Recommendations for new teacher workstations x30 32 or 64bit windows 7 for sims etc

[round2it]

Looking for a recomendation for new teacher workstations

we use promethean whiteboards

sims

office 2003 (for now until we get licencing sorted)

 

what processor should we be looking for (7 years since we got the last lot and I have not kept up with processor standards)

 

 

Windows 7 32 or 64 bit

 

wanting reliable kit and fairley quiet

[cromertech]

The only consideration here really, is do you want more than 4 gig memory. If you want 4 gig or more then 64 bit is a must, otherwise 32bit will be fine.

 

The next thing is office (when you upgrade), don't put the 64bit version on unless you have users using huge spreadsheets. There is no gain to a normal user and you may find that you get limited functionality as most add-ons will not work on 64bit office

 

edit: sorry missed the processor bit. Any modern processor will be fine we have machine in use here with amd athlonX2 and some intel dual core. If you want something quiet and kind to the budget go for AMD Athlons or above, otherwise intel's i3/i5 series cost a little more generally but any modern processor fan is quiet even the stock ones

Edited April 27, 2012 by cromertech

[sparkeh]

64bit across the site here without any issues.

+1 for the 32bit version of Office, MS only recommend the 64bit version for specific purposes.

[JonThompson]

For processors you want to be looking for at least an Intel i5, and at least 4GB RAM. As for x86 vs. x64, we have moved to x64 (bar a few machines) and SIMS and Discover both work fine (We are using Office 2010 Pro Plus x64). The only issues we found were with some old Science software (Testbase, and Quizdom). Testbase was sorted by buying a new online version. Quizdom is NOT x64 bit compatible and they don’t have plans to make it x64 bit compatible.

 

The machines we purchased last year were HP Compaq 6200 Pro Microtowers, which we sourced through a local company. These have so far proved to be reliable and they don’t give off a lot of noise. In fact one is sitting next to me as I type this, and I can't hear it!

[gshaw]

For processors you want to be looking for at least an Intel i5, and at least 4GB RAM. As for x86 vs. x64, we have moved to x64 (bar a few machines) and SIMS and Discover both work fine (We are using Office 2010 Pro Plus x64). The only issues we found were with some old Science software (Testbase, and Quizdom). Testbase was sorted by buying a new online version. Quizdom is NOT x64 bit compatible and they don’t have plans to make it x64 bit compatible.

 

The machines we purchased last year were HP Compaq 6200 Pro Microtowers, which we sourced through a local company. These have so far proved to be reliable and they don’t give off a lot of noise. In fact one is sitting next to me as I type this, and I can't hear it!

 

How much were you paying for those?!

 

I think we're going to stick with x86 this year as it's first year of migration to 7 and I don't want any unexpected headaches from 64-bit driver \ software support. All our machines are 2GB RAM so no loss there...

Edited April 27, 2012 by gshaw

[round2it]

anybody had any other problems with software like the activstudio 2 and the drivers etc

[JonThompson]

How much were you paying for those?!

 

I think we're going to stick with x86 this year as it's first year of migration to 7 and I don't want any unexpected headaches from 64-bit driver \ software support. All our machines are 2GB RAM so no loss there...

 

We paid £534 pounds for each unit excluding VAT, and that included the fitting of a 1GB Radeon 5450 graphics card.

[3s-gtech]

For processors you want to be looking for at least an Intel i5, and at least 4GB RAM.

 

Why? Surely this is dependant on the situation and budget - we've not found a single instance for teacher PC duties where we need "!at least an i5", and we are heavily IT based. Pre-built i5 stuff tends to be far more expensive. i3 processors are more than up to the job for most tasks in a school (SIMS, graphics work etc). We're running Conroe and Wolfdale Core 2 stuff, which is absolutely fine. Totally agree on RAM though, and SSDs will give a massive boost if budget permits.

[FN-GM]

anybody had any other problems with software like the activstudio 2 and the drivers etc

 

You will need to upgrade to ActivInspire

[dgsmith]

Why? Surely this is dependant on the situation and budget - we've not found a single instance for teacher PC duties where we need "!at least an i5", and we are heavily IT based. Pre-built i5 stuff tends to be far more expensive. i3 processors are more than up to the job for most tasks in a school (SIMS, graphics work etc). We're running Conroe and Wolfdale Core 2 stuff, which is absolutely fine. Totally agree on RAM though, and SSDs will give a massive boost if budget permits.

 

Couldn't agree more - we have 1 i3 workstation in reception, a couple of Pentium G620s (based on i3 etc) and the rest 50/50 split between Core 2 (conroe and wolfdale) and Pentium 4. The wolfdales are still way OTT for teacher workstations, especially the DC7900s we have with E8400 CPUs which are still beasts and can be picked up for buttons.

 

Obviously if going brand new though, you're looking at the latest CPU range and i3 I still think would be more than needed now, and more than capable in time to come.

 

Get as much RAM as possible - DDR3 is cheaper than water (well not quite, but feels like it!) with 4GB DDR3 sticks available for £12 now, so may as well go for 8GB in the workstations simply because there is barely a budget increase and they'll be monsters when at 64bit!

[cromertech]

You will need to upgrade to ActivInspire

 

Mind you if you do it before september it will be free if you have an existing serial number from activstudio or activprimary

[JonThompson]

Why? Surely this is dependant on the situation and budget - we've not found a single instance for teacher PC duties where we need "!at least an i5", and we are heavily IT based. Pre-built i5 stuff tends to be far more expensive. i3 processors are more than up to the job for most tasks in a school (SIMS, graphics work etc). We're running Conroe and Wolfdale Core 2 stuff, which is absolutely fine. Totally agree on RAM though, and SSDs will give a massive boost if budget permits.

 

We went for an i5 because we need the PC's to last at least 5 years, we wanted the extra power, and especially as we are heading towards BSF. The PCs are scattered throughtout College, in both Admin and Curriculum areas, so they do get well used and abused.

[round2it]

Right after speaking to promethean they say that i can upgrade for free but i need the activstudio2 licence number

 

we have 8 copies left so that would cover 16 machines as one licence =2 activ inspire installs

 

i have 28 boards though and threw the discs out about 7 years ago as activ studio 2 han no restrictions.

 

 

does anyone have any old copies of activ studio 2 they might want to donate

 

what sort of checking does activ inspire do to validate itself?

[SYNACK]

We go i5 just for long term viability and importantly vPro support.

[sonofsanta]

For processors you want to be looking for at least an Intel i5, and at least 4GB RAM. As for x86 vs. x64, we have moved to x64 (bar a few machines) and SIMS and Discover both work fine (We are using Office 2010 Pro Plus x64). The only issues we found were with some old Science software (Testbase, and Quizdom). Testbase was sorted by buying a new online version. Quizdom is NOT x64 bit compatible and they don’t have plans to make it x64 bit compatible.

 

The machines we purchased last year were HP Compaq 6200 Pro Microtowers, which we sourced through a local company. These have so far proved to be reliable and they don’t give off a lot of noise. In fact one is sitting next to me as I type this, and I can't hear it!

 

Given that i5s are about 50% more than i3s I'd be interested to know how you justify the extra expenditure. I'd rather get new i3s each year and if anywhere needs better performance, they get the new kit and the existing stuff is moved around. ignore me, this is why i shouldn't hit "Reply with Quote" before I finish a thread...

 

RE: 32/64 - any processor you get now will do either, it's just a choice of OS. And given that, for Windws 7, for a driver to be signed by MS it's required to be submitted as 32 and 64 bit, you may as well go 64 bit. Going 32 bit just limits your RAM down the line.

 

The only caveat is that you're best off keeping everything consistent across your site - if you're already running on 32 bit Win7, keep with it, otherwise maintaining shortcuts and software will become a nightmare.

 

SECOND EDIT: I should also check post dates before considering whether anything I say is even remotely relevant anymore.

 

Roll on the weekend...

Edited April 27, 2012 by sonofsanta

[jamesfed]

Look into the AMD A4 A6 chips - cheaper than most i3/i5 out there and just as fast.

 

Regardless of anything though go with SSDs - no point in backing the loosing side of HDD.

 

I would also plan on going 64bit asap, Microsoft isn't going to kick out client OSes in 32bit forever (even though Windows 8 is) so might as well take the headache now instead of when Windows 9 comes out.

[zag]

I wouldn't bother with i5's or even i3's, the cpu has not been important for 5 years now.

 

Just wack 4gb of RAM in there with a small SSD drive you you will understand why

[gshaw]

Regardless of anything though go with SSDs - no point in backing the loosing side of HDD.

 

All very well saying that but you find me a manufacturer who isn't making you pay through the nose for an SSD compared to an HDD... as per my other thread I'm feeling pretty narked about this at the moment when retail price is effectively the same (250GB HD vs 64GB SSD)

 

(not criticizing your suggestion, it's 100% the right way to go but the PC makers really aren't helping right now)

[jamesfed]

All very well saying that but you find me a manufacturer who isn't making you pay through the nose for an SSD compared to an HDD... as per my other thread I'm feeling pretty narked about this at the moment when retail price is effectively the same (250GB HD vs 64GB SSD)

 

(not criticizing your suggestion, it's 100% the right way to go but the PC makers really aren't helping right now)

 

Custom designed PCs are the way to go for any SSDs (Novatech/Stone/ect) leave the big names HP/Dell out of it because you are right on that front they will make you pay.

 

On the capacity world though I don't know about you but do you ever use up that 250GB of space? If you mix in a techonlogy like App-V a Windows 7 image and all your software can fit in just 26GB! making even a 60GB SSD appear quite large.

[zag]

All very well saying that but you find me a manufacturer who isn't making you pay through the nose for an SSD compared to an HDD... as per my other thread I'm feeling pretty narked about this at the moment when retail price is effectively the same (250GB HD vs 64GB SSD)

 

(not criticizing your suggestion, it's 100% the right way to go but the PC makers really aren't helping right now)

 

We just buy the normal workstations with a HDD and pay 70 quid extra for intel 40gb SSD's to replace it with.

 

Its not a large extra cost really. I do have a huge pile of hard disks doing nothing now though

[gshaw]

Ah see I'm trying to be very frugal right now so I'm getting the hump with £40 extra for an SSD over HDD on custom builds! Adds up quite quick... £40 a unit over 10 units is nearly the cost of the monitors for those units... money that could be better used elsewhere.

 

With the SSDs most of the decent quality ones start at smallest 64GB (false economy buying anything other than Intel \ Crucial imo) Our images are only about 20GB so yes it seems a huge waste with PCs specced for 250 \ 500GB HDDs that are meant to be costing the earth... yet the manufacturers' suppliers are putting a premium on SSDs while retail can sell them significantly cheaper... someone must be getting palms greased somewhere to keep HDDs lingering on I reckon

 

Feels bizarre that PC prices were driven right down not so long ago yet gone flying back up when the only component that's hit a price increase is the one we all want to remove from the equation anyway!

Edited April 27, 2012 by gshaw

[nicholab]

I would put thin clients for teacher machines due boot time and speed of replacement. Also it saves problems with sims.

[glennda]

I personally would have bought this summer I3's (again same as last year but brilliant), 4/6Gb ram and probably 90Gb ssd's.

 

Last summer I bought I3's 4Gb ram, Intel Board, 64Gb Crucial M4 for sub £280 (excluding a windows license)

[Michael]

Recently I installed some HP 6200 Pro SFF's which I can recommend.

 

Generally speaking Intel i3's are the sweet spot in terms of price vs performance, but by all means install i5's if the money's there.

 

As for Operating Systems, I've always installed Windows 7 Pro 32Bit and Office 2010 Standard or Pro 32Bit in school environments. The majority of applications from Windows XP still work and we all know how bad Educational applications can be at times.

 

It should be noted of course that Windows Server 2008 R2 is 64Bit only and is fully compatible with both Windows 7 32/64Bit clients. Although it's tempting to buy Windows 7 Pro 64Bit with 6GB of memory, there are a considerable number of products which are now web only and this number is growing. It doesn't justify the need/expense, but it all depends on your school's specific requirements though of course!

 

As schools typically use notebooks/netbooks and workstations, personally I just like to keep the same version of Windows and Office throughout. Keeping things simple always works best. I think 64Bit will be adopted a lot more once Microsoft stop creating Windows 32Bit versions. Windows 8 will still come in 32 and 64Bit versions, but I suspect Windows 9 probably will be 64Bit only. At this point, we'll already of had two/three generations of Windows Server (2008 R2 and 2012, 2012 R2) which are 64Bit only.

[iPrimary]

Happen to agree with that, i5 isn't a must, an i3 would adequately serve any purpose its tasked with for normal teacher use. Though, I'd suggest if you have the budget, going higher spec now means you're going to get a longer service life out of the machines, but, not everyone has the budget.