Durham, NC - As part the Duke Administrative Reform Team (DART), a new standard process has been developed for the purchase of computers across Duke.

The Duke Computer Purchasing Program was developed to take advantage of volume purchasing to negotiation better pricing and extended warranties through our preferred vendors: Dell, Lenovo and Apple.

The pricing is based on standard configurations for three different user levels, which were established by a group faculty and IT support staff across the university. The levels offer a range to support those who mainly use standard office software, enterprise applications and the web to those who perform heavy data collection and analysis or use graphic-intense applications.

Laptops will still be available to purchase for those whose role includes frequent traveling or working remotely.

"We believe the configurations will meet the needs of all different levels of users, from those who use standard office software, enterprise applications and the web to those who perform heavy data collection and analysis or graphic-intense operations," said Jim Rigney, senior IT manager for the Duke Computer Store.

The negotiated discounts and extending the useful life of computers and servers is projected to create an annual savings of about $2 million.

Purchasing of desktop computers, laptops and netbooks, monitors and docking stations for all three preferred vendors will be centralized through the Duke Computer Store. The computers will be business-grade machines that have longer life and better warranties than equivalent consumer-grade computers purchased at retail locations.

Duke Computer Repair, an authorized warranty service provider, will handle support and repair of computers purchased through the program. Because they will be dealing with standard hardware configurations, they will be able to service these machines expertly and efficiently, using replacement parts they will keep in stock.

Details about the program are available on the Duke Computer Store website. Contact the Duke Computer Store at (919) 684-8956 for more information.