To be part of Pingry’s 1:1 laptop program at the Middle and Upper Schools, a student’s laptop must be capable of efficiently performing tasks necessary to complete classwork. Consequently, a student’s course schedule will dictate, to some degree, the quality of the laptop they will need. Typically, Mac or Windows laptops purchased in the past 3 years should be fine to bring to school. Chromebooks are not a viable option for a student's permanent device.
Each day, Middle and Upper School students should bring to school a fully charged laptop, protective case, power adapter, and any other necessary accessories. Students are responsible for maintaining their own laptops. The Tech Department does not loan power cords however, there are charging stations located around the Basking Ridge Campus. If a student has a broken laptop, the department does have loaner Chromebooks available for loans of up to two weeks.
If you do not find the information you need, please email Mr. Steve Frantz, Director of Technology, sfrantz@pingry.org.
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EVALUATE MY CURRENT LAPTOP
A Middle or Upper School Pingry Student’s Laptop Should:
- Have wifi connectivity.
- Have 8GB or more of RAM.
- Efficiently run Google Apps for Education products.
- Have a large enough screen to read ebooks and course material.
- Be able to join a video conference while having a note-taking program open, as well as have working speakers, microphone, and webcam to participate in the video conference.
- Efficiently run required course-specific software, which may include products such as the Adobe Creative Suite*, LoggerPro (Science), MathType, Geometer’s Sketchpad (Math), etc.
- Connect to a classroom HDMI projector via USB-C, using an adaptor if necessary.
- Be setup to perform consistent backups, either via cloud storage (such as Google Drive) or via an external hard drive.
- Battery life greater than 5 hours.
- Admin access to allow for software installation.
*Please be aware that Adobe’s Creative Suite is provided only to students taking certain Fine Arts courses. Please consult the Pingry Curriculum Guide for more information. If you need to run Adobe Creative Suite on your laptop, please note that it may require increased processing power and storage space, depending on usage.
NOTE: The Pingry School 1-to-1 program is platform-independent. Pingry recommends and can assist with support for Mac OS or Microsoft Windows.
BUY A NEW LAPTOP
If your laptop does not sufficiently perform the tasks defined in the minimum requirements, The Pingry School recommends that families purchasing a NEW laptop choose a machine that meets the following specifications:
- 16GB RAM
- 250GB Solid State Drive
- Wifi connectivity (802.11ac or newer)
- Integrated Webcam
- Warranty Extension/Accidental Coverage
- Accessories:
- Laptop case or laptop sleeve for protection in the backpack
- Headphones w/ Mic
- USB C to USB 3.0 Adapter and HDMI Adapter (if necessary)
If you plan on purchasing an Apple laptop, the Pingry Tech Team recommends a 13" MacBook Air M4. This laptop has great battery life and is powerful enough to run almost all applications reasonably. (For reference, Pingry faculty who are Mac users are provided a 13” inch MacBook Air M2, with 512 GB SSD, and 16 GB RAM)
You can receive discounted pricing on Apple devices by visiting the Pingry Apple Store:
http://www.apple.com/edu/
If you prefer a Windows laptop, the Pingry Tech Team recommends Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga. (For reference, Pingry faculty who are Windows users are provided a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga, with 12th Generation Intel Core i5-1235U Processor, 512 GB SSD, and 16 GB RAM)
You can also receive discounted pricing on Dell devices by visiting the Pingry Dell Store:
http://www.dell.com/mpp/Pingry use Member ID: GS141340748 if prompted
For your reference, about 70% of our faculty use Mac laptops, as well as about 85% of our students.