 8.1, Mozilla 1.7.13 or later, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 or later, Safari 2.0, Internet Explorer 6.x (with latest patches) or later.
  Supported Web Browsers
  Note: Due to security concerns, the use of Internet Explorer for general browsing is discouraged.(July, 2004)

  
  

  Telnet: puTTY, SecureCRT SSH Tectia, dataComet

  File Transfers: WinSCP, dataComet (Mac), sftp (bundled with Linux). The use of FTP is discourages for security reasons.

  Zip Utility: many are acceptable, Windows XP and Vista have basic zip/unzip functionality built-in.
  

  Dial-up Connectivity: Deprecated - as of 2007, most users have broadband service.

  Campus dialup: Lifeline Modem Service
  

  File Exchange Format:

  Text: ASCII, MS-Word (.doc) , RTF
  

  Graphics: TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PNG image formats
  

  Video: MPEG, QuickTime
  

  Mail: MIME
  

  Archives: BinHex, Stuffit (Mac); ZIP, Auto-extract (PC)
  

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  About this document
  This document was prepared by the Network & Academic Computing Services and Administrative Computing Services
  in coordination with UCI Computing Support Coordinators(CSC)

Updated: October 05, 2007

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