3 pc's for a small office

[Mick]

@little_pob or anyone else with good knowledge of PC's

I need help speccing 3 basic PC's with monitors for an office, web browsing, microsoft office. But do not want to wait hours for them to boot up and hang etc...

Any suggestions ?

Cheers
Mick

 

[turner brown]

does it really matter what these cost or will the accountant put these under business expense

 

[Mick]

does it really matter what these cost or will the accountant put these under business expense

Yes mate, businesses run on margins

 

[turner brown]

yes but all have start up costs and equipment needed . just sayin does it really matter if there 200 each or 500 each
or as ye put it what's the margins

 

[Mick]

I honestly do not know mate, I am looking at rent at the moment.

I am tryouts to feel out how much everything will cost to get up and running

 

[turner brown]

well if this is a start up business then that's different .why not look at second hand machines then . industrial auctions and so on
gumtree rather than spending money at first
then if yer making a turn out it use the profit to replace

 

[Mick]

Cheers, excellent idea

 

[little_pob]

Depends on budget, and whether it's for yourself or a client.

For £330 you could go for the refurbed, ex-corporate Dell Optiplex option. For example: FULL DELL CORE 2 DUO DESKTOP TOWER PC & TFT COMPUTER WITH WINDOWS 7 & WIFI & 4GB | eBay (I don't imagine the included 17" monitors will have great viewing angles though.)

You could then spend another £150 or so putting 120/128GB SSDs into the above (that's total, not each).

For new, off-the-shelf options look at Zoostorm's desktops. It's also tempting to point you at Intel's NUC platform, but they're about as upgradeable as a laptop.

You can get 24" LCDs for under £95: Acer K242HL 24" LED DVI Monitor

If you want to self build:
Ebuyer.com

 

[Mick]

Thanks mate that is very interesting, so around 1k you could get ok machines for an office

 

[turner brown]

what area are you roughly in so I can help find your local auctions or something you could collect within about 30 miles or so

 

[Mick]

North London mate

 

[turner brown]

if its a new business you could do it for lots less then 1k
I would be looking at about 500 including desks and chairs
remember you can replace and sell the stuff back on

 

[turner brown]

REFURBISHED DELL PC OPTIPLEX 360 CORE2 DUO, 2GB DDR2 160 GB HDD DVD RW, CAN DELIVER, LOTS EXPORT | United Kingdom | Gumtree

would do for start up and should get the 3 of these with monitors off him for £200 collected
get rid of vista and install the basics you need

 

[Mick]

I would be looking at about 500 including desks and chairs

Is your name David Copperfield lol.

 

[turner brown]

300 left for desks chairs and even a printer each

 

[little_pob]

... so around 1k you could get ok machines for an office

Yep, but turner brown's suggestion is a lot cheaper as an initial outlay.

The £300 he suggests on desks and chairs could even be spent at a famous Swedish furniture retailer:
GALANT Desk - IKEA
VILGOT Swivel chair - Havhult black - IKEA

 

[Mick]

Just goes to show the savings that can be had if you shop around!

Thanks very much all

 

[turner brown]

Solid Office Desk/Computer Desk/Office Table with Pedestal cabinet | United Kingdom | Gumtree
cheap desks and sure he will do you 3 for £100
Dell C1760NW Wireless Colour Laser Printer - Ebuyer
great starter printer and the same guy with the desks will have cheap chairs

 

[turner brown]

these can all be upgraded in a few months and should get nearly all your cash back selling them on
so even if you lose £20 a machine you had your moneys worth out them and you hopefully be making money from business by then

 

[oneman]

REFURBISHED DELL PC OPTIPLEX 360 CORE2 DUO, 2GB DDR2 160 GB HDD DVD RW, CAN DELIVER, LOTS EXPORT | United Kingdom | Gumtree

would do for start up and should get the 3 of these with monitors off him for £200 collected
get rid of vista and install the basics you need

those are a little slow but should be OK. £80 a piece inc monitor. Add on £10 per PC for keyboard and mouse and possibly power leads. I assume you are not fussed about legit licenses for now ?

As mentioned, swap the hard drives for 120GB Samsung 840 Evo SSD for £55 or £90 for 250GB version. These can always be re-used in the future.


Couple of other items, somebody has already listed a colour laser, I've got the non-ethernet version and its a very good printer. Input tray is a little short on capacity (I think 30 pages or so) but its compact, quiet, quick and good quality prints. You can get a set of compatible toner for around £60.

Final two things concern managing data. First get a USB hard drive for backups, £50 for a 1TB, will keep you going for a while.

Second, consider getting a 4th PC plus 2TB WD RED drive to use as a NAS device. This will centralise the data and make it easier to share, manage and backup. You can then get away with smaller disks in the PC.

Is the office cabled for networking ? If not then you have the option of wireless or if possible better to cable it. You'll probably need an extra switch, that would be around £20.