The re-imaging and deployment of classroom and lecture theatre PCs is almost complete.
This annual upgrade is a major undertaking and we would like to thank you for your timely responses about software requirements for the coming academic year.
If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to test your software before the start of term to allow us time to fix any issues.
So what’s new?
We have deployed approximately 400 new PCs this year – doubling the RAM on all new PCs from 4Gb to 8Gb – and reimaged the remaining 1300. The main, high-density rooms where PCs have been replaced are:
| Building | Room | No. PCs replaced |
| Edward Wright | F81-83 | 50 |
| Edward Wright | F86-87 | 22 |
| MacRobert | MR117 | 50 |
| Suttie Centre | 001 | 50 |
| Zoology | G21 | 30 |
In response to feedback from staff and students in this year’s user survey, we are piloting a 64-bit Windows 7 image, with upgraded memory of 8Gb, in room 112 Fraser Noble. We hope that this will significantly improve the performance of larger, resource hungry applications and that it will become the standard for next year’s classroom refresh.
We have also installed ultra fast Solid State Drives (SSDs) on lecturer PCs in most lecture theatres. This will speed up boot-up time to under 30 seconds
Working with colleagues in Estates, we hope to replace all broken chairs in PC classrooms before the start of term.
As always, please report all issues with PCs to the Service Desk.
Ian Rowley [i.rowley@abdn.ac.uk]
Desktop Manager