Desktops...

[gshaw]

It's that time again

At 4 years old our Athlon 3000 systems are showing their age (and having to be rebuilt to fix the mistakes the manufacturer made!) so replacement time. Previously were using Stone until a dispute with an order, they've now lost a lot of business but their loss

Looking at big brand machines now, preferably the stable image type hardware as we can't buy in big batches. Looking at HP dc7900s but they're not cheap - about 470 odd without monitor. Don't want Dell tbh and their equivalent spec is nearly 200 quid more than HP (this is comparing like for like via the website before special pricing)

Seems hardware has really shot up at the mo, spec needs to be good to last, no point buying low spec now that won't hack it in a few years time...

- Core2Duo 3GHz or above (E8400, 8500 etc)
- 2GB RAM minimum
- 80GB HD or higher
- DVD writer
- Mini tower case

Monitor to be added on later but usually LG now, seem to come in about £90ish for a 19" (non widescreen because of NetSupport )

Anyone bought any batches recently and doesn't mind saying what they got em for?

[steve_nfi]

You could ask Novatech to give you a quote. We had some in my last school and they were pretty good and reasonably priced.

[powdarrmonkey]

Ask CPLTD about HP desktops, they're usually pretty good on price.

[CPLTD]

It's that time again

At 4 years old our Athlon 3000 systems are showing their age (and having to be rebuilt to fix the mistakes the manufacturer made!) so replacement time. Previously were using Stone until a dispute with an order, they've now lost a lot of business but their loss

Looking at big brand machines now, preferably the stable image type hardware as we can't buy in big batches. Looking at HP dc7900s but they're not cheap - about 470 odd without monitor. Don't want Dell tbh and their equivalent spec is nearly 200 quid more than HP (this is comparing like for like via the website before special pricing)

Seems hardware has really shot up at the mo, spec needs to be good to last, no point buying low spec now that won't hack it in a few years time...

- Core2Duo 3GHz or above (E8400, 8500 etc)
- 2GB RAM minimum
- 80GB HD or higher
- DVD writer
- Mini tower case

Monitor to be added on later but usually LG now, seem to come in about £90ish for a 19" (non widescreen because of NetSupport )

Anyone bought any batches recently and doesn't mind saying what they got em for?

We can supply you with a great deal on branded and bespoke built machines, if you send me your contact details over I'll be sure to get on and price up some options straightaway,

[pagelad]

You could ask Novatech to give you a quote. We had some in my last school and they were pretty good and reasonably priced.

Ill second this, in my previous job i ordered loads of workstations from them and they were all pretty good quality.

Where did you get your Dell prices from by the way? Does your LEA have an account with them in the schools team? Or did you just use the online prices?

[synaesthesia]

3ghz core2 hardware is probably overkill and is certainly pushing the price up. Dont make the mistake of believing that a 1.8ghz Core2duo is by any means slow...

[bgarston]

- Core2Duo 3GHz or above (E8400, 8500 etc)
- 2GB RAM minimum
- 80GB HD or higher
- DVD writer
- Mini tower case

Hi, Personally I would go for Core2 Duo 2.7GHz CPU's as really good pricing on these at the moment and not that much slower IMHO than the 3GHz equivalent and your not paying the premium for the faster CPU.

Also you might consider going for 4GB of RAM, not much use now with 32bit OS's however RAM is cheap, cheep, cheep and for future proofing it'll be worth it in the long run (especially with 64bit OS's).

Assuming these workstations are to be networked I don't see the point of optical drives. Software can be installed/deployed via the network. Do you really need to allow all-and-sundry to write CD's/DVD's (what about keeping on top of copyright infringement?)? Also don't you find the drives just get broken in one way or the other?

Hope these quick thoughts help?

All the best Ben

[kmount]

I don't think he implied it was slow, just that he wanted to spend extra to spec-up to the best his money will buy.

Mind you, I'd probably lower the CPU has you say but increase the RAM as 3GB "standard" laptops are turning up now ... we can thank Vista for that.

[IanT]

Dell do some good spec computers, you might get a discount.

[dhicks]

At 4 years old our Athlon 3000 systems are showing their age (and having to be rebuilt to fix the mistakes the manufacturer made!) so replacement time.

What are you doing with your old machines?

--
David Hicks

[gshaw]

Ye the 3GHz is basically to get a spec built to last for 3-4years. 3GB RAM would be preferable but doesn't seem to be standard for most manufacturers - 4GB is really wasting 1GB as 64-bit desktop OS doesn't seem to be coming as standard anytime soon (Microsoft pleeeease make 7 64-bit only!)

As we're Adult Education drives don't get trashed but it is handy for students to burn \ read CDs if they don't have USB sticks and miles better than floppies that's for sure!

Seems a lot of manufacturers are doing the 3GHz CPUs as well rather than the 2.8s, presumably as the slower ones will be discontinued?

Thing with Dell is I've found the whole service they offer to be pretty poor, slow to reply to emails etc, bad tech support and don't like being tied into bespoke hardware e.g. Dell only motherboards, PSUs etc so would have to be a pretty special quote to swing it. Have to say their book prices on the website make HP look cheap

The old machines will probably go to a recycling company, possibly as part of the order of new machines... were you after some if they're not recycled?

[PeterW]

Seems a lot of manufacturers are doing the 3GHz CPUs as well rather than the 2.8s, presumably as the slower ones will be discontinued?

You might want to consider the E7400 over the E8400, you would loose VT support and its 3MB of cache instead of 6MB but performance will be similar for standard office tasks. Its about £25-£30 difference so it might be worth investigating if it is worth the extra cost.

[dhicks]

The old machines will probably go to a recycling company, possibly as part of the order of new machines... were you after some if they're not recycled?

I'm sure we can take them off your hands for a fraction of the price of a recycling company :-)

--
David Hicks

[dtakias]

You might want to consider the E7400 over the E8400, you would loose VT support and its 3MB of cache instead of 6MB but performance will be similar for standard office tasks. Its about £25-£30 difference so it might be worth investigating if it is worth the extra cost.

The E7400 is an excellent choise at the moment. Wolfdale core with all the bells and whistles based on 45nm fabrication process. You won't get any benefit from the extra cache on the E8400.

[acer-man]

Please consider EduGeek Outlet.

Thanks