FSU
Dept of Biological Science: Recommended Computer Specifications
Hardware
|
|
Recommended
|
Minimum
|
|
CPU (Intel)
|
Core 2 Duo 1.86 Ghz or
better
|
Pentium D 2.8 GHz
|
|
CPU (AMD)
|
Athlon 64 x2 4600 or better
|
Athlon 2800
|
|
CPU (Apple)
|
1.83Ghz Intel Core Duo or better
|
G4 1.2GHz
|
|
Memory
|
1024MB or better
|
512MB
|
|
Hard Drive
|
80GB or better
|
40GB
|
|
CD/DVD Drive
|
DVD+RW, CD+-RW or better
|
CD+-RW, DVD ROM
|
|
Video Adaptor
|
64MB RAM or better –
Nvidia or ATI chipset
|
32MB RAM, Dedicated or
Shared
|
|
Display Screen Size
|
Biggest you can afford
|
Desktop – 15” / Laptop
13.8”
|
|
Nic/Ethernet Card
|
10/100/1000 MB/S NIC
|
10/100MB/S NIC
|
|
Wireless Ethernet
|
802.11b/g
|
802.11b
|
|
Modem
|
56K or better*
|
56K*
|
|
Sound Card
|
Any
|
Any
|
|
USB
|
USB 2.0 – 2 or more
ports
|
USB 1.1 – 1 or more
ports
|
|
Backup / Transport
Storage Device
|
USB Flash Memory - two
512MB or better
|
USB Flash Memory - 128MB
|
|
Printer
|
Inkjet or Laser
|
Inkjet or Laser
|
|
Power
|
UPS 500 or better
|
Surge Protector
|
|
Warranty
|
Extended 3 year warranty
or better
|
-
|
* Get a 56K modem that
uses the V.92 standard. Make sure the
modem is not a Winmodem (also known as soft modem, controller-less modem, or
Dell’s “For Windows” modem).
Software
|
|
Recommended
|
Minimum
|
|
Operating System
(Intel)***
|
Microsoft Windows XP Pro
Service Pack 2 or better
|
Microsoft Windows XP
Service Pack 2
|
|
Operating System (Apple)***
|
Apple OSX 10.4 or better
|
Apple OSX 10.2
|
|
Microsoft Office
(Word, Excel, PowerPoint)*
|
Office 2003 or better
|
Office 2003
|
|
Antivirus
|
McAfee VirusScan 7.1 or
better**
|
Any antivirus with
regular updates
|
|
Antispyware
|
Ad-aware, Spybot (both are free)
|
-
|
* Microsoft Office is
available at education price level at FSU
Bookstore.
** Virus definition
updates for McAfee VirusScan are free.
*** Operating Systems
should be kept up to date with at least critical updates via Windows update
(Windows) or Software Update (Apple).
