[HoniSoniproca]

Any of you chumps bought any business PC's recently? I need a couple of desktops for an admin office here. Budget is £650 ($1000) a piece to include everything. No software required.

As an aside, how is there not a forum for this question here? Surely not everyone wants to split their question across components?

[pE71J5Sw]

Are you building yourself or looking for pre-builts?

For business I stick with Dell Optiplex. Something like an AMD dual core or i3 is really all anyone needs for office type stuff.

If you are building them, then I'd probably go with a lower end Sandy Bridge with H67 and a nice SSD if you have a $1000 budget for each.

[Opperioav]

We use Optiplex's in our office and no complaints. There were some issues with bad motherboards a while back but this looks sorted now.

[HoniSoniproca]

Dell optiplex it is then. They definitely need to be pre-built.

[outfinofulpv]

I'd also say Dell. It's what our better machines are. Very solid really, they run 24/7 no problems.

[pE71J5Sw]

I get the Optiplex 580 for normal office work. They are low end by FM standards, but the employees think they are fast. Usually go with a 2.8GHz X2, DVD Burner, 2-4GB of RAM depending on OS, 19" WS Professional Monitor, speaker bar, mouse and keyboard. Also has a 3 year hardware warranty. Runs about $600 for government pricing.

[AnIInWon]

Here's another recommendation for the Dells... For business, always go with the Optiplexes for desktops and Latitudes for laptops... Reason being that they have a sustained product lifecycle, which makes supporting them both with operating images as well as replacement parts MUCH easier.

With consumer and many "small office" PCs:

1. If you purchase X model today, you aren't going to be able to buy a machine with the same baseline configuration so that a system image will work a year or two later.

2. If you have to RMA a part, Lord only knows what you'll get.

With a business line, you know you'll be able to get similar machines and the EXACT parts for 3+ years.

[weaddercaps]

1. If you purchase X model today, you aren't going to be able to buy a machine with the same baseline configuration so that a system image will work a year or two later.

I've come to realise that you'll never win the war of consistent hardware in a large organisation. Traditional ghost imaging methods are old hat. You're best to create a win image with all the programs you need in it and then deploy it the Microsoft way with WinPE. You just then script it to install, and have a location on the network of all drivers for all the desktops. That way one image disk works for all the hardware.

With that said, we have some Dell Optiplex machines that while look cheap, have always been solid performers. Though we're mostly a HP desktop house and those have been alright too. Whatever you do don't build machines yourself.

[MpbY5dkR]

Dell quality has been **** lately, so I would go with HP (i3/5 dualcore, 4 GB Memory, decent HD). 24" 16:10 should be mandatory if you get new monitors (they can be TNs)

Buy sufficent spares and don´t not buy any warranty extension, Micron is right about that being a pain in the ass.

[oB8LI2kP]

I use custom builds for one company I provide services for cos they need machines which are either unavailable or would be horribly expensive. They basically need quad core machines with at least 4Gb ram and dual video cards for multiple outputs as they have 4 monitors on each workstation.

I found that it's the cheapest way to provide 4 outputs without going for a highend/workstation card or expensive monitors with displayport outputs.

I just get a dual pcie x16 mobo, any sli or xfire mobo usually works well, and then just stick a couple of cheap 8400gs's, GF210's or HD5450's. The systems only cost them around a 100 euros more for the better motherboard and the 2 video cards.

For others I use HP or Dell prebuilt. Same goes for servers.

[weaddercaps]

I use custom builds for one company I provide services for cos they need machines which are either unavailable or would be horribly expensive. They basically need quad core machines with at least 4Gb ram and dual video cards for multiple outputs as they have 4 monitors on each workstation.

I found that it's the cheapest way to provide 4 outputs without going for a highend/workstation card or expensive monitors with displayport outputs.

I just get a dual pcie x16 mobo, any sli or xfire mobo usually works well, and then just stick a couple of cheap 8400gs's, GF210's or HD5450's. The systems only cost them around a 100 euros more for the better motherboard and the 2 video cards.

For others I use HP or Dell prebuilt. Same goes for servers.

They need high performance machines? Otherwise no need to get super expensive machines for quad monitors. We have some slim HP desktops and we have quad monitor setups on them. We use two outputs from onboard video and two from a video card.

[Ikrleprl]

Dell quality has been **** lately, so I would go with HP (i3/5 dualcore, 4 GB Memory, decent HD). 24" 16:10 should be mandatory if you get new monitors (they can be TNs)

Buy sufficent spares and don´t not buy any warranty extension, Micron is right about that being a pain in the ass.

Why the hell would they need 24" 16:10 monitors for office admin work?

[HoniSoniproca]

Why the hell would they need 24" 16:10 monitors for office admin work?

If you have to stare at a monitor all day you want the biggest and best you can get!

Would you expect a pro golfer to use cheap clubs?

Why would we want to risk causing people unnecessary eye strain for the sake of a £100 upgrade?

[outfinofulpv]

Why the hell would they need 24" 16:10 monitors for office admin work?

Big means your not straining your eyes as much and 16:10 because you can see 2 pages of documents side by side I suppose.

[MpbY5dkR]

Why the hell would they need 24" 16:10 monitors for office admin work?

Because time is money and those monitors cost very little of that money

[Ikrleprl]

Still sounds like overkill to me, for what they're going to be used for....especially with the financial climate the way it is atm.

[AnIInWon]

Still sounds like overkill to me, for what they're going to be used for....especially with the financial climate the way it is atm.

Out of curiosity, have you ever had a job where the efficiency of, and dependence on your computer use was critical to your job?

Time = Money

Constantly having to flip between windows, minimize, maximize, scroll, pan, etc != Money [no]

[HoniSoniproca]

Still sounds like overkill to me, for what they're going to be used for....especially with the financial climate the way it is atm.

If you couldn't think of a single good reason that somebody using a screen all day would benefit from a bigger one then I hardly think you're in any position to offer advice on the subject.

And what exactly has the financial climate got to do with a how a privately funded company spends capital / profits?

[Ikrleprl]

Out of curiosity, have you ever had a job where the efficiency of, and dependence on your computer use was critical to your job?

Time = Money

Constantly having to flip between windows, minimize, maximize, scroll, pan, etc != Money [no]

I've worked in a few offices over the years. The offices I work in now have ~15" 4:3 LCD monitors and everyone uses them just fine. You don't need a huge 16:10 monitor to do a bit of word processing and work with spreadsheets (that's what we're talking about right?).

[sportsbettinge]

I've worked in a few offices over the years. The offices I work in now have ~15" 4:3 LCD monitors and everyone uses them just fine. You don't need a huge 16:10 monitor to do a bit of word processing and work with spreadsheets (that's what we're talking about right?).

If you work in an office that requires you to respond to copious amounts of e-mail, IMs, manage DBs, spreadsheets, etc. (or even just a couple mentioned) that is more than enough to justify a little extra to have sufficient resolution and desktop space. Over time, the time saved adds up and can add a significant boost to productivity.

When I had two 15" LCDs, I was constantly switching and reorganizing windows, even with my current 30" and 22" I have to do the same.