Crashed hard drives, system failures or just a craving for the latest technology may send a student on the hunt for a new computer system this semester.

With all the options available, someone new to the experience of purchasing a system may have questions. Outlets on-campus include Academic Information Technologies, located in Durham Center, and ISU Surplus, 1505 Gateway Hills Park Drive.

According to the AIT Web site, incoming and current students, faculty and staff are eligible to purchase items from the service at a discount from general retail prices.

Ryan Hackbarth, an AIT customer sales representative, said there is no real difference between machines running Windows XP and the Apple Macintosh operating system, but students from differing majors may prefer one over the other. He said students who exclusively buy Apples are generally in the design programs, while most other students buy a computer to match their own preferences and needs.

“A person could buy the bottom-of-the-line computer,” he said. “But for a little bit more money [someone] could make sure it would last a few years.”

For accurate pricing for newer models, Hackbarth said the easiest thing to do is go to the AIT Web site. He said he bought his computer from Staples, but one advantage to buying from AIT is a three-year warranty that comes with the product.

Hackbarth said Internet speed could be another big concern for a student, and one way to increase browsing speed is to purchase more memory for an older processor.

“If the processor is really old, then there is nothing you really can do,” Hackbarth said.

ISU Surplus is another option for a student looking for computers at bargain prices.

Mark Ludwig, ISU Surplus supervisor, said someone could either buy completed systems or different components such as CPUs, keyboards, printers and monitors at ISU Surplus. He said complete systems are priced at $100 on up to $600.

“It’s pretty economical because of the prices,” Ludwig said. “We believe it’s pretty fair to the consumers.”

Ludwig said the prices are low because most of the computers ISU Surplus receives from the university are four to five years old. He said this is generally when the computers fall below the minimum requirements mandating certain levels of technology found on-campus.

Because the sales are open to the public, Ludwig said the amount and types of customers he sees varies. He said approximately half of the customers are students.

“For the most part, anybody who stops out here knows what they want,” he said.

Public sales at ISU Surplus are held every Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m.

Plenty of computer options are also available off-campus at local retail stores.

Warren Atkinson, customer sales representative at Best Buy, 1220 S. Duff Ave., said students majoring in engineering and computer science would benefit from a newer model with more power. A student majoring in the liberal arts would be helped by a middle-of-the-road model, he said.

“You definitely don’t want to go low-end unless all you are using it for is e-mail,” Atkinson said.

He also said laptops have an advantage by cutting down on space, but a desktop computer usually has more computing power.