Hardware

All hardware and peripherals must be purchased by a member of DIDE IT. Equipment must be paid for from project or grant funding, and the project/grant number must therefore be given when requesting equipment.

We purchase HP desktop computers and laptops as they are the College's preferred supplier and we obtain the best prices and support with them. All HP hardware comes with three year next business day on-site support with accidental damage cover included in the price.

HP desktop computers

The HP EliteDesk 800 SFF is available with the latest Intel Core i5 dual and i7 quad processors, along with anything between 8GB and 64GB of memory.  Both traditional and faster SSD hard drives are available.  The traditional disks are available in 500GB or 1TB and SSD disks in 128GB, 256GB or 512GB.  If required, HP monitors are also available in 24" or 27" models.

HP laptops

There are a large range of HP laptops available to purchase and the range changes often. Again, they are normally available with the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 dual processors, and a variety of memory and hard drive sizes. Screen size, battery life and weight also vary between the different models of HP laptop, as does the price. Our laptop warranty also includes accidental damage cover. The following models, sorted by screen size and weight, are available:

HP Elitebook 820/840/850 G3

  • 12.5", 14" or 15.6" LED display
  • Choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 processors
  • 8, 16GB of memory
  • Solid State Drive (SSD)
  • Starting price around £850

Photo of HP elitebook840 laptop

HP Zbook 15/17 G3

  • 15.6" or 17.3" LED display
  • Choice of Intel Core i5 dual or i7 quad processors (i7 duo in 14")
  • 8, 16, 32GB of memory (32GB not available in 14")
  • Solid State Drive (SSD)
  • Starting price about £1,200

Photo of an HP zbook laptop

HP folio 1040 G3

  • 14" LED display (Full HD or Quad HD)
  • Choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 processors
  • 8GB of memory only
  • Core i5-6200U only
  • 180GB, 256GB or 512GB solid state drive
  • Price starts at about £1,100.

Photo of an HP elitebook 1040 laptop

Less popular laptops which we can also buy are the Elitebook Folio G1 (about £850), the Elitebook 1030 G1 (about £1,000) and the HP Revolve 810 G3 (about £950). Please check on the HP UK website for specifications.

Apple Macs

Apple are not an approved supplier. Although we are able to purchase Apple Macs from resellers, please note that limited support will be provided for these types of machines, and it will be your responsibility to set it up upon arrival, as well as installing the required software.

It will also be your responsibility to obtain support from Apple in the event of a hardware problem, from initial contact with them to the implemeting a solution. You will be required to take the hardware to the Apple store yourself for repair. This is also the case for non HP/Dell computers. HP manufactured Windows computers and laptops are strongly recommended for maximum support and compatibility.

Procedure

If you are interested in obtaining new hardware, please contact a member of DIDE IT who can give you advice depending on your budget limit and hardware requirements.

A standard PC or laptop for 2016-2017 would be 8GB RAM, Core i7, 256GB SSD, Windows 7.