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Purchasing standards exist in order to provide reasonable, sustainable, and timely support to the university community. Appropriately configured computers, classroom technologies and other technologies are designed to meet our university end users' needs and allow us to leverage our resources appropriately. The considerations outlined below have been carefully configured in collaboration with technology professionals from across campus to offer the broadest set of solutions for our constituent users. These standards are reviewed frequently and adjusted as new needs are identified and future technologies become available. Daily contact with university faculty and staff enable the information technology professionals to be able to remain apprised of end user needs.

Procedure to Purchase Equipment
Those considering the purchase of computers or classroom technology with university funds or through grants will need to contact the computer consultant responsible for their area or contact Technology Support Services at 828-262-6266. The responsible computer consultant will go over potential configuration options to best fit the user’s needs and put together the appropriate quote. For exceptional circumstances, the appropriate consultant can authorize non-standard configurations.
In order to make this support model work, all university purchases must follow this process.

	Desktop PC Purchases Within the standard is a suite of several desktop computers of various brands and configurations to accommodate user needs. Currently, the brands represented are: Dell and Gateway. more...
	Desktop Apple Purchases Currently, we recommend purchasing the Intel line of Apple desktop computers. Any Apple desktop computer with a PowerPC based processor can be fully supported on the campus network. more...
	Laptops Our recommendations are based on computers available from Dell, Gateway, and Apple. Key features to consider for laptops are weight, warranty, battery life and peripherals. more...
	Printers We recommend Hewlett Packard and Lexmark printers for their ease of configuration on the network, reliability, cross platform compatibility, and good manufacturer support. more...
	Classroom Technology Equipment Through the use of a faculty survey and consultation with distributed campus support staffs, three standard tiers of technology components have been identified to meet classroom needs that range from minimal equipment to integrated computer, control and video equipment, thus easing the tasks of training faculty and supporting their use of the technologies. more...