[Technical] Advice Request - Workstation Purchase

[BURGESS, Peter]

Hi Keith,

We have all DELL workstations and laptops here and couldn't be more
pleased. Standard support on the workstations has been next day without
fail. Next level "Complete Care" on the laptops is as good if not better
than the IBM support for dept laptops. We had to compromise and accept
FWire on the back rather than the front of the box, maybe available now,
other than that the boxes are 2 years old and all going well.

Peter Burgess
Kew HS

-----Original Message-----
From: tech-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:tech-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Jason Clarke
Sent: Wednesday, 25 July 2007 4:11 PM
To: Technical Discussion in Schools Mailing List
Subject: RE: [Technical] Advice Request - Workstation Purchase

Hi Keith,

Vic DET/DEET (whatever it is this week) has IBM laptops with
unbelievable service. This is not unique to the laptop scheme. We get it
with our school owned machines. Next business day really is next
business day. This however is only hardware. They work well for us
because we have the technical resources that make logging faults with
them easily.

I have heard that Dell PLATINUM (not regular) service is good. The
regular service is pitiful. (This is coming from my wife :-)

We were a HP shop, but we dropped them when they moved their helpdesk
overseas (NO. I will NOT install keyboard drivers when its not detected
in BIOS). Their on site service is fine however, once you get through
the helpdesk.

IBM are who I would recommend, for a couple of reasons.
A) These machines are better engineered, failure rates are lower than
other vendors.
B) Support is fantastic.
C) At the end of 3 years, because these machines are 'better', they're
still quite usable.

So, spending a little more now, means you get 4 years instead of 2.5 for
example.

My response is based on hardware support.. Software/Network support is a
different matter :-)

In closing, IBM, Dell, HP. Find a reseller and see what extra services
they can provide.

Hope this helps.

Jason Clarke
------------------
TSSP - Glen Waverley S.C.
p 03 8805 6833
e jcl at gwsc.vic.edu.au 
-----Original Message-----
From: tech-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:tech-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Keith Richardson
Sent: Wednesday, 25 July 2007 3:36 PM
To: List Tech; List IP&M
Subject: [Technical] Advice Request - Workstation Purchase

Hello All - thank you for your recent help oin my last query - most
appreciated.
Our IT committee has asked me to fire away another query:
We will be buying approximately 40 workstations (computers in Primary
classrooms) running XP, with the usual paraphenalia, such as CD/DVD,
USB2 socket, Firewire, Sound card, ethernet card, etc. For me the most
important thing is top have reliable back-up service when things go
wrong, ideally where they will come in and fix the machine.
Up till now we have purchased locally, but I have been asked to spread
the net more widely, for comparison at least.
Any recommended suppliers, good experiences stories etc?
Cheers, Keith
Keith Richardson

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http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
Technical Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
Authority and
http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
Teachers Association Inc