Introduction

Students at the University of Warwick will need a personal computer/device. We have produced this central guidance on the recommended specification for any device you use to undertake your academic work.

This guidance should be followed unless your department provides you with specific alternative guidance to follow (as it may be for a higher specification), which would take priority.

Who is this article for?

This article is helpful for all University of Warwick students.

Need more help?

If you have followed these steps and you need further support, please contact us:

Visit IDG’s Service Portal

Phone +44 (0) 2476 573737 or ext. 73737 (internally)

The ServiceDesk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Last revised: 04/06/24

Recommended IT Device Specifications for Students

As a student at Wawick, you will need a personal computer/device to support your studies. We have good-quality IT workspaces and computing labs, but for convenience, students may prefer to use their own devices. We recommend a laptop for portability as you are likely to need it on campus, in residences, and at home during term time and holidays.

This guidance gives a recommended technical specification to ensure your device can support Microsoft 365 (or equivalent), Microsoft Teams and Moodle.

You made need other software and applications to participate in your particular course, learning and assessment and in that case, your department should provide you with further information.

You may sometimes need to participate in online sessions while on campus: you could use a mobile phone but it will limit your ability to participate in some activities requiring specialist software or document authoring.

It is not essential to buy a new device to study at the University of Warwick – if you already have a reliable laptop that is less than three years old, it is likely to be sufficient. If you have an older laptop, you may want to check its specifications (go to System > Settings). We recommend Intel® Core™ i5-7nnn (7th generation) or higher.

You may use a Windows or Mac device. If you know you want a Mac or iPad with a keyboard rather than a Windows Laptop, that is fine, particularly if you already work with specialist software in your chosen discipline. Your department may give you specific guidance on Chromebooks or Linux but we do not recommend them in the central guidance.

Recommended Technical Specifications

This is what we recommend if you are buying a new device – you may use a Windows or Mac device.

Recommended minimum specification for Windows

• Intel Core i5 OR AMD Ryzen 5 processor
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD storage
• Windows 10/11

Recommended minimum specification for Mac

• Apple M2 processor or better
• macOS 14 Sonoma or better

If you are planning to purchase new equipment

• As a guide, you should expect to spend roughly £500-600 to purchase a Windows laptop and at least £1000 for a MacBook of this specification.
• It is recommended that you buy a warranty with your device.
• A microphone/headset would be a good investment and can be obtained for £15-30.
  You will need access to a camera to participate in some online sessions, ideally on a laptop (most laptops have built-in webcams and mics). You could use a mobile phone instead but that might restrict your participation in some activities such as whiteboards or collaborative authoring.
• You will be able to download Microsoft 365 products for FREE when you get your University of Warwick IT account in late August, so don't feel you have to buy a personal licence.

Anti-Virus and Cybersecurity

• If you have a Windows machine you will have Windows Defender anti-virus software built-in. You should enable that as soon as you start using your device.
• If you have a Mac machine you will have XProtect but may wish to install additional anti-virus software.

Wi-Fi and Mobile Data

• There is unlimited FREE Wi-Fi for students on campus including in teaching rooms and social spaces.
• If you are living in Residences: there is unlimited Wi-Fi throughout campus residences. However, for optimum broadband, students in campus residences study bedrooms should use a wired connection. On-campus study bedrooms have an ethernet socket for optimised broadband connection so bring a USB-to-ethernet adaptor if you don’t have an ethernet port on your device.
• If you are living off-campus: ensure you have a broadband contract or a 4G/5G data plan.