BYOD Recommendations for 2024

Students are required to bring a device to school at all year levels at Gleeson College. The integration of digital technology continues to have a transformative effect on learning in the classroom and outside. Ensuring your son or daughter has an adequate device is very important and requires consideration of many factors: price, battery life, processing speed (processor plus RAM), and software requirements. Below is a list of recommendations and ideas for the type of device students should be aiming to bring along to school.

Laptop computers (also called Notebook or MacBook) are preferred as they support all software that may be required at all levels, in a form that promotes ease of use and portability.

Chromebooks are a type of Laptop computer that runs an operating system more like a phone or tablet than a traditional computer, and may provide an option at Years 7, 8 and 9 as generally the curriculum demands on technology are not as great. The nature of the Chromebook operating system means that traditional software is unable to be installed. Some seniors may also use Chromebooks depending on course selection.

Tablet/Convertible computers such as the Microsoft Surface PRO or Lenovo Yoga have traditional computer power and software capabilities packed in very convenient size, however Android Tablets and Apple iPads are limited in functionality as they are again limited to an "Apps only" environment, these traditional tablet computers will cause difficulty in completing tasks and are not recommended.

Minimum Recommended Specifications PC / Mac Book: Middle School

Below is a list of specifications that should be considered when deciding what device to purchase. You can take these specifications to your local computer hardware store and they should be able to recommend a good device for you.

Processor: 11th Generation Intel i5 , AMD Ryzen 5 (Equivalent or better)
RAM: Minimum 8GB
Screen: 13" to 15", the best compromise between portability and useability, the larger screens found on high end gaming computers often cause high battery drain and excess weight
Battery: Recommended Minimum of 7 hours
Antivirus: Recommended (Windows 8 onwards has preinstalled antivirus)
Operating System: Windows 10 / MACOS X 10.14 (or better)
Hard Drive: 240GB or larger (we would recommend any SSD (solid state drive) of this size or greater before a larger HDD (hard disk drive-older and slower technology)
Inbuilt Wireless connection capable of 802.11ac (802.11a, b, g and n are slower)

Minimum Recommended Specifications PC / Mac Book: Senior School specific subjects

For the following Senior subjects (Year 10 - Year 12)
Music
Digital Technology
Information Processing and Publishing
Visual Art - Design
DT&E, CAD/CAM

Gleeson College recommends a device of higher specification to cope with the greater demands of the advanced software used. The following upgraded specifications should be used for students intending on enrolling in these subjects.

Processor: 11th Generation Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 (Equivalent or better)
RAM: Minimum 16GB
Graphics Card/GPU: 4GB of discrete/dedicated RAM for graphics
Screen: 13” to 15”, the best compromise between portability and useability, the Larger screens found on high end gaming computers often cause high battery drain and excess weight
Battery: Recommended Minimum of 7 hours
Antivirus: Recommended (Windows 8 onwards has preinstalled antivirus) 
Operating System: Windows 10 / MACOS X 10.14 (or better)
Hard Drive: 240GB or larger (we would recommend any SSD (solid state drive) of this size or greater before a larger HDD (hard disk drive-older and slower technology)
Inbuilt Wireless connection capable of 802.11ac (802.11a, b, g and n are slower)

All other specifications as stated above may be followed.

Minimum Recommended Specifications Chrome Book

Chromebooks work in an app environment (as do Android tablets and iPads) and software cannot be installed onto them. A Chromebook can be used for most tasks at years 7 through 9, but may not be appropriate for senior courses where extra software may be required. There are no specific recommendations made by Gleeson IT in relation to Chromebooks, as they are all powerful enough for the demands of junior classes. Consideration should be given as to what software may be required in the future for your student's course of study.

Questions? More information? Please don't hesitate to contact us via byod.feedback@gleeson.catholic.edu.au