Intel Nuc in schools

[jslate1980]

Hi

 

I am currently looking for ways to save energy with hardware on site. I am putting a proposal together to replace a percentage of computers at my school with Intel Nuc’s. I am interested to get feedback from schools who have purchased these types of device. Also interested to know what you are using them for.

 

 

Regards

 

Jon

[edmokeski]

We bought a bunch a few years back - on the verge of retiring them now. They've been totally satisfactory replacements for desktops in offices, work rooms, and suites. Scenarios where a NUC wouldn't have worked acceptably are few-to-none. Mounted to the backs of displays or under desks, all very tidy and freed up a lot of space on surfaces compared to the "sff" (hardly small by comparison) PCs we had before.

Not sure NUC is as much the only game in town on this any more, though -- HP and Dell both make some pretty (genuinely) small form factors now in "mini" and "micro" ranges. Not sure how they compare on power consumption, however.

[PotNoodleTech]

In terms of percentage of while school power usage IT is usually pretty low, typically 10%. Most people would be surprised at that putting it at 50%+ but if you do the maths and preferably do some measuring you'll come to learn there are many more things that use much more electricity than your PCs!

 

Do everything you can to reduce energy usage but do not compromise usability. The modern Dell workstations use under 30 watts which is pretty good. NUCs appear to use 10-15 watts depending on the model so there are power savings to be had but not massive ones. Back in the old days when Pentium 4 used 125 watts and you changed to a Core i3 that used 30 watts that was a big saving, but going from 30 watts to 15 is not so amazing (though I admit still half!)

 

There is also value for money - NUCs are not that cheap for the spec you get - I go for refurbished Dell stuff now and for the price you can get them you'll literally NEVER earn back the electricity savings by paying Twice as much for a NUC that saves you 15 watts.

 

Lighting and Heating are generally the biggest costs to a school so I would advise looking at them closely first. If you do not have LED lighting site wide, then your IT usage will be a drop in the ocean compared to each classroom having 20 x 50watt tubes.

 

I love saving electricity - let us know how you get on.

Edited May 10, 2018 by PotNoodleTech

[AlanD]

Yes lighting was the greatest cost by far when we "did the math" for our campus. Even fluorescent strips lights (which are significantly better than incandescent lamps) are pretty energy hungry compared to the latest LED panels and strips. And depending on whether you have to contract out refitting or not, new LED fittings can pay for themselves and turn a profit...They are not going to save the financial shortage facing most schools, but there are savings to be made.

 

With PCs - I find the best thing is to set them to sleep after 5 (or 10) minutes of lack of use..and make sure they go off at the end of the day. (We still like them to come on early enough to install any updates to windows and AV before the school day starts though.

[MatthewL]

You have the Gigabyte Brix range too, neither are cheap but then any new PC I don't find cheap at the moment. PC's drawn very little compared to what they used to do so.