Stone computers now using slim DVD drives?

[googlemad]

Does anyone know why in the Stone desktop systems they now seem to be using 'slim' laptop style DVD drives rather than the standard DVD drive?

 

It just struck me as being weird due to the fact I'm sure last time I looked they were significantly more to buy than a standard optical drive!

[Norphy]

Because the cases that they're using for their half height desktops are too small for full sized drives. The cases are about 3/4 the length of the old ones.

 

Our last lot were still obscenely cheap though although that may have something to do with the fact that we bought more than 300 of them!

[maniac]

We buy all our PCs with no optical drive, less for the kids to break! The only machines in our school which do have DVD writers are the PCs in the Art/design area which have photoshop and video editing software on. For normal classroom PCs they are merely something else to break in my opinion.

 

It's pretty common these days for small form factor PCs to come with the laptop style drives - the Dell Ultra small form factor PCs have been shipped with them for years, and RM use them on both their old and new all in one PC.

 

Mike.

[synaesthesia]

Aye. They're very flimsy when you've got kids swinging off them, but there's very little that can stand up to punishment like that

 

They're not too much to buy - well, double the price, £10 gets you a full size DVDRW, £20 will get a similar spec SFF version

[Potato-Peeler]

Stone seem to have a horrible habit of buying up surplus stock elsewhere. Basically they will buy 10000 of whatever is cheap on the market, and put it in their PC's

[K.C.Leblanc]

Stone seem to have a horrible habit of buying up surplus stock elsewhere. Basically they will buy 10000 of whatever is cheap on the market, and put it in their PC's

 

Can you quantify these remarks, they seem completly at odds with my experience of Stone Computers. All the Stone machines I've encountered have used Intel motherboard, Kingston Memory and either Sony or Samsung opticle drives (although I havn't checked what's fitted in our SFF Stones).

 

HP have used laptop drives in there SFF machines for years. The current DC7900 also used laptop hard drives and memory.

[Haptic]

The current DC7900 also used laptop hard drives and memory.

 

you sure about that one fella,

[mattstevenson2005]

I can confirm that HP do use laptop memory and hard drives in the dc7900 and also the dc7800 because they are the ultra slim versions, we have just purchased 42 dc7900 and we already have 50 dc7800 i would personally always by a branded pc e.g. hp as the warranty and next day/same day parts delivery is excellent i have used companies that build their own computers in the past and if you have any problems they can never get hold of the same motherboards etc.. so it can cause teriable problems with ghosting/imaging because of drivers etc... over the past 5 years we have replace all our pcs with HP desktops (over 250+) and have never had any problems with parts etc.. we have had more trouble with our last 30 Nec machines (these are going soon!!) than with over 250 HP desktops. Nec seem really bad with customer support and keeping drivers upto date on their website! Not sure how stone do this as never used them, but have used companies like them in the past

[SYNACK]

HP have used laptop drives in there SFF machines for years. The current DC7900 also used laptop hard drives and memory.

you sure about that one fella,

 

The SFF uses standard DIMMs and 3.5" drives but the ultraslim desktop does use the laptop sized components so it was probably just a misplaced form factor abbreviation

 

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13029_div/13029_div.HTML#Overview

[Haptic]

The SFF uses standard DIMMs and 3.5" drives but the ultraslim desktop does use the laptop sized components so it was probably just a misplaced form factor abbreviation

 

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13029_div/13029_div.HTML#Overview

 

arh gotcha, appologies I just havent opened a new one up yet,

[K.C.Leblanc]

you sure about that one fella,

 

Oops didn't make myself clear, the ultra slim ones do. I forget there's a whole range because the ultra slims are the only ones we've ever bought.

[srochford]

The SFF uses standard DIMMs and 3.5" drives but the ultraslim desktop does use the laptop sized components so it was probably just a misplaced form factor abbreviation

 

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13029_div/13029_div.HTML#Overview

 

HP don't help themselves - SFF and USFF are pretty similar abbreviations for very different machines (whereas the CMT and SFF are essentially the same in a different box!)

 

Another quick rant - with so many numbers, letters etc to choose from, why do HP have to re-use product names and numbers???

[WStore_Dan]

HP don't help themselves - SFF and USFF are pretty similar abbreviations for very different machines (whereas the CMT and SFF are essentially the same in a different box!)

 

To be fair, HP list them as SFF and USDT (ultra slim desktop)

[gshaw]

Yeah those abbreviations really don't help, had the same problem when looking up Lenovo systems as well!

 

Worse for HP than any numbers game is the dollar rate problem... was so close to buying a batch then the price went up £100 per unit in a week... went with Stone instead and have to say the component issues about haven't been a problem for us. We do specify the stuff we want in there (e.g. no Maxtor hard drives under any circumstances!) and so far it's matched up fine

[googlemad]

Argh!!!

 

I found another feature of the new Stone design:

 

There is a blanking plate underneath the slimline DVD drive and you can push it inside the case with one finger!!! The kids will love that!

[Potato-Peeler]

well 2 years ago we bought a load of good spec laptops. It said on the order core 2 duo processor. Sticker on the laptop said core 2 duo processor. Recently i was playing with it and i happened to notice it was not a core 2 duo, it was a core duo. So basically we've been had. Also similar things, such as newish, last summer, computers having pci, not pci-e. Looking up motherboard numbers on NEW pc's and discovering the motherboards are actually a 3-4 year old design. Nothing but dells now...

Just cus its intel doesn't mean its not old now does it

[featured_spectre]

Stone have used Sub-Par components for as long as I have known about them. When I ordered a PC for personal use, had quite a high spec, when I inspected it, it was equipment that was 2 years old, not what I ordered. Spent better part of a year getting my money back!

[mb2k01]

I took delivery of a batch of around 50 a couple of weeks ago (for the 3rd year running) and as usual, have no problems at all. I really am confused when I read the negative stuff about them in here - they've been nothing short of fantastic for me (from sales to the very limited occasional warrenty call out).

 

I never buy their thinner clients though - personal preference is the fatter style cases. Mine came with the traditional style DVDRW drives.

[maniac]

I took delivery of a batch of around 50 a couple of weeks ago (for the 3rd year running) and as usual, have no problems at all. I really am confused when I read the negative stuff about them in here - they've been nothing short of fantastic for me (from sales to the very limited occasional warrenty call out).

 

I never buy their thinner clients though - personal preference is the fatter style cases. Mine came with the traditional style DVDRW drives.

 

Same here, we have 30 of their all in one PCs built exactly to spec as expected, and they've been absolutely faultless for the last 8-10 months.

 

We have another 36 machines that have just been delivered, all exactly to spec as well. They detail on the specification sheet exactly what processor and motherboard they are going to use, so if it's not as specified then questions would be asked, but it always has been.

 

Also have 30 of their Neo netbooks on their way to me as well, and I've just had 5 projectors installed by their AV engineers who turned up exactly on time and completed the work absolutely to spec neatly and tidily.

 

I've never had a bad experience with Stone, so I'm always puzzled when I read negative reports, as some of the things stated above are complete breaches of the sale of goods act, and I'd be surprised if any large company would even dare take that risk, as the fines for miss-describing goods like that are pretty huge.

 

Mike.

[Potato-Peeler]

Does seem to be differing reviews of them. Though to be fair all the 4 year old kit was brilliant and never ever breaks.

Though i do think all the new kit is whatever they scrounge on the day, as it seems to be so varying in reports.

[synaesthesia]

Someone here mentioned Kingston ram in the context that would make it sound good....

 

Worrying! Highest failure rate of any memory I've seen. But, it did make my old company a small fortune in gold

[maniac]

Someone here mentioned Kingston ram in the context that would make it sound good....

 

Worrying! Highest failure rate of any memory I've seen. But, it did make my old company a small fortune in gold

 

Make of memory, at least for machines I buy for work, has never really concerned me, more interested to make sure it's a decent speed. Everything I buy has a minimum of 3 years warranty on it anyway, so it's in the manufacturers best interests to use good quality components or they'll spend a fortune in support calls!

 

Mike.