Recommendations for buying a new laptop

Please note these are recommendations and should be seen as guidelines only when purchasing a new laptop.

Please check with your Programme Office for any specific device requirements for your course.

It is recommended that your laptop should have:

• Processor: Intel Core i-3, i-5 or i-7 (7th Generation) or AMD Zen (Ryzen), running at 2.0Ghz and above.
  (Intel Atom/Celeron or AMD Athlon/Sempron Processors may cost less, but may not meet your requirements)
• Random Access Memory (RAM): 6 to 8 Gigabytes
• Hard Drive Capacity: 500 Gigabytes to 1 Terabyte
• Supported Operating System
• Wireless Card: 802.11 a/b/g/n compliant with Bluetooth Capability
  (incompatibilities have been noted with the Qualcomm Atheros Wireless Adapters and software device drivers)
• Graphics Card: Intel HD Graphics/AMD Radeon™ Graphics/NVidia Quadro
• Network card: A 10/100/1000 baseT Ethernet Interface 
• USB Ports: between two and four USB Ports
• USB/Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter (for Apple Macintosh), USB to Ethernet adapters (for Windows)

Laptop Warranty:

All laptops come with a one year manufacturer's warranty.

If available, try to get this upgraded to two years, as most hardware issues occur in the first two years.

Laptop Software:

Microsoft Office 2016 is available free for both Windows and Apple Macintosh OS.

Sophos Anti-virus is available free for both Windows and Apple Macintosh OS from Software downloads in UCD Connect.