Purchasing a computer @ USC

Dell is USC's preferred vendor for institutional purchases. In order to keep the variety of supported hardware in SPH to a minimum, we recommend purchasing all computers from Dell.
To make a purchase, you can go to Dell's website at http://www.dell.com and click on Higher Education near the bottom of the page. Then click on Higher Education Institutions. From there, choose whether you want a desktop, laptop, etc from the right hand side.

We recommend Optiplex systems for desktops and Latitude systems for laptops. They have more proven hardware and are business-oriented rather than home-oriented machines. Any machines ordered whether they are desktops or laptops should be Pentium processors. Avoid ordering any machine with a Celeron processor. If possible, please order from one of those two lines unless you have needs that they cannot cover.

When you choose one of Dell's lines like Optiplex, you then click to Customize it. There are a series of pull down menu choices for different features of the machine. After you've selected which features you'd like there are links at the bottom of the Customize page to Update Price to get your final price for your selections and Save Equote to lock in those choices.

Saving an Equote is an important step. When you click Save Equote, have it emailed to you. That Equote number and Equote name are what need to be on your Purchase Request that goes to USC Purchasing. They can retrieve your exact system with that number.

If you have any questions about your system specifications before ordering it, feel free to email us the Equote number and Equote name to SPHSupport@gwm.sc.edu and we will retrieve your system and review it for any red flags or to make suggestions.