How do I select a Desktop or Laptop computer ?

Selecting a desktop or laptop can be a highly personal choice. There are many reasons why you may select one model over another model. These reasons include :

  • Price – depends on the budget you have
  • Speed of Processor
  • Memory
  • Battery life for laptops
  • Add ons required or desired (such as cameras, communications options, software etc)
  • Weight and size - if you are likely to travel a lot with a laptop
  • Compatibility – your collaborators may useparticular models
  • Reliability and extended warranty
  • Screen size
  • + other personal reasons.

To assist you with making a desktop or laptop purchase, useful help is available on CiCS website

Once you have some ideas about what you would like, you can look at contracted suppliers websites to see what is offered. The information for the supplier’s websites is available on Procurement’s Supplier Information Databasewebpages(see Computer Desktop and Computer Laptop/Notebook)

How do I know which brand to buy ?

If you do not have a particular model in mind, or a particular brand in mind, then our contracted suppliers can help by supplying well known brands at very competitive prices, for business class machines.

To see which manufacturers (brands) are currently contracted, and who you can buy these from click on the following links :

For Desktop computers

For Laptops computers including tablets

For Apple Mac and Macbook

For iPads

Remember that if you need more help in identifying your needs, please see the CiCS website.

Why do we have contracted suppliers ?

The University of Sheffield is a member of the NEUPC (North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortia) which works together with other consortia in the North West, South, London, Wales and Scotland, covering in total over 160 universities. With the buying power of these 160+ Universities, we are able to negotiate highly competitive deals with the original manufacturers (see below for details of manufacturers).

As a public body we have to satisfy EU Regulations, as well as the University’s own Financial Directives, the agreements/contracts for desktop and laptops does this.

The deals we have negotiated include :

  • The purchase of equipment from either the original equipment manufacturers or their nominated resellers at cost price plus an agreed small percentage. (The resellers get direct support from the manufacturer on both pricing and warranty issues.)
  • Warranty for a minimum 3 years. For Desktop computers this will be onsite. For Laptops this will be on a basis where the supplier collects and returns to you, normally within approx 10 working days. These warranties can be upgraded to 4 or 5 years and to being onsite (instead of collect and return in the case of laptops) and to cover accidental damage etc. Different resellers offer different extra warranties as a way of differentiating themselves from their rivals. Details can be found by looking at the supplier details within the Supplier Information Database, and also it is worth checking the supplier’s websites for up to date offers.

Why can’t we buy from Web-based sites, or high street stores ?

  • As a public body we have to satisfy EU Regulations, UK legislation for Public Sector Authorities, as well as the University’s own Financial Directives, the agreements/contracts for desktop and laptops does this.
  • When we have acontract in place, we are obliged to use it.
  • High street stores and web-based sites often sell end of line equipment with no or limited warranty (as the spare parts may not be available). Many of the models sold are at a lower price because they are constructed to use away old parts.
  • High street stores are the usual outlet for machines that have been returned to suppliers by unhappy customers. Whilst manufacturers will test machines before selling them to high street stores, there is still the uncertainty of having a machine that may prove to be unreliable. Unhappy customers include those who have detected a fault, cannot complete payment etc etc.
  • There is the risk to spending public money - if it goes wrong, will you be able to have it repaired or replaced? There have been instances of high street and web-based retailers-bought Desktops and Laptops breaking down in the first 3 years of their life, and there is little we can do about it because of the lack of warranty nor managed relationship between the University and retailer.
  • If your computer needs a warranty repair, where will it (and therefore your data) go to? Our contracted suppliers handle warranty repairs on our site or their premises. We have had examples of high street bought machines breaking down and having to send them to other European countries for warranty repairs.

How do I start the process of buying a computer ?

Procurement would strongly recommend the following:

  • Does my departmental or faculty IT technician/team have any recommendations for me to follow, or any available units which are being redeployed from for instance colleagues who have left the University? They will also be a good source of advice as they are likely to be your first call in the event of you having problems with your new computer.
  • Check the Suppliers Information Database for brands available, and then check the supplier’s websites to see what models they can offer and the current prices too.
  • Having selected a model that you require, raise your purchase requisition.

I want to buy a computer on my Purchasing Card, can I ?

Desktop and Laptop computers cannot be purchased on a corporate card. All of the contracted suppliers have been set up to accept official University of Sheffield Purchase orders.

The rules of use of the Purchasing Card are to be found at section 14 of theFinancial Regulations

What if I have problems with the Contracted Suppliers ?

Both CiCS and Procurement have good relationships with the contracted suppliers and can help to resolve problems and disagreements. Procurement welcomes feedback of both a positive and negative nature, which can be fed back for contract monitoring purposes and future contract negotiations.

I want a model that is not available from the contracted suppliers

Our contracted suppliers sell the business ranges of the manufacturers who are members of our contracts. You may have seen a newspaper advert or seen in a visit to a high street store a model that is intended for home or gaming use. Whilst the models intended for home and gaming use may appear that they will fulfil your needs for work, CiCS do not guarantee that they will work on the managed system (even if you are not currently a managed user, you or your machine may be in the future), as some of the parts used may not be compatible with our software and network configurations.