What New Desktops To Buy For An I.T Suite?

[farquea]

I've been given money to replace the computers in 2 of our I.T Suites, so approx 60 new machines. We currently have the classic Dell Desktops with a money which i'd like to move away from as i get sick of students moving the base unit around, the twisitng the moniter and being able to unplug cables at the back.

 

I've thought about some All-In-One units which may stop these problems but its just a quick thought. Anyone have or know any useful info regarding these?

 

Are there any recommendations anyone can make or things we should be looking out for?

[Asomodai]

My school are currently going the opposite way.

 

We have been a staunch RM all-in-one buyer for years, most of our desktops are the older non wide screen RMones. They are very secure I admit. The hard glass screens are nearly indestructable. However its still very possible for students to tug USB cables out of the back, though if you wrap them up inside along with the power cable it makes it much harder to tug out. (Though with a very determined student they could cause more problems then prevent)

 

Customer service is reasonable and next day warranty service is pretty awesome with freindly engineers around here.

 

However, we have been moving to Dell recently for cost reasons. It cost us about 800 to buy in an all in one, whereas a standard desktop unit was about £400 and thats for the same spec. We currently have 2 dell suites, which are reasonably managable when it comes to mouse/keyboard replacement. We put the dells in rooms that specifically dont get hammered or are under constant watch.

 

PS: Replacing and installing VGA cables and Optical drives are a BIG pain, expect an opticial drive installation to take at LEAST half an hour.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Asomodai

[RTFM]

We use VeryPC and in honest we have been so pleased with them it's unbelievable. Their warranties are good, their support is top notch and the units themselves are reliable and well built.

 

Maybe not what you were after but that's just who / what we use

[dhicks]

Are there any recommendations anyone can make or things we should be looking out for?

 

I think we've decided on the Acer Revo VESA-mount-on-the-back-on-the-monitor machines for future upgrades - at £200 a machine, they really are a bargain. Viglin had some nice all-in-one machines on show at BETT this year - you can actually buy the base and fit (or have them fit) whatever components and screen you want, including a touch screen if you want. RM's new machines also looked pretty good - there were a whole bunch of stands at BETT using the RM One for demos.

 

HP's all-in-one machines seemed to be quite popular at BETT, too, although those tend to be a bit pricy - these are devices more intended for the home market, and are a bit more expensive. I have an Advent all-in-one myself at home - very good, nice and compact, reasonable price, but you should bear in mind that the VGA port on the back is VGA in, not out as it would be with machines designed for school/office use - you can't put a VGA splitter on the VGA port and drive a projector and the PC's screen off these machines.

 

The cheapest way to get a new RM One is to buy a second-hand RM one (about £100) and put new insides in it (another £100-ish). They take standard-sized motherboards, and being upgradable I think they're a good long-term bargain.

[dhicks]

We use VeryPC and in honest we have been so pleased with them it's unbelievable.

 

Had a look at them at BETT, too - very impressed. Random aside: for these VESA-mount PCs, does anyone know where we can get extra-short VGA cables from? We always wind up with a bunch of cabling floating around at the back of the machine - you can cable-tie it up, but having a shorter cable would be a better option.

[DJ-Jonesy]

We installed Novatech Nbox's into 2 It suites with 19" widescreen LED Acer monitors, The Nbox attach to the back of the monitor and look fantastic. We have had no damage done to them hardly anybody moves them about and they work great worth a look at

[ticker]

We have just purchased 25 of the Dell Vostro 330 All-In-One to replace the RM One, i got a good price per unit and the spec should make sure it last for at least 4 years. Edited May 26, 2011 by ticker

[glennda]

Talk to the likes of Stone/Misco/Nova tech they all do custom built models which tend to be cheaper. If you want i'll pm you my contacts at the first 2

[SpuffMonkey]

I've been looking at these

 

Secure In One - Secure In One - they look very tidy, hoping for an eval model in a couple of days

[glennda]

I've been looking at these

 

Secure In One - Secure In One - they look very tidy, hoping for an eval model in a couple of days

 

they look good although they are only pentium and pretty expensive for one of those IMHO

[SYNACK]

they look good although they are only pentium and pretty expensive for one of those IMHO

 

Agreed, a two to three generations old CPU architecture and only 2GB of RAM, you can do much better for that kind of money.

[Duke]

I'd be quite interested in this too actually. We've never been and I don't plan to be an all-in-one site - I get that they have some major benefits but I prefer a standard desktop PC and TFT. We use Dell here and I specced out a Dell Optiplex 380, E6700 3.2GHZ, 4GB DDR3, 250GB HDD for well under £300 each. This is more a generic PC, for our ICT Suites that get heavily used (they want to start 3D game design, etc) I'd probably spec out a basic but dedicated GFX card on there.

 

Any better suggestions?

[Millgate]

Morning!

 

I'm another one who likes Very PC. One of the larger schools i supply absolutely swear by these. Cost effective and great support. We supply quite a lot of them. Popular choice!

[ryanmwalker06]

Ergo As2 * - Ergo Computing - Full-scale ICT solutions provider we have around 120 of these fantastic for it suites

[Zenden]

we bought 80 lenovo a70z all in ones last year and they have been fantastic, we have wall mounted them in a lot of places and they have formed our sixth form study suite, our language lab and our staff work room and we are very happy with them. We tend to get good prices on lenovo gear from insight too so it might be worth giving the ma shout!

[3s-gtech]

An alternative is something like the HP Elite 8000, this can come with a bracket which mounts the PC and monitor together in an integrated and adjustable stand. Cables can be hidden with a port cover too, and we got 30 for around 10k including 19" TFTs.

 

Alternatively - some great refurb deals going at the moment. You get a lot for your money.

[SYNACK]

They are up to the hp Elite 8200 series now unless you're going for refurbs.

[gomalley]

We have just replaced a suite of 4 year old RMOne's with Novatech slim chassis, built to order with 19" Hard Glass screens, and all delivered inside of 5 working days from order.

 

They sent me a test box to see the build quality and to install my base image on, they then cloned it so they all arrived ready to add to the domain, saving a lot of time in the roll out, also came packaged on a pallet rather than individual boxes, saving a lot of packaging waste.

 

Guy

[SpuffMonkey]

they look good although they are only pentium and pretty expensive for one of those IMHO

 

Nah - I've just had them quote for i3, 4GB RAM and 19" hard glass monitor - came to just over £500 - not too bad - still waiting for the eval so I can assure myself of the build quality.

 

I liked the look of the Very PCs - but they did seem to be quite expensive and low powered - am I out of date with the info?

[Millgate]

When Very first started, i suppose they were a bit on the expensive side but now they're very reasonable for what they are. If you want me to do you a comparison, just PM me with what you're looking for and quantities.

 

:-)

[mrbios]

build them yourself and put them behind flase back desks, solves us loads of problems and saves alot of money

 

Newest build pcs are going to be:

G620T processors

4GB ram

40GB intel SSDs

Asus P8H61-I ITX motherboards

 

£130-140 per PC, mounted onto an MDF board and sat behind a false back desk where no one can tamper with them, use WOL and remote shutdown scripts and all the cables go through a hole at the back of the desk.

 

Fast, cheap and effective.

[soveryapt]

I remember seeing these ---> idesk, the Worlds First Integrated PC Desk. <--- mentioned somewhere previously .. could be an interesting approach ..

[RTFM]

I liked the look of the Very PCs - but they did seem to be quite expensive and low powered - am I out of date with the info?

 

Very themselves will say they arent the cheapest on the market but the flip side of that is they are more energy efficient. How that balances in terms of cost over the lifetime of the machine i dont know.

 

We find Very competitive and they have a new case for their standard models which i think they refer to as a 'BLD' (which has replaced their BE case) which is solid steel with no front blanking plates and can be laser branded. We took a delivery of them last week and they look swish (with the added benefit of being a lot more vandal proof).

 

Certainly worth a look if nothing else

[simpsonj]

Had a look at them at BETT, too - very impressed. Random aside: for these VESA-mount PCs, does anyone know where we can get extra-short VGA cables from? We always wind up with a bunch of cabling floating around at the back of the machine - you can cable-tie it up, but having a shorter cable would be a better option.

 

You could try using a VGA splitter like this:

 

Videk HDD DB15M to 2 x HDD DB15F Monitor Splitter Cable: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

Not sure if it's long enough, and you'd have an extra VGA lead dangling, but it might work...

[sven]

I would get the furniture sorted on your suites before you do anything. We are in the process of getting enclosed desks sorted, so the computers sit behind a locked partition. The monitors are fixed to the wall infront of the students, and all they have access to is a mouse and keyboard. No wires, no plugs, NOTHING.

 

I plan on sorting fixed USB sockets so they can plug devices into the "wall" infront of them, but they will probably just stick chewing gum in them.

 

Still in the planning phase at the moment, but I want the room neat, minimalistic and tidy. the less they can get at, the better in my opinion.