Aero/Glass in School?

[Zoom7000]

I was a Vista beta tester and have got myself a copy of Vista through our Technet Subscription. We have HPDC7600 PCs, DC7100s and IBM ThinkCentre 8189s. All similar specs, but no less than P4 2.8Ghz with 512Mb RAM. The RAM is not enough for Vista which although requests a minimum of 512Mb, really cries out for at least 1Gb.

The major worry is the graphics. All of our machines have Intel 800 series graphics with 64Mb RAM and the only supported chipset is the 915 series. So therefore Aero doesn't run. Now the tendancy for schools nowadays is to go for Small Form Factor machines, hence you can't update the graphics card. Does this mean that schools going down the SFF route will be stuck with the horrible looking "Windows Simple" interface because Aero requires "Gaming Level Graphics"?

Until we start getting SFF PCs with 128Mb graphics or above!

[plexer]

Do you really need aero though?

Ben

[CyberNerd]

Choose XGL which looks better and runs on a 1.2GHz with 256MB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ZtcxHUSDQ

[Zoom7000]

Do you really need aero though?

No, I never said Aero is needed, it's just that if Aero doesn't work, it leaves you with the "Windows Simple" interface. Personally, I feel that the Windows Simple interface makes Luna/Royale look like award winning art! MS should definately release a better theme for non Aero capable computers.

[Quackers]

All our new PC's are bought with graphics card that can take areo and with 1 gb of ram for when we do dive into Vista our hardware will be ready.

[SimpleSi]

@quackers

What machines have you bought and how much were they if you don't mind me asking?

regards

Simon

[webman]

What's wrong with windows simple interface? Surely you want the best performance out of the machines - not what looks pretty. What about windows classic?

Bells and whistles are overrated :P

[Quackers]

@quackers

What machines have you bought and how much were they if you don't mind me asking?

regards

Simon

£540 a system, thats with a 17" Xerox class fronted TFT too, MS keyboard, MS optical mouse, DVD Writer, 80 Gig hard disk, GeForce 7600 GT 256MB, P4 3Ghz, 1 gig of RAM, 3 year warrenty. We have our PC's custom made to what ever we want from a local firm. Plus we can go inside and not void the warrenty, if its just a dead disk for example, i can take it out, and drop it off at the shop on the way home and he just changes it. Very handy.

[Norphy]

If the PC can handle it, why not? As far as I can see, there isn't an appreciable performance difference as it is hardware accelerated.

There are plenty of PCs with integrated graphics which can handle it. The Radeon Xpress 200 based PCs we have here handle it fine, any Intel GMA above the 3000 does as does the nVidia 6150.

May I ask why you've spec'ed a 7600GT for a school machine? Thats way overkill imo. Even with the glass screens, none of the PCs here cost more than £450 and they all do the job perfectly.

[Quackers]

If the PC can handle it, why not? As far as I can see, there isn't an appreciable performance difference as it is hardware accelerated.

There are plenty of PCs with integrated graphics which can handle it. The Radeon Xpress 200 based PCs we have here handle it fine, any Intel GMA above the 3000 does as does the nVidia 6150.

May I ask why you've spec'ed a 7600GT for a school machine? Thats way overkill imo. Even with the glass screens, none of the PCs here cost more than £450 and they all do the job perfectly.

We asked for Graphics cards that would definatly handle Vista areo, and run it very well. Plus we have our games club at dinner time so we wanted to make sure they would run games of now and to come, these PC's have gotta last until 2012. (on another note, the games at dinner time get the kids of the corradoor's, the kids respect the machines more since they are used for "fun" too, not just excel). RM Still want £640 for a PC with 256Meg ram and a 40Gig Hard disk, so £540 a system is a bargain.

[plexer]

I can go inside our NEC's and not void the warranty either.

Ben

[SimpleSi]

£540 8O

I'd think any major supplier would significantly better that price for you if you asked (Unless 7600's cost mega money - do they?)

As afar as invalidating warranty goes - warranty support people usually plead with you to break into machines and fix it for them

Dell made me take a laptop apart rather than come and fix it themselves 8O

But vive la difference

regards

Simon

[Quackers]

£540 8O

I'd think any major supplier would significantly better that price for you if you asked (Unless 7600's cost mega money - do they?)

The screens are the expencive part. £170 each.

[Ch3rub]

Imo Vista will be good in a year - two years time.
M$ has already announced SP for Vista and I believe we all know new system will have tons of bugs.

I am pretty sure we will keep XP for quite a while, it's doing it's job very well.

btw.

7600GT - these PC's have gotta last until 2012

Don't count on that, with DX10 released all current "new" hardware is going to bin considering gaming

[sahmeepee]

£540 8O

I'd think any major supplier would significantly better that price for you if you asked (Unless 7600's cost mega money - do they?)

The screens are the expencive part. £170 each.

£170 per screen?!? At that price it's probably much cheaper to get standard 17" TFTs for £80-90 each and let them break them.