For The School of Arts & Sciences, The School of Engineering, and The Fletcher School

Overview

Previous ITS hardware standards focused on processor speed and dates of new model releases. This has become increasingly confusing for users to understand and navigate and difficult for ITS to maintain. In its a place a more simple approach to hardware standards has been developed. As computers age, components begin to fail and it becomes increasingly difficult to find compatible parts for repairs or upgrades. Once they no longer have the ability to run currently supported software it becomes increasingly impractical to invest time and money into their maintenance. Also, the amount of time required to support older hardware is greatly increased, and our limited staff resources must be maximized. For these reasons, equipment beyond a certain age, as defined below, cannot be supported by ITS.

ITS will support any computer - purchased from the recommended manufacturer of Dell, Lenovo or Apple - for four (4) years from the date of purchase with the following caveats:

• All supported computers should be covered by a manufacturer warranty for 4 years or until ITS support is no longer desired. Typically, new computers come with a 3 year warranty, so the purchase of an extended 4th year is recommended. The 4th year warranty is approximately $50 if done when the computer is purchased, or $80 if done later.
• If a computer is older than 4 years old and/or is not covered by a manufacturer warranty, ITS will provide limited support such that a best effort will be made to fix a problem, but significant staff resources will not be allocated.
• Only computers purchased by Tufts University will be supported.
• All supported computers must have Tufts standard virus protection/security software (PC- Trend Micro – OfficeScan, Mac - Norton Antivirus).
• All supported computers must have Tufts auditing software (LANDesk).
• All supported computers must be on the Tufts Domain.

Hardware Standards

In order to maximize support efficiencies, only certain models of computers from supported manufacturers are supported. These supported models are built with the same parts for the entire life cycle of the model. Other models may be built with disk drives, video cards and other parts from different manufacturers at varying points in the model’s life cycle, making support more difficult. Also some other models are not designed for networked business needs and are more suitable for home or gaming. The following computer models are fully supported by ITS

Dell Desktops

Optiplex Models 990’s

Precisions T7400, T5400, T3400, T750, T5500, T3500
(some precision models only come with Ubuntu Unix installed and if the machine is intended to have the Windows Operating System, the supported version of the Windows operating system should be purchased separately.)

Any other Dell desktop computer is not supported by ITS - including Inspiron, Vostro and XPS.

Dell Laptops

All Latitude E series laptops, All Precision Laptops, Vostro 1x20 series

Any other dell laptop computer is not supported by ITS - including Inspiron, XPS, Adamo, or gaming laptops, Vostro A860.

Lenovo Desktops

ThinkCentre Desktop M series small form factor and towers, and ThinkStation workstations

Any other Lenovo desktop computer is not supported by ITS - including IdeaCentre or H series

Lenovo Laptops

Thinkpad T series, R series and X series notebooks and Tablets

Any other Lenovo laptop computer is not supported by ITS - including Lenovo Branded IdeaPads, and Value line laptops

Apple desktops and laptops are all supported

Note: Any unsupported computer will be considered for support by ITS if a business need requires its specific use. These exceptions, though infrequent, will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Purchasing maintains websites in collaboration with Dell, Lenovo and Apple listing Tufts specific minimum configurations for new computer purchases. http://finance.tufts.edu/purchasing/index.php 

Home Computer Support

ITS provides only limited support of Tufts-owned computers that are housed off-campus. ITS offers phone support for such computers - assuming the hardware and software are within the supported lists - and the ITS staff will make every effort to resolve issues over the phone. If the problem cannot be resolved over the phone, the user is welcome to make an appointment to bring the computer into the ITS Office for further service and pick up when complete. However, please note that home computing problems are oftentimes not able to be duplicated in a different environment, as internet service provider, modem problems, etc. cannot be duplicated. A reasonable effort will be made to solve problems on home computers, but our limited resources need to focus on campus based computer problems. Also, ITS recommends that any Tufts supplied home computer be a laptop rather than a desktop so that compliance with Massachusetts State Law about data security and privacy can be more readily followed.

ITS will not, under any circumstances, go to any off campus or non-Tufts location to service Tufts owned computers/equipment. Additionally, ITS will not support any computer that is not owned by Tufts University.

Email support ONLY is available to retired faculty wishing to keep their Tufts email account.

There are no exceptions to these limitations.

Software Standards

The following software is supported by ITS to include installation and the diagnosis/troubleshooting of any error message generated by the program. Only legal copies of software will be installed and supported. One license for each installation - or appropriate site licensing - is required.

Please refer to the Microsoft Campus Agreement for additional details on Microsoft products used on University computers.

For any other software not on this list, ITS will provide limited support such that a best effort will be made to install the software or fix a problem, but significant staff resources will not be allocated.