District Hardware

Introduction

School District No. 42 provides staff and students with leading-edge hardware. The district continually upgrades hardware and strives to have no machine older than four years in our computing environment.

All hardware (including iOS devices) must be purchased through School District No. 42’s Purchasing Department in order to qualify for district IT support.

For more details, please see:

Hardware Standards
Office Computers and Laptops
Students Carts
Spheros

Hardware Standards

The IT Department currently supports the following computer hardware and operating system combinations:

Apple Computers:

Hardware must be capable of running: macOS High Sierra (10.13)

MacBook (Late 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
iMac (Late 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)

For more details please refer to: Apple Support

Windows Computers:

Hardware must be capable of running: Microsoft Windows 10

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard drive space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 32 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display: 800×600

For more details please refer to: Microsoft Support

Office Computers and Laptops

School District No. 42 currently deploys the following hardware as new devices:

Apple – MacBook Air
Windows Desktops and Laptops – Dell computers

District hardware is refreshed in line with a four-year evergreen replacement policy.

For more information please contact the Purchasing Department.

Student Carts

Multi-user student carts are provided to schools to assist with learning. We have found that the laptops/iPads make it easier for a wide range of students to be successful. Having access to this technology also makes it easier for teachers to meet the learning needs of all students in the classroom while helping to prepare them for success in a digital world.

Available hardware for student carts includes:

Apple iPad
Microsoft Surface Tablets
Apple MacBooks

For an example, please see School District No. 42’s Inquiry Program.

Spheros

School District 42 offers Spheros in select classrooms throughout the District. Please see the troubleshooting instructions and support information found here if assistance is required.