Purchasing A New Computer
Illinois Wesleyan University Information Technology Services recommends these minimum specifications for new computers:
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Macintosh |
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The University has arrangements with Apple Computer, CDWG and Tiger Direct. These are good places to start, but prices are constantly changing, so be sure to shop other vendors and compare the prices to get the best deal. Be sure to ask for academic discounts from all technology vendors.
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To shop, simply click on "Select your college" and find Illinois Wesleyan University |
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Students, Faculty and Staff have access to discounts throughout the TigerDirect website. To shop, simply browse their products and contact our account manager for more information about discounted prices. |
Greg Lindstrom
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Students, Faculty and Staff have access to a wide range of discounted products from netbooks to laptop cases. |
Angie Bania
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Use your academic discount at VarsityBuys.com to get the software you need for less. |
Susan Juskey
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Wolfram offers various resources in Mathematica for both Students and Faculty. Some of these resources are free online seminars, pre-built examples and plenty more. |
Sarah Wingfield
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Preparing your computer for IWU
The following checklist contains some of the things you will need to complete before arriving, concerning bringing a computer.
Install virus protection
Turn on antivirus automatic updates
Turn on Windows or Mac automatic updates
Bring surge suppressor strip
Bring 15'-25' Ethernet cord
Install an office productivity suite or word processor (e.g. Microsoft Office or OpenOffice)
Install a secondary Internet browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome
Getting New Software
Faculty/Staff
Faculty and staff have access to Microsoft Office to use on their university-owned computers as well as personally-owned computers that are used for university work. They also have access to Wolfram's Mathematica.
Students
The software that a student will need at Illinois Wesleyan University will depend on their intended major. All students on campus will need at least a suitable word processor for their work at IWU. Graphic design majors will also want photo editing software for their own systems.
Illinois Wesleyan Students can find discounted software from VarsityBuys, which has discounts on both Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop. Students should note that alternative software is available online, free of charge.
Open Source Software
Open source software is developed by programmers cooperating on an open platform. These programs are available for download completely free of charge and are often good substitutes to the standard options. Unfortunately, we in IT Services are unable to provide full support for these programs. Students will be responsible for understanding how to use the software should they choose to seek these alternatives.
- Open Office (Microsoft Office) - An office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages.
- GIMP (Photoshop) - For tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
- AVG (McAfee) - Provides you with basic antivirus and antispyware protection for Windows
We recommend that you download and try out any open source software before making your purchasing decisions.