Tiers for Faculty/Staff and Classroom Computers

Tiers for Faculty/Staff and Classroom Computers

Budget Targets by Tier

• Laptop Base  <$1400
• Laptop Workstation <$2000
• Desktop Base – Budget: <$1200 
• Desktop Workstation <$2200

Target Budget needs to include vendor warranty and monitor where applicable. We have been specifying 24" - 27" monitors for desktops.

Tiers specifications are loosely based on student technology toolkit laptop tiers and where possible try to create parity with recommendations.

Laptop Base 

• Equivalent Student technology toolkit : Creative Baseline https://students.colum.edu/information-technology/laptop-tiers/creative-baseline
• Intended Users: Faculty, administrative staff and users with standard computing needs (e.g., email, LMS access, word processing).
• Typical Use Cases: Office work, student advising, basic teaching support, can run Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat and PhotoShop
• Minimum Specifications: mid range processor, recommended RAM for running Abode PhotoShop
  • Intel i5 / AMD Ryzen 5
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 256 GB SSD
  • 13"–15" screen
  • Integrated graphics
• Reference Specifications

Laptop Workstation – Budget: <$2000

• Equivalent Student technology toolkit : Media Creation https://students.colum.edu/information-technology/laptop-tiers/media-creation
• Intended Users: Faculty, researchers, and staff with advanced computing needs.
• Typical Use Cases: Data analysis, multimedia content creation, audio, video, programming.
• Minimum Specifications: high end processor, recommended RAM based on Adobe requirements for Premiere, dedicated GPU
  • Intel i7/i9 / AMD Ryzen 7/9
  • 16–32 GB RAM
  • 512 GB – 1 TB SSD
  • Dedicated GPU
  • High-resolution display
• Reference Specifications

Desktop Base

• Equivalent Student technology toolkit : Creative Baseline https://students.colum.edu/information-technology/laptop-tiers/creative-baseline
• Intended Users: Office-based staff and faculty with fixed workstations and standard computing needs.
• Typical Use Cases: Administrative tasks, document management, email, and web-based systems.
• Minimum Specifications: mid range processor, recommended RAM for running Abode Photoshop
  • Intel i5 / AMD Ryzen 5
  • 8–16 GB RAM
  • 256–512 GB SSD
  • Integrated graphics
• Reference Specifications

Desktop Workstation

• Equivalent Student technology toolkit : 3D/ Edit https://students.colum.edu/information-technology/laptop-tiers/threed-edit
• Intended Users: Faculty and staff in STEM, digital arts, or research-intensive roles.
• Typical Use Cases: Scientific computing, CAD, video editing, simulation, and data modeling.
• Minimum Specifications: high end processor, recommended RAM based on Adobe requirements for Premiere, dedicated GPU for 3D application​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
  • Intel i7/i9 / AMD Ryzen 7/9
  • 32 GB RAM (expandable)
  • 1 TB SSD or hybrid storage
  • Dedicated GPU (e.g., NVIDIA Quadro/RTX)
• Reference Specification

Replacement Cycle

We will try to replace computers when

• They are out of warranty
• Repairs or support is determined to be too expensive 

We need to replace computers when that are out of support based on operating system or other vendors support

• Apple Mac Operating System Support 
• Windows Operating Systems Support