Upgrading to CC4

[wooksey]

I work in a fairly small primary school that and we're looking to upgrade our entire network (at the moment of about 30 machines). ICT's been neglected for years and the existing infracstructure has been maintained by a technician who let's just say hasn't done it a lot of good.

 

Anyway, we're in the process of looking at upgrade options. We currently use CC3 and are looking to go to CC4. However, the SLT have taken RM as the natural company to source the hardware from too, but I think the specs of the machines v their cost just don't add up.

 

Does anyone have experience of upgrading to a CC4 network without using RM hardware? Any suggestions for where we could source our hardware would be greet too!

Cheers

[sparkeh]

Firstly, if you are a small primary with little support I would consider using RM machines a big advantage as you know that they are going to build correctly and if you have any problems then RM will be able to support you a lot better. With regards to price, have you had an official quote or looked at the website to get prices? Reason I ask is that the account managers give different pricing to the website and its been that way for quite a long time (and can also apply discounts sometimes) so never go by the website prices.

 

In theory, CC4 should be much better at using 3rd party hardware during the build process as long as you put the correct drivers on the build disk. CC3 could be very fussy during the build process which I believe isn't the case with CC4.

 

I built our admin machines (Dell) as CC4 machines without any hassle.

[Hightower]

Can the Mod's change the title of this? I think the OP has made a mistake in it. It should be 'Downgrading to CC4' =)

 

If you want to upgrade, go Vanilla ;-)

[sparkeh]

Can the Mod's change the title of this? I think the OP has made a mistake in it. It should be 'Downgrading to CC4' =)

 

If you want to upgrade, go Vanilla ;-)

 

Not helpful, I thought the days of RM bashing were going away *rolls eyes*

[webman]

We're in the process of upgrading to CC4 on non-RM workstations and have had no issues building them on. The driver import feature in the Management Console has worked perfectly for everything; including the previously-problematic Realtek HD Audio drivers which needed the KB888111 MS hotfix.

 

Our machines include standard hardware and are custom-built by Millennium Business Systems.

[Hightower]

Not helpful, I thought the days of RM bashing were going away *rolls eyes*

 

Fair enough - probably the wrong place to post. Just the trouble I've had with RM over the past 2 and a half years I can't help but complain about them in posts that concern them. I hate them with a passion - never used to, but now I do. Still, as you've said, this isn't helpful, and consider myself told. =)

[Edu-IT]

I work in a fairly small primary school that and we're looking to upgrade our entire network (at the moment of about 30 machines). ICT's been neglected for years and the existing infracstructure has been maintained by a technician who let's just say hasn't done it a lot of good.

 

Anyway, we're in the process of looking at upgrade options. We currently use CC3 and are looking to go to CC4. However, the SLT have taken RM as the natural company to source the hardware from too, but I think the specs of the machines v their cost just don't add up.

 

Does anyone have experience of upgrading to a CC4 network without using RM hardware? Any suggestions for where we could source our hardware would be greet too!

Cheers

We use a mixture of Dell, Toshiba and Viglen machines here and they've all built fine on CC4. Just be aware that you'll need to source the drivers yourself as RM driver packs tend to only focus on their hardware.

[wooksey]

Thanks for all the advice! As for RM, it's sad, but I imagine we're certainly not the only school in this situation, that only has a LA technician visit fortnightly for half a day which means that I have to pick up the pieces in the mean time. As I'm teaching full-time it's pretty much impossible to do this and because RM offer an out-of-the box solution that being used so widely, they are the first people many schools go to.

 

I have gone by the prices on the website so far, but have spoken to one of RM's account managers about how the prices need to come down. Viglen and Stone are coming in to see what they can offer us next week.

 

We're going to be buying some laptops/netbooks too, is it worth buying them through the same company or going somewhere else maybe that have got on offer on- like dabs or ebuyer for example?

 

Cheers

[Roberto]

I know that CC4 will work quite happily with machines supplied by HP, Stone, etc - possibly not so much with whatever bargain basement stuff ebuyer has for sale this week (which, don't get me wrong, is great at the price for home use just sometimes not something I'd want to use for a business or school). You'd need to be sure that drivers for your machines were part of the CC4 build to get the most out of them though.

 

That said, if on-site support and knowledge is limited, there's a great deal to be said from buying the hardware and the software from the same place and being able to ring them up later and saying "I don't know if it's a hardware or a software issue, do I look like that Roberto guy or something? All I know is that either way we got it from you so it's your problem."

[wooksey]

Thanks for the advice! Did you use the Dell website for your quotes at first? So far, we've received a number of quotes (RM, Stone, CBC) and I'm not sure whether they think we're idiots or they're just trying to sell what they've got left in their warehouse after a bad year of sales! The spec of the machines just astounds £599 per laptop, the spec of which is half that (2GB>4GB RAM, 160GB>320GB hard drive) to the next model up from an online store which costs £379! That equates to a difference of almost four thousand pound- did you find this too?!!?

[synaesthesia]

Are you replacing old machines? If so, speak to RM about their scrappage scheme. THey'll give you up to £150 if you replace an old RM One or £100 for non all in one machines. Definitely helps with pricing however their prices aren't actually that bad compared to OEM products.

 

But as said above you should have very little trouble building other systems on CC4, the driver import process is relatively painless.

[wooksey]

Yep, we're upgrading our existing machines so we could be eligible for the scrappage scheme- that's if we go with RM of course! Thanks for the heads up