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Where you buying your new PCS from & what spec?

Jaan

By Jaan
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Jaan

Jaan

Posted
Posted

Our current spec is;

 

4/6 core intel (thinking maybe AMD next)

8gb ram (anybody running more than this?)

250gb ssd

21" screen

anti tamper case/stand

5 years warranty

 

 

i think the above spec should be ok for 5 years, unless anybody has any input. Think anymore than 8gb might be overkill?

 

We're currently a 100% Stone PC site and have been extremely happy with them, their support and failure rates. (4 in 7 years all different issues resolved next day).

 

We have no reason to leave them, but of course we have to do a tender for the next phase to ensure best value. About 40% of the site isn't 11 compatible but not looking to jump to win11 just yet.

 

What are your thoughts

TechMonkey

TechMonkey

Posted
Posted (edited)

Roughly the same but VeryPC all in ones. I know some on here have gone 16Gb but, like you, have found it to be overkill except on machines that need it.

 

I need to find out if AMD have sorted their Trusted Computing certificate so we can Autopilot them. I had a massive issue with a batch of AMD laptops that would not work properly until I found an obscure article that had found the certificate wasn't available yet. Until that is sorted, I'm not willing to get any, no matter the difference in price.

 

EDIT: Just had a hunt around and it looks like the AMD issue may have been solved with a firmware update (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/autopilot/known-issues). When I get a second I'll try and test.

Edited by TechMonkey
CHiLL

CHiLL

Posted
Posted (edited)
8GB is our minimum spec now, as browsers love to eat RAM. We refreshed a lot of our desktops in summer with VeryPC, which includes a 5 year on-site warranty. We went for the 12th Gen Intel i5-12400 CPUs (2021 models), with the reasoning being that the architecture improvements were pretty large from 11th Gen to 12th Gen. I wouldn't have said no to AMD, just we were offered better performing Intel systems for the price point. At the end of the day, your price point is going to dictate what you can buy. Edited by CHiLL
mrbios

mrbios

Posted
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Pretty much exclusively buy refurbs from ICT-Direct personally. Where possible I'm always buying the T variant processors to.

 

9500T, 16gb ram, 256gb ssd in the HP minis. £235 each is their current list price on ict direct.

 

Build my driver packages from MECM using the modern driver management utility and HP driver packages. Deploy them the packaged way too, makes management of drivers and new PCs much easier than in the past.

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robjduk

robjduk

Posted
Posted

I tend to go to Dell directly for 90% of hardware now as their prices are very competitive (I once thought they made a mistake they were so low). i5, 8GB, SSD etc, and the smallest form factor or AIO. If I'm not getting Dell then I'm looking for a modern Intel. I used to get everything from Stone but they were 2-4 CPU generations behind so yes, their computers were cheaper but supporting them in 3-4 years could occasionally have issues (the dawn of Windows 11 proved me correct).

 

One thing to consider in all of this is how easy are they to manage. Dell (like HP and Lenovo) has driver packs ready to drop into deployment, long-term support, and support tools that make deploying a bios a simple task.

mrbios

mrbios

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Posted

One thing to consider in all of this is how easy are they to manage. Dell (like HP and Lenovo) has driver packs ready to drop into deployment, long-term support, and support tools that make deploying a bios a simple task.

 

This has been a game changer for me when it comes to buying PCs. I started my IT career in the mind set of "prebuilds bad!" and I'm now of the mindset that "business builds best!" companies like Dell, HP, Lenovo etc make things to be easy to manage for business customers, and that makes our lives much easier than managing devices that use consumer hardware.

 

If I had a much bigger budget, i'd be putting in brand new HP or Dell machines everywhere. As it is, i don't, which is why i go refurb :D

Andycat

Andycat

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Buy through Frameworks. Last 2 winners have been Ergo using Dell All in Ones, 8gb Ram, 24", i5 12th gen. 5 yr on site.

 

As mentioned, reliable build packs (Dell and HP) are a God send for deployment and updates!

noelmm

noelmm

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Our last few purchases have been from Stone, the pricing is always competitive with a good warranty and the customer service has always been outstanding.
altecsole

altecsole

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Our summer refresh was Dell direct - OptiPlex 7010 SFF - i5-13500, 8GB (16GB for some media PCs that want to run Creative Cloud), 256GB NVMe, VGA (we have some old monitors), HDMI, DisplayPort, no optical drives.

 

We also got quotes for HP, Lenovo, and Fujitsu, but the Dells were the cheapest, and the only ones with 13th Gen.

rogerdnixon

rogerdnixon

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Posted
Tend to get Mini VESA mounted PCs now. Ryzen 5500U (6 core 12 thread), 16Gb, 512Mb NVME - less than £200 now on Amazon if you buy more than one (we have framework agreement as a Trust with them). Very fast for either ChromeOS Flex or Windows.
Jaan

Jaan

Posted
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Posted
Tend to get Mini VESA mounted PCs now. Ryzen 5500U (6 core 12 thread), 16Gb, 512Mb NVME - less than £200 now on Amazon if you buy more than one (we have framework agreement as a Trust with them). Very fast for either ChromeOS Flex or Windows.

 

This come with oem windows?

 

Do you have a link?

Sephiroth

Sephiroth

Posted
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Actually on the back of this, what would you buy for a music suite? Are SoundBlaster's a thing anymore??

 

We bought 2 suites of Dell Optiplex 7060 refurbs for music. i5 8500, 16GB RAM 256GB SSD, external Behringer U-Phoria U2 sound cards so that microphones/instruments can be plugged in. We got them as SFF tins with the AIO type stand and 24" 1080p monitors. I wouldn't go less than that now; I would argue that 21" is too small at FHD, even for standard use.

 

They are used for Cubase and Sibelius primarily and have no issues at all.

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Tys

Tys

Posted
Posted

All of our recent refits have been HP refurbs (from the normal big names - Stone, ICT Direct, etc) not a single issue in easily 200 machines over the last 6 months. I reckon I will keep us to only purchasing refurb going forwards including servers.

 

Minimum 9th/10th gen Intel to ensure Win11 compatibility and give some future proofing - didn't want to be right on the edge with 8th gen

16GB RAM - I regularly see users well into the double digits usage, both admin and teaching

256GB or bigger SSD - 128GB just fills up too quickly on shared machines

 

I am also starting to agree with what Sephiroth said ref screen sizes, 21" is just a bit small now, most of ours are 24". I would also push for dual screens for admin staff, I'm trying to make this happen over time for all of ours as every time they report big productivity gains.

 

Win11 jump was not really a problem for us. Not a single application problem and it's so similar to Win10 that staff/students have easily adapted. I think the only thing I really did was GPO the position of the taskbar to the left and even then that's not really vital. Most haven't noticed the change in OS and are surprised when I point it out to them!

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Oaktech

Oaktech

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I buy very little new, but most of it comes from ICT Direct or Tier1 Online...

 

The small amounts of equipment we have bought new has been through Dell direct or HP direct where we play one supported pricing team off against the other.

 

Our purchases have been a new HP 15.6" device for one of our heads (we had to pry her Lenovo B5400 out of her hands!), Three Dell AIO for library terminals and a pair of HP touchscreen AIO to replace our signin screens. These are all fairly low spec devices in terms of processor - Ryzen 3 or similar, but they still have 16gb RAM and at least 256gb NVME.

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FragglePete

FragglePete

Posted
Posted

My last batch of PCs I think only added £4 to the cost if you went 16Gb instead of 8Gb. We've noticed a massive difference in login speeds on the last batch based on AMD Ryzen 5 Pro, NVMe Storage and 16Gb.

 

Pete

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