Recommended Equipment?

[witch]

Can anyone recommend some kit? This is for a first school (4-9) IT suite. Just your basic fastish computers plus flatscreens.
I know I asked the question about 10 months ago for my other school, and ended up with some Dells, but I just wondered if anyone knew of any offers or can recommend something?
The Dells are good, have had no problems with them - so will probably go with them again if no one suggests anything better
thanks

[broc]

My vote would be for DELL still. Depending upon numbers & how fussy you are about specs, take a look at http://www.europc.co.uk/ as they sell refurbished DELL Optiplex equipment (amongst others) with full 3 year warranty. Delivery next day too. PM me if you want the name of a sales contact there, you may be able to negotiate a bit on price.

[localzuk]

I would suggest contacting European Electronique (01865 883300) and asking for a quote for HP pc's as I have been given some good deals by them.

[richard]

I'd also have a look at Viglen. I have always found them to be very reliable and know you don't have to buy their Classlink product if you don't want to.

[Ric_]

@WITCH: You could also speak to the lovely people at 1st Technologies who can usually source all manner of 2nd-user and new kit. Education prices are very cheap and you could probably get 2 or 3 2nd-user machines for the price of one new one.

[mark]

HP have cashback offers all the time which make them very competitive.

http://www.second2digital.com/SCC/SCCE324/

http://misco.co.uk/content/hp/more/desktops.htm

I'd be inclined to stick with what you know, but I personally think the build quality on HPs is slightly better than Dell

[localzuk]

Ooh! Thanks for that! I have just found via those sites that I can claim back the price of the second processors we bought for our new servers

[john]

HP do seem to have some good offers on at present with cashback on some stuff as well, so do have a look at them, but in terms of cost, I still have not managed to beat having them built for me by CCL Computers.

[crc-ict]

Make sure you specify glass-front flat screens. Sticky little fingers don't mix too well with the normal TFT covering - as our iBooks will testify when Reception have been using them...

We have glass front TFTs in virtually all of the rooms and they're tons easier to keep clean!

[john]

Sticky little fingers don't mix too well with the normal TFT covering - as our iBooks will testify when Reception have been using them...

On this thought, if you have non-glass TFTs one item that was suggested to me by a friend that works in a primary school was get large sheets of acetate and tape them over the screen like the plastic thats over them when you get them(apart from these are clear and not covered in writing) that way sticky fingers go on the plastic, you either wipe that or bin it and put a new one on. I know glass TFTs are the best solution but this may well work if you couldn't afford them, got existing ones that suffer etc...

[witch]

Further to all this - have had some quotes.
After everyone telling me that RM would be really expensive, the base units are coming up cheaper than Dell! It is a special offer but I am an old cynic and would like opinions please.

The RMs are Ascend 2020 P4 3GHz 512MB RAM 40GB drive - £271.05 each

The Dells are Optiplex 745 DT 2.8GHz 512MB RAM 80GB drive - £420 each

The Dells have a three year warrenty whereas RM only have one, but this price difference is huge and could make all the difference to this school.

SO - any opinions please?
Also can I have opinions on the RM ONE as well
thanks

[ChrisH]

Tell Dell how much the RM ones are and see if they can get anywhere near it. Watch you dont have Dell gold warranty or something next day bronze would be fine. Also have you considered second user equipment?

[witch]

I have considered it, but the school won't consider it. After 8 years they think they deserve new kit!
Will do what you say regarding Dell

[broc]

If you want DELL desktops/laptops quickly & cheaper than Dell direct try EuroPC.

How about DELL Optiplex GX620 base unit P4 3.2ghz 512mb 80gb XP Pro 3 yr warranty next day delivery £329 ex vat , currently showing 107 in stock.

Even cheaper, Optiplex 210L P4 2.8 512mb 40gb XP Pro 3 yr warranty next day delivery £269 ex vat, currently showing 129 in stock.

Honestly, I don't work for EuroPC, but am a happy customer.

[Norphy]

I would second the EuroPC recommendation, that is where we source all of our Dell kit from. They come will full Dell warranties and offer (in my experience) excellent service.

Witch, give NEC a try. They're generally very competitive when we try them, offer good support and good machines. I'd also suggest going with single core Athlon 64 machines if you're on a budget as they're on a price parity with current Celeron systems and are as good, if not better than P4 ones.