+ Post New Thread
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 23
Hardware Thread, Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell? in Technical; We currently use some awful all-in-one PC's in our office which are older than half the PC's in the school ...
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,829
    Thank Post
    147
    Thanked 128 Times in 106 Posts
    Rep Power
    39

    Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    We currently use some awful all-in-one PC's in our office which are older than half the PC's in the school and pretty poor performance wise

    So we've decided to look for some replacements, and I would prefer to not use our normal PC supplier as the quality of their products seems to be slipping and slipping

    We need large hard disks, plenty of memory, large monitors, and a fast but cool CPU (as our office is like a sauna) but we obviously have to justify it so cant go mad

    Dell seems the simplest solution as you can customise them a lot and they come with good warranties. But what would people recommend? Its actually harder picking machines you're going to be using, normally the only requirement is 'will they withstand the pupils'

    Also, with Dell, what is the difference between their standard TFT's and their 'ultrasharp' ones that cost a bit more. Is it worth paying extra?

  2. IDG Tech News
  3. #2

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    680
    Thank Post
    176
    Thanked 109 Times in 91 Posts
    Rep Power
    50

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Personally, I'd buy whatever the rest of the school is using.

    It doesn't look "good" politically if you have nicer (or even just different) kit than your clients, and it always helps improve your support for your customers on all kinds of levels when your experience of the system is as close to theirs as possible.

  4. #3

    plexer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Norfolk
    Posts
    11,267
    Thank Post
    414
    Thanked 1,158 Times in 1,049 Posts
    Rep Power
    263

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    I've just been pricing up some nec's for myself and my tech as we have mainly nec ml250's on site. Only difference being I'm speccing them with 1gb ram and dvd rewriters.

    Ben

  5. #4

    john's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    London
    Posts
    9,990
    Thank Post
    1,274
    Thanked 889 Times in 775 Posts
    Rep Power
    248

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    I have a standard classroom PC just with 1gb ram and DVD writer, oh yeah and 2 aditional NICs.

  6. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,829
    Thank Post
    147
    Thanked 128 Times in 106 Posts
    Rep Power
    39

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Quote Originally Posted by Roberto
    Personally, I'd buy whatever the rest of the school is using.

    It doesn't look "good" politically if you have nicer (or even just different) kit than your clients, and it always helps improve your support for your customers on all kinds of levels when your experience of the system is as close to theirs as possible.
    Good point, might just get the same style base unti but with much more powerful components

    We are looking at buying future desktops from somewhere else though so I could make the argument we're 'evalulating' them
    And it is true, if we did get some that were competitively priced and better quality, we would use them in future for classrooms

  7. #6
    Andrew_C's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Winchester
    Posts
    2,497
    Thank Post
    54
    Thanked 276 Times in 209 Posts
    Rep Power
    113

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Quote Originally Posted by Roberto
    Personally, I'd buy whatever the rest of the school is using.
    It doesn't look "good" politically if you have nicer (or even just different) kit than your clients,
    Too true! I've just bought (new fiscal year for us) 3 keyboards and two phones to replace beat up old-cr@p, and the teachers are all drooling over them. THEY have all had new (or new-ish) PCs in the last 6 months. All I get is a new keyboard! :cry:

  8. #7
    Norphy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Dunstable
    Posts
    1,544
    Blog Entries
    4
    Thank Post
    30
    Thanked 86 Times in 75 Posts
    Rep Power
    38

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Quote Originally Posted by sidewinder
    fast but cool CPU (as our office is like a sauna)
    Kind of eliminates Dell from the runnings then being as the vast majority of their range still uses P4s, P-Ds or P4 derivative Celerons :P

    I'd second the NEC PC mention, the vast majority of the PCs in our place are NEC VL-350s and are excellent machines. Also look at the HP DX5150 range

  9. #8

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    2,829
    Thank Post
    147
    Thanked 128 Times in 106 Posts
    Rep Power
    39

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Those NEC's come with Semproms or Athlon 64's yeah?
    How quiet/cool are the Athlon64 models?

    We're a pure P4 school so not got anything to compare

    I use an A64 PC at home but its one I built with decent cooling so I cant really use that as a comparison

  10. #9

    plexer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Norfolk
    Posts
    11,267
    Thank Post
    414
    Thanked 1,158 Times in 1,049 Posts
    Rep Power
    263

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    We use the ML-250 which are celerys.

    Ben

  11. #10
    Norphy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Dunstable
    Posts
    1,544
    Blog Entries
    4
    Thank Post
    30
    Thanked 86 Times in 75 Posts
    Rep Power
    38

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    It's difficult for me to judge how quiet the A64 models are as all the ones I work with are either in a room with 23 machines + 23 kids in or in an office with a fair amount of other equipment in.

    That said, I can't hear my pair of VL350s in the office that I work in over the switch, media PC and other machines in my office and the muffled noise of the servers/switches in the next room. They get a bit noisier as the fans ramp up but they support cool n quiet and are generally very quiet.

  12. #11

    Dos_Box's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Preston, Lancashire
    Posts
    9,750
    Blog Entries
    22
    Thank Post
    380
    Thanked 1,727 Times in 786 Posts
    Rep Power
    513

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    We got lots of Dell GX620s with the following spec for not alot of money at all:

    Ultra small form factor case
    Core Duo 2.8
    1 GB RAM
    19" TFT
    DVD RW
    250GB HD

    Speak to them. You may be pleae

  13. #12

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Belfast, N\'Ireland
    Posts
    188
    Thank Post
    10
    Thanked 9 Times in 7 Posts
    Rep Power
    16

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    We recently bought 60 Optiplex Desktop Machines for a revamp of 2 Suites + technical office.

    2.8gig P4
    1gig ram
    60gig HDs

    Needless to say the price the website quotes is not what you pay when you phone the local Dell education rep. We're very pleased with the results and the 3 years of onsite service that they happly threw in is great for peace of mind given the proprietry nature of the motherboards they use.

  14. #13


    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    7,748
    Thank Post
    422
    Thanked 961 Times in 747 Posts
    Rep Power
    307

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    re: AMD vs intel temperature.
    IMO AMD wins these days - pre athlon XP the AMD's had a reputation of running hot/burning out but I've never seen it lately - Intel go for more clock/voltage = heat.

    wrt desktops - we're all homebuilt (cheaper, easier/faster to replace). Best advice is to just make sure everything is the same

  15. #14
    Norphy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Dunstable
    Posts
    1,544
    Blog Entries
    4
    Thank Post
    30
    Thanked 86 Times in 75 Posts
    Rep Power
    38

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Thats only true for Netburst based processors (P4, Celeron, P-D etc) and even then only for the last two generations (Prescott, Presler). Pentium Ms and Core based chips are much cooler than the old gen Intel chips and a fair bit cooler than current Athlon 64s.

    Admittedly there isn't much in it these days.

  16. #15
    Geoff's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Fylde, Lancs, UK.
    Posts
    11,727
    Blog Entries
    1
    Thank Post
    107
    Thanked 542 Times in 476 Posts
    Rep Power
    134

    Re: Which desktops for the IT staff? Dell?

    Vista RC-1 runs hot on Core Duo Macbooks. That's down to lack of power management drivers for the hardware though.

SHARE:
+ Post New Thread
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Mandatory Profiles and Desktops
    By faza in forum Wireless Networks
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 19th December 2007, 11:05 AM
  2. HP dc5750 SFF desktops
    By kearton in forum Hardware
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 13th June 2007, 01:25 PM
  3. Linux desktops
    By jonathan.lees in forum *nix
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 12th June 2007, 12:26 PM
  4. Block students changing desktops etc
    By speckytecky in forum How do you do....it?
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 7th July 2006, 12:54 PM
  5. Replies: 61
    Last Post: 14th November 2005, 08:27 AM

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •