Welcome to the SOE Office of IT Personal Computer Purchase Page!!!
This page exists to give SOE faculty and staff pointers for the sometimes daunting task of purchasing a non-Purdue owned computer for their personal use.
While we offer the following suggestions, we need to say that Education IT cannot recommend, offer support, or be liable for any purchase decisions regarding Purdue employee personally owned computer equipment. Please do not ask us to help you purchase or provide specifications for your home computer during Purdue work hours. Having said that, it may be possible that some of us will have time outside of work to consult with you on your home computer purchases. This page is designed to give you a jump start in your journey to purchase a home computer. If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact vendors directly and ask them all kinds of questions. They are pros at answering pre-sales technical (and not so technical) questions.
Purdue Discounts: We encourage you to contact computer vendors and tell them you are Purdue University staff/faculty/student and ask for an educational discount. Many vendors will give you a discount only if you identify yourself as University staff/faculty/student and ask for a discount. Discount policy changes rapidly and there is no way we can recommend a vendor with the "best discount".
The Purdue ITaP organization has negotiated some special pricing from a few vendors. For more info see:
http://www.purdue.edu/ITaP/shopping/
Research: You will need to do some research. There
is no way to bypass this step. No pain, no gain. No one will be able to do
this for you, and it is important that you fully understand what you are
purchasing before you make a commitment. Unfortunately, there is no easy way
around the learning curve associated with a new computer purchase, but in
the end you'll be glad you went through it when you are sitting in your home
sipping a cup of coffee and surfing the Internet!!! :-)