Cases for school computers

[synaesthesia]

Right, why is it so bloody hard to find decent cases?

 

We have a simple requirement that is closest fit by the RM G series case.

Small form factor. Desktop, with feet things if we want it on it's side.

NO SHINY THINGS (bye bye, iCute)

NO FLAPPY THINGS (bye bye nearly everyone else)

USB and audio on the front.

Reasonably sturdy (bye bye, Novatech's cheapness)

Micro ATX.

 

At £38 a pop, RM's cases are by far the best value we can find. However, it's RM. Surely someone out there can do something similar?

Very fond of the cases Millennium use - Aopen H430A's. But they can't be sourced.

 

Any recommendations for a case inc power supply for around that price market? It's damn annoying that "mini towers" can be had for a tenner a pop but these are rare as hell. Our next option is ITX, but it adds a bit to the cost and causes an interswaperability issue

[timzim]

Don't buy cheap cases - I have several scars on my hands to back that up.

[synaesthesia]

We did say decent. The aopen's are reasonable. The RM G series I believe are Antec. Antec's nearest is £70.

It's "only a few pounds" but when buying 70 it adds up rather quick. But RM have gotten back to us with something that's about to make us rip their arms clean off!

[timzim]

But RM have gotten back to us with something that's about to make us rip their arms clean off!

 

I can send you some 'value' cases we bought which will do that for you.

[simpsonj]

Do HP sell cases? Quite like the cases for the dc7700 PCs...

[SimpleSi]

Cases??? what you buying cases for??? you don't still build your own computers shirley???

 

Si

[synaesthesia]

Yes, we're building our own - the difference in cost (especially with SSD's dropping in price like flies) means we can buy 70 computers instead of 45. That's a huge difference. Many suppliers have tried but unless they can hit £280 delivered for:

Micro ATX SFF containing i3 2120, 4GB DDR3, 120GB SSD, keyboard & mouse

then it's off to the sin bin. We don't mind building them at all, in fact we're rather looking forward to it.

 

Anyway, RM are doing the cases and PSUs for us at 30 quid a pop. Can't argue that!

[glennda]

Stones cases are quite nice - perhaps they will sell you some unbranded ones?

[dgsmith]

RM G-Series and Stone's SFF cases are the same.. the exact same design! They have a different fascia but even that uses the same size and clips and is interchangable. Have you asked Stone how much their cases/psus are?

[gshaw]

Stone and Viglen cases are Chenbro OEM I think...

 

Chenbro Micom Co., Ltd.

 

Not sure if you could find a supplier who could get them for you?

[Geoff]

Casecom!

 

Casecom CM-262 Shiny Black MicroATX Case | Ebuyer.com

 

£11 a go.

[synaesthesia]

Bad word found. Shiny.

 

Didnt know Stone were chenbro, will take a look. We like the stone cases althoiugh obviously thinking of something very different as the G series are very different to the 1yr old stone kit we have in.

[mac_shinobi]

You could always buy used 2008 / 2009 / 2010 Mac Pro cases off of fleabay

[GrumbleDook]

@synaesthesia Have you had a chat with Matt over in Rushden? IIRC he and @vikpaw had custom boxes fabricated, which were toughened to be child-proof.

[synaesthesia]

Can't imagine they'd be very cheap though? Don't need to be childproof, just smallish and tough. The RM's seem to fit the bill so for £30 we're going to be grabbing those.

 

Won't be buying Mac cases though, @mac_shinobi - too big I like them, though! (although slightly went off them when an old G5 PPC was being back and forth to me to flash graphics cards for - lost weight that week!)

[mac_shinobi]

Can't imagine they'd be very cheap though? Don't need to be childproof, just smallish and tough. The RM's seem to fit the bill so for £30 we're going to be grabbing those.

 

Won't be buying Mac cases though, @mac_shinobi - too big I like them, though! (although slightly went off them when an old G5 PPC was being back and forth to me to flash graphics cards for - lost weight that week!)

 

Good to see it kept you busy and gave you plenty of exercise

[SimpleSi]

I would be amazed if your TCO in building a computer was cheaper than sourcing one from elsewhere - never mind the fact that you've must have spare time on your hands to do it.

 

IMHO we should be adding value to the schools IT support needs - not draining it!

 

Good luck in getting away with your lovely activity but if your manager ever gets a clue.....

 

Si

 

PS And just to add insult to injury- whats with the SSD need?

[SimpleSi]

Post not meant to actually offend - just interested in a 30 min argument over DIY/purchasing

Si

[glennda]

SSD's are a must in this day n age Simon - although not sure if the performance of Win 98 is much improved if using them

[SimpleSi]

SSD's are a must in this day n age Simon

Shirley not!

 

And Win98 doesn't need them - I create a RAM disk and run it from there

 

Si

[SimpleSi]

But speaking of cases, a friend of mine (Normal user - not a geek) got a local computer shop to "refurbish" his old (circa 1995) computer - they stuck a new motherboard/cpu/ram/psu, replaced the CD drive with DVD R/W and stick a multi-card reader in the floppy slot and supplied a new >22in monitor to go with it.

 

They did a good job- don't know whats inside but its the quickest internet/office machine I've worked on! (Helps that he got a large mbs Virgin connection as well )

Si

[sjatkn]

Stones cases are quite nice - perhaps they will sell you some unbranded ones?

 

I was going to suggest this same thing. The external drive bay panels are reinforced on the inside so the plastic bits cannot be pushed in.

[synaesthesia]

Yes, we do indeed like them Will look at sourcing chenbro kit today but I think it's unlikely we'll get anywhere near the quality and price of the RM boxes (Yes, that was just said!)

 

Time isn't an issue for us - roughly speaking, buying in the parts and doing it ourselves including a proper windows licence, £270 per unit. Same spec from just about anywhere is £310-330. Not a huge amount.

But we need 70. That's another £2800. That's another 10 computers. Building them isn't an issue; my NM is quite happy that we could do 3 an hour each and he's probably unaware that I've refurbished kit in the past at a rate of around 60 a day (full rebuilds). Besides the point though - at 3 an hour, it's not a taxing task, it's a welcome break from the difficulties we've had this year. Yes it takes our time but time is something we've already budgeted for. It's not our budget.

We've already saved £4000 by building our own servers. That takes no time either and means we got exactly what we want. Yes there's "more time" down the line if something goes wrong, but think of it like an insurance policy. Nothing may go wrong, and we're clearly in the win. One or two machines may fail - we may have to spend half an hour diagnosing the fault, then replacing it out. Half an hour isn't a lot, and with the relevant warranties and even keeping a few spares behind, we're still not losing anything on cost or inconvenience and will serve better than a "It's broken, back to OEM it goes for warranty" leaving someone without for a while. Sure you could have a spare but that's just additional cost then.

 

Re SSDs: There's no "need". WHen the cost was £1 a GB we did not hesitate in speccing them as part of the build. It makes a hell of a difference. Now they're 50p (and under in some cases) per GB, we're silly not to. It's not just the speed - some classrooms do have "boisterous" kids and machines do get knocked over as a result. We've lost a few HDD's that way so this will just add a little extra robustness. Less noise is also good.

[Chris_]

Just FYI the RM cases are Chenbro also.

 

Case: Chenbro Micom Co., Ltd.

Bezel: Chenbro Micom Co., Ltd.

[synaesthesia]

Interesting, thought they were Antec. That's good to know