New computers for fire station

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  altomic on 26/09/2014 - 07:06

  +1

  you want it for this right?

  dual monitor cards can be quite cheaply off ebay. this was an awesome deal posted here for 1 about 6 months ago.

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  tomleonhart on 26/09/2014 - 07:48

  I know the Meteorologist at the Qantas IOC uses Dell. They run the 3 weather monitors on one screen and around 4 software on the other 24/7.

  I think it was the Optiplex.

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  Ramrunner on 26/09/2014 - 07:55

  +1

  This isn't going to help you as we're in WA but you might want to check out any local suppliers near the station? Everybody seems to think to get fast warranty you have to go brand name but our experience is actually the opposite. Warranty takes a long time no matter what brand name promise you.

  FOR EXAMPLE we have a pretty standard system build that suits all our non-gaming customers based on an Intel NUC, and we keep spares for all parts in stock. Warranty is usually immediate instead of a Dell/HP/Lenovo time it takes to process, send courier or hire a contractor to come out, assess the problem, usually they have to then order parts if they are a contractor, wait a few days for it to arrive etc.

  UNLESS you have an outlet for any of the brand names near the station I really think a local company is going to be better for you if they're anything like us.

  • 

    moar bargains on 26/09/2014 - 08:11

    +1

    This is an excellent suggestion.
    I would suggest that you don't bother building them unless you're simply adding a dual output GPU. If you build it yourself from parts, as soon as one thing dies it will be your job to dig though the thing and work out what died and sort the problem out.
    If you buy local off the shelf, the user can just dump the whole thing back at the shop to be fixed if something goes wrong.

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  smoke87 on 26/09/2014 - 08:16

  True that, but these guys are not at the station full time. They are there on weekends and I think onsite service premiums from the big brands may be better than the local PC shop. From experience I know they won't get the same value for money either.

  • 

    moar bargains on 26/09/2014 - 10:05

    Yeah fair comment.
    As you say, you'll probably get better onsite service from big brands that are used to corporate customers.

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    Ramrunner on 26/09/2014 - 11:16

    Yeah, I guess it depends who your local guys is. We DO charge extra for on-site warranty (3 year back to base is standard) at purchase if you want it, but do not charge a premium for weekend work AND we jump through hoops to keep our customers. But you are absolutely right a lot of local shops are not like that.

    Something "in between" maybe?

    If you find a local Leader reseller, Leader supply business focused PCs to YOUR specification INCLUDING on-site warranty via a network of warranty agents for less cost than apples-to-apples brand name units.

    http://www.leadersystems.com.au/

    All the best in whatever choice you make. As a reseller, I personally prefer LENOVO over Dell or HP. We get a lot of the latter two machines after warranty into our shop.

    • 

      Davo1111 on 26/09/2014 - 11:30

      I personally prefer LENOVO over Dell or HP

      +1 somewhat surprised to see Dell ranking so high in the votes. I suppose they do hold a strong Corporate market share

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  porkupine888 on 26/09/2014 - 15:16

  i would suggest HP or DELL - where both have excellent service packs for price point - choose 4 hr / 7days turn around and they just rock up with parts with a technician for a quick swapover no questions asked :)

  had pleasure of experiencing both brands requiring warranty/servicing and both are comparable :)

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  ethereal88 on 26/09/2014 - 15:16

  Look for a Haswell 4th gen (4xxx) i3 with 8GB RAM as a minimum. That will last. I'd say SSD but big box junk typically doesn't come with so whatever HDD. This:

  http://shopap.lenovo.com/au/en/desktops/thinkcentre/tinys/m7…

  $650 for the i3, $750 for the i5. I'd spring for the i5 and it comes with double RAM now. Both come with VGA (eh) and Displayport (interesting combo, but hey, 2 monitors!). Price wise, both should be actually $100 cheaper if you built it yourself, but you wanted big box.

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    jnewau on 26/09/2014 - 16:41

    Most corporate customers will have some sort of Windows Domain architecture in place so if taking the above advice make sure you check if Windows Pro is required rather than Windows as mentioned.

    Almost all corpoate boxes (HP Pro and EliteDesk), Dells and Lenovos will support dual monitors out of the box via VGA and Displayport.

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  airzone on 26/09/2014 - 16:23

  Dell optiplex with prosupport - nbd onsite warranty. They typically have a VGA and DisplayPort output, and you can get a DisplayPort to HDMI / DVI converter cable for about $20 to drive a second monitor without an aftermarket card.

  One of the businesses I support is about 1.5 hours flight away. The integrated diagnostics makes it very easy to put in a support call to Dell.

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  mrmarkau67 on 26/09/2014 - 16:52

  Warranty is a way to get your boxes fixed for a predictable price - not necessarily a predictable/rapid time. Remote diagnostics is great, but if your machine needs a new motherboard, doesn't help much.

  If you need 2 machines to always be available, buy 3. Then you can use the spare while you wait for the broken one to get fixed.