Skip to Content
Skip to Navigation

Computing & Information Technology

Software & Hardware

Recommended Hardware

The information in this document expires on May 15, 2012

If you are planning a desktop computer or hardware purchase in the near future, Computing & Information Technology (C&IT) staff recommend using the following table as a guide.
For laptop purchasing guidelines, see the Comprehensive Guide for Buying Laptop Computers.
For computers Wayne State employees use to access Banner or Cognos, refer to the Administrative Desktop Computing Specifications.

	Plan to Replace¹			Buy
Equipment	Now	Within 1 year	Within 2 years	3-4 year life span
CPU for Windows PCs	Any Pentium 4 with Dual Core (DC) technology or earlier; Intel Core Duo processors	Intel Core Duo processor; Early Intel Core 2 Duo Processors	Intel Core 2 Duo processors *Early Intel Core I architecture (i3/i5/i7)	"Sandy Bridge" 2nd Generation Intel Core i architecture (i3/i5/i7)
CPU for Macintosh	Intel Core Duo Processor or earlier	Early Intel Core 2 Duo processor	Intel Core 2 Duo processor	"Sandy Bridge" 2nd Generation Intel Core i architecture (i3/i5/i7)
RAM	1-2 GB	2 GB	2 GB or more	4 GB; more memory as required by application. *Use Windows 7 64-bit or Mac OS X 10.7 if your computer is equipped with 4 GB of RAM or more.
Hard Drive Capacity *Replace your hard disk drive after ~45 months of service to statistically reduce the chance of failure.	160 GB or less	160 GB or more	160 GB or more	Serial ATA, 320+ GB, 7200 rpm; Solid State Drive only if required by application
Optical Drive (CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD ± R Drive)	Any drive that cannot record DVD data disks	Any DVD±R drive without Dual Layer (DL) capability	Any DVD±R drive without Dual Layer (DL) capability	16x DVD±R drive with Dual Layer (DL) capability; Blue Ray Drive only if required by application *An optical drive may not be necessary for certain computer configurations, particularly ultra-portables.
Display Monitor ---and--- Video Card	Any CRT monitor Any analog LCD flat panel	Any analog LCD flat panel	LCD digital flat panel 17-inch or higher with DVI connector	LCD digital flat panel 19-inch or higher with DVI or DisplayPort connector
Display Monitor ---and--- Video Card	Any video card with less than 128 MB of memory	Any discrete video card not using PCIe (PCI Express) Intel GMA 3100 built-in video	Any PCIe (PCI Express) video card with less than 128 MB memory Any Intel built-in video GMA 4500 or less	Discrete graphics capability PCIe with 256 MB memory or higher, DVI or DisplayPort connector, other connectors (e.g. HDMI, VGA) as needed ATI, NVIDIA, or Intel HD Graphics 3000 (or Intel HD Graphics 2000)
I/O Ports	Anything with less than 4 USB ports Anything not conforming to the USB 2.0 specification	Anything with less than 4 USB ports or lacking front USB ports	Anything with less than 4 USB ports	Six or more USB 2.0 ports, some on the front of the computer for desktops; 2-4 USB ports for laptops (dependent on form factor) Bluetooth 2.0 or higher if required USB 3.0, ESATA or FireWire if required
Audio for PCs	Sound Blaster Live or equivalent	Any sound subsystem that shipped with 2-3 year old systems	Any sound subsystem that shipped with 1-2 year old systems	In general, built-in sound chips provide adequate performance. Optional: If you need surround sound, upgrade to 5.1 or 7.1 capability
Network ---or--- Dial-up Modem²	10/100 Base-T wired Ethernet Laptops: 802.11b/g wireless	10/100 Base-T wired Ethernet Laptops: 802.11g wireless	10/100 Base-T wired Ethernet Laptops: 802.11g wireless	10/100/1000 Base-T (Gigabit) wired Ethernet Laptops: 802.11n wireless
Network ---or--- Dial-up Modem²	Any dial-up modem	Any dial-up modem	Any dial-up modem	Only use a dial-up modem in rural areas where no other Internet access alternative exists. Otherwise use wired or mobile broadband Internet access.
Operating System³ *Replace Windows Vista installations with Windows 7 because it will run better; Microsoft will support Windows XP through 2014; Use Windows 7 exclusively if you need a 64-bit Operating System	Any operating system earlier than Windows XP Windows Vista Mac OS X 10.4.x or earlier	Windows XP Mac OS X 10.5.x	Windows XP Mac OS X 10.5.x-10.6.x	Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Enterprise (recommended) Windows 7 Home or Windows 7 Ultimate (for home use only) Mac OS X 10.7 or later
¹ When you replace your computer depends upon the applications you use. These recommendations are for a general-purpose computer that can run the latest applications. ² Only use a dial-up modem in areas where broadband is not available. If you still use dial-up as the primary way to access the Internet, start exploring wired broadband (cable modem or DSL) or wireless (cellular) broadband alternatives. ³ C&IT strongly recommends operating systems with built-in firewall software to help avoid security compromises on your computer. Mac OS X includes a built-in firewall. For Windows computers, we recommend Windows 7 or Windows XP with Service Pack 3. For more information see the Knowledgebase article on Firewalls.