ICT Suite PCs

[Eben]

Looking at PCs for the summer to replace ICT suite of 25, so far thinking of HP DC6200:

 

Quad i5 2400 (3.1ghz)

4gb RAM

500gb HDD

 

Branded 22 LCD

[FN-GM]

Sorry but what's the question your asking please?

[Eben]

Meant to ask what hardware others were buying.

[Millgate]

Why not consider Very Pc? Very good kit and you can personalise the front. There are a few posts on here that will tell you all about them. Let me know if you need a quote or any info

 

Thanks

[rad]

What are they been used for? Ict, media, languages etc

[laserblazer]

We bought HP 6900s 3 years ago and they have been very reliable. The biggest problem is the height adjusting screen pulls the power lead out of the socket, which is beyond most of our ICT teachers to fix. Constantly reconnecting the lead is causing the monitor sockets to wear. I've not had to change any yet but it's not far off that time.

[localzuk]

We bought HP 6900s 3 years ago and they have been very reliable. The biggest problem is the height adjusting screen pulls the power lead out of the socket, which is beyond most of our ICT teachers to fix. Constantly reconnecting the lead is causing the monitor sockets to wear. I've not had to change any yet but it's not far off that time.

 

This is a problem we have too on our DC7800s with the USFF monitor/stand - it is the design of the socket on the monitor - it is too shallow for the lead.

 

We're looking at Viglen PCs for our place.

[laserblazer]

We always use to use Viglen but after a heap of trouble with batch faults on HDDs and PSUs we moved away. That said, the Viglen rep is coming to see me next week.

[Eben]

Using them for media, languages, ict. Was looking at the DC8200 with 3 year warranty but DC6200 comes with a 1yr warranty and better pricce. The all in one stand/monitor bumps the price up to much. So looking at either a USDT or SFF and a branded monitor.

 

What resellers do you use?

[Bev]

We bought HP 6900s 3 years ago and they have been very reliable. The biggest problem is the height adjusting screen pulls the power lead out of the socket, which is beyond most of our ICT teachers to fix. Constantly reconnecting the lead is causing the monitor sockets to wear. I've not had to change any yet but it's not far off that time.

 

Our monitors are screwed on to the desk lids, so this was a massive problem for me (8 screws just to push a monitor cable back in).

I ended up buying some cables that have a little clip on them so they can't fall out, and fingers crossed, it hasn't happened since.

[john]

Looking at PCs for the summer to replace ICT suite of 25, so far thinking of HP DC6200:

 

Quad i5 2400 (3.1ghz)

4gb RAM

500gb HDD

 

Branded 22 LCD

 

That is exactly what I have just, well will be when the OGC (forgot its new name!) has ended its RFx deal, but they are looking VERY tasty machines as is the pricing on them Got them with 5 year on-site warrantys as well for a song

[demont]

who are OGC?

[glennda]

Looking at PCs for the summer to replace ICT suite of 25, so far thinking of HP DC6200:

 

Quad i5 2400 (3.1ghz)

4gb RAM

500gb HDD

 

Branded 22 LCD

 

Personally I would dump the 500Gb HDD drop to Core i3 HT and get an SSD inside the thing get better performance out of the SSD + I3 then you would out of the I5 and HDD.

 

HDD's are just old school in todays market for desktops IMHO unless you need huge amounts of storage which i doubt in a network.

[john]

who are OGC?

Office of Government Commerce AKA Government Procurement Service Savings for the Nation | Government Procurement Service

 

Allows you to access Public Sector Frameworks, which are all pre-tendered and in a lot of LA's allows you to spend a LOT of moeny without any futher quotes / using the quote system on GPS to do mini-quotes within a pre-set framework. It saves no end of time and hassle and paperwork and pricing is great with it. Some of the big names, such as Insight, Misco and Stone are on the CITHS Framework (a framework that the site is responsible for) and may already supply you goods via it without you realising it, but using these frameworks is a great thing to do but so many don't bother with it. The frameworks have yet to be beaten and in my last use, for a number of Casio Projectors, the pricing ranged from a non-framework supplier being nearly £1200 on the order more than the framework and some surprising suppliers came up trumps with the pricing. Certainly well worth a look, although I do admit the new system for doing a quote isn't as good as the old one its far too long winded but the user manual is good

 

About us | Government Procurement Service - for more details about them.

[sjatkn]

We have been using Stone computers for the last 3 years without problems. This time I might even look at the Lenovo all in ones. We did have HP7800's but within a week the 3.5" drive covers were being removed as where the badges and the room looked a mess.

[glennda]

We have been using Stone computers for the last 3 years without problems. This time I might even look at the Lenovo all in ones. We did have HP7800's but within a week the 3.5" drive covers were being removed as where the badges and the room looked a mess.

 

Was with a Client last week who had those - they looked really nice but can be a bit on the Pricey side.

 

Toby

[synaesthesia]

We quite like Stone kit - usually very competitive price-wise (certainly last year more so than *anyone* else). Not quite so much this year, to the point where we're saving £80 a unit by building ourselves. That saving means we can replace 70 computers instead of 45. Despite the time involved in initial builds and then diagnosis after should something go wrong, we get better warranties typically, and save a hell of a lot of money. Plus now 120GB SSD's are SO stupidly priced (avg £70 a pop) we can spec with those ourselves rather than the OEM prices which often don't take into account such drops.

[sonofsanta]

Currently planning, now I know that Ivy Bridge i3's aren't out till after the summer break:

i3 2120 (about a fiver more than the 2100, may as well)

4/8Gb RAM (dirt cheap, going 64 bit anyway)

128Gb Crucial m4 SSD (reliable and oh-so-fast)

 

Not much point in i5's tbh, SSD would make a greater impact on subjective performance than the i3 > i5 jump. The few things that would saturate all 4 cores will just make use of the hyper-threading.

 

Will get quotes from Novatech, Stone and $otherLuckySupplier when I get round to it. When you buy HP you end up paying the HP tax to get the brand name, and there's not much point... Novatech and Stone's builds are excellent quality and much better value for money.

[Edu-IT]

We have been using Stone computers for the last 3 years without problems. This time I might even look at the Lenovo all in ones. We did have HP7800's but within a week the 3.5" drive covers were being removed as where the badges and the room looked a mess.

Used Stone for a few computers and not had issues yet either. Warranty is good pricing too.

[localzuk]

We're going with Viglen Omnino 4's here, Core i3 2120, 4GB RAM, 120GB SSD (currently discussing brand - they offer OCZ, asking about Intel), 19" hard glass screens and pillar desk locks for them, and a 5 year onsite warranty.

 

They'll also do a bulk pack delivery (so we don't have 10 tonne of packaging to remove), pre-image them for us, and take away our legacy gear.

[andyturpie]

We're going with Viglen Omnino 4's here, Core i3 2120, 4GB RAM, 120GB SSD (currently discussing brand - they offer OCZ, asking about Intel), 19" hard glass screens and pillar desk locks for them, and a 5 year onsite warranty.

 

They'll also do a bulk pack delivery (so we don't have 10 tonne of packaging to remove), pre-image them for us, and take away our legacy gear.

 

I've put 241 Omnino 4s in our school just after last summer - No major issues apart from having to use a first gen core i5 board due to build issues on CC3. The only major issue we had, was that the Intel Management Engine mysteriously dissappeared of around 20 of the mainboards, making the fans run and max out. We also found that if they weren't reported to us that the boards would run for a while and die. If we caught them early enough with a BIOS flash, they returned to normal. Viglen replaced the boards when requested - no questions asked. I cannot recommend the machines or the support highly enough.

[Haptic]

I have PM'd.

 

Chris

[2097]

we went for these , dual core is enough for what we use them for

 

Fujitsu Esprimo E400 Small Form Factor PC / Intel Core i3-2120 / 2GB / 500GB / Windows 7 Pro + FREE 3 Year Warranty - www.misco.co.uk

 

obviously the 3 year warrenty is worth it for us , onsite so any MB problems they come out and fix . Weve had Fujitu's before and they lasted 4 years and are now all dieing due to capacitor issues ! ( which these are replacing )

 

Extra stick of ram @ £8 and jobs a gooden

Edited May 22, 2012 by 2097

[RTFM]

VeryPC.

 

I dont get the stone obsession

[Whocareswins2002]

My questions for this would be:

 

Would you consider a TC (Thin Client) solution?

 

Are you open to open source?

 

(a comparable suite running Linux would be half this budget!)