Need recommendations on a corporate PC standard

[MacGyver]

Up till now, our company has been purchasing HP desktops and servers as a corporate standard. we have been very happy with HP in this regard. However, it was recently announced that HP will soon stop making desktop PC's and servers, and leave that task to their new found bitc.. er, I mean, takeover victim Compaq. Compaq makes excellent servers, so no qualms there but their desktops are a different story. So begins the hunt for a new desktop PC supplier

So here's the scoreboard:

HP - out
Compaq - AKA Comcrap, 'nuff said
Dell - seem to be cheaply made, nonstandard PSU's, not favoured by our company techs
IBM - seem to make good equipment, but I've seen some
pretty weird proprietary junk from their desktop lines.
Custom built clones - It won't take long to have a huge mess of different hardware in each PC, a network administration nightmare!

Any recommendations or suggestions on which manufacturer to turn to? The PC's MUST be readily available in Canada and the US.

[geoscomp]

I would still recommend the Dell products..very good tech support..and go with the work type desktops and not the mass market ones..their commercial division should be able to help..and, despite the non standard psu issue, they are incredibly easy to work on..screwless cases and easily released hold downs for all the add on cards, etc. You could explain the issues with them, and see if they can customize something for you. Since our shop went dcse, we've been getting a number in to work on, and, given the large number in our service area, they seem to be quite reliable. The other option is to find a mid-level supplier of white box equipment and get a guaranteed configuration for whatever quantity you think you would need.

[Rellik]

as far as Dell is concerned, The high school I work in has nothing but Dell Optiplexes, which seem to perform rather well.

[shamus]

Wal-Mart is selling Lindows machines for $199 ....just kidding...
I agree with Compaq servers being rock solid (expensive memory aside) and yeah, their desktops blow (why?...why would you put the bios <i>on</i> the hard drive?)
Anyway, i've dissed them here for their laptops, but my experinces with Gateway desktops has been good overall. There have been problems ( the Quantum 6gig fireball HDDs they shipped with six towers we got comes to mind.....lasted on avg. about a year) but there were no hassles with rma's. We've had good luck with them, of course working in the educational sector we can buy the machines with E-rate help (i.e. an $1800 machine costs us around $900)and that doesn't hurt
Just something to look into.


<b> DISCLAIMER: YOUR EXPERIENCES MAY DIFFER FROM MINE!! </b>

[jimmm33]

I wouldnt dismiss the white box altogether. I sell white boxes to a few large companys that buy alot of machines. They also want to avoid the problem of alot of different configurations. We stick to a core of parts to reduce this problem for them and I would bet that we do as good as any branded company can.

For these companys we only use 3com nics, tnt2 video cards, sb128 sound, Intel chipsets(almost all Gigabyte mobos). Enlight cases for a uniform look and of course a standard power supply.

You could probably strike up a relationship with a local white box builder and get similar results.

Its always great to support local white box builders!!!

[GokuSS2]

Try Falcon Northwest or Alienware.

[flyboy747]

We use Dell. So far have had great support from them and have not had major trouble with them at all.

We just redid some of our computer labs (this is a university) with Optiplex's (That's all we get) and out of 119 machines that we received, the only problem we had was that one didn't have the little plastic button used to push the eject button on the cd rom.

Overall I would say that we've had great service from Dell and I would recommend them.

[geoscomp]

No, I certainly wouldn't dismiss the white box companies either..the only problem is trying to make sure the company you choose has a track record and look like they will be around when you need support..at the rate the smaller shops are going out of business these days, that isn't too easy. But if you have one you can deal with..preferably locally, you have the best of both worlds.

[Chris_MacMahon]

what about those lovely e-machine's.....can't forget those beauties....

[silencio]

IMO, if you require thousands (or even hundreds) of machines and need a standard build you have only two options, Dell or Compaq. You should find a VAR who sells both and let them know your requirements. Take advantage of the bidding war.

Why Compaq or Dell? Warranty, standard build, and enterprise management. Anyone here can build a better machine than Compaq or Dell but no-one can support them onsite and accross the country. Also, Compaq drivers are designed around managability and compatibilty (wbem, snmp, dmi).

..i've never had a (serious) problem with Deskpros. Of course you get bad parts here and there but that's what keeps service (and tech) departments in business.

[shamus]

Originally posted by Chris_MacMahon
what about those lovely e-machine's.....can't forget those beauties....

Are they selling them at Wal-Mart in Windham??

[-Senectus-]

Go the IBM Netvista's

Almost screwless built machines.. VERY quick to pull apart and putback together and they seem to have stopped doing the dumb **** they used to do.

We have over 150 Netvista's and IBM ThinkPads here.. I'd never look back.. VERY good price/Performance and a piece of cake to look after..

[Chris_MacMahon]

BEST BUY aka worst buy

[Penman]

We played dell and compaq off against each other, but we were always wanting Dell to win anyway

Dell offer very good support, thier PSU's, mobos and floppies are generally non-standard but you can buy them direct from Dell easily.

We have about 2000 Dells now, so use standard images on them, works extremely well !

[Darkstar]

We're also a big HP user of desktops (and servers, which rock too) and we're facing the same thing since HP isn't making Vectras anymore We've decided to by a couple new Compaqs to see if maybe they've started to infuse some of the good things from the HP lines. I'm guessing not.