Torg Posted April 5, 2018 Report Share Posted April 5, 2018 I am putting together some budget numbers (rough) for a possible company startup. I have been tasked with putting together numbers for the initial start up IT needs. Basically, workstations for 2-4 people for the office group. What is a good brand to look at? Should I look at an IT service? At start up thru the first year things will be done on a shoestring. So the initial PCs need to be cost effective with a possible upgrade path. Thinking Laptops for possibly 2 of these positions with at least 1-2 full desktop workstations. I just need pointed into the right direction ... dell still something to look at? minimum RAM? I am a Mac guy - and planning a graphics office is easy for me lol - but this PC stuff is annoying lol. I am planning on needing Windows - and the basic Office package on each machine. -d 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romans832 Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 Dell or HP probably, if you go laptops consider them locked in place. Plenty of Dell/HP choices that will allow upgrades. The real question is what are those PC jobs so we can discuss the power needed behind them. You're probably talking $4K min for 4 machines... that's being generous... You REALLY have to consider the pro's and con's of hiring 3rd party tech support. SLA's are life and you have to remember, when you call them, you're not their only customer so they will get to you when they get to you... unless your SLA says differently... and you're paying for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckman Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 I would think you could come out under $3k depending on what your workload needs are. You don't need graphics unless I misunderstand and for most work machines a $500 box is going to be enough. Licenses depend on growth expectations. If you expect to need lots of machines and licenses in the future there are economies of scale but again it sounds like that is not this year so maybe hold off and do it as individuals right now. At that level office365 for all four should be about $500 give or take. IT support is so worth it... Dunno that market though so I can't tell you what price to expect but definitely look at your cost for SLA options. Romans hit that on the head. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romans832 Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 As I've watched my I5 machines rise in price lately, that's why I gave the price I did... BUT that's assuming you buy the Service contract when you buy from Dell or HP. Yes you can purchase PCs for $500... that's assuming stripped down machines with no support etc... So I went with $1K for service contracts. That's my two cents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Bungalow Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 I would not personally suggest trying to drastically cut costs on gear. Get a good value to be sure but a reliable network with some redundancy is worth the cost. Same goes for support. Our business tried a few options for a POS network and went bottom barrel to start... it definitely did not save money over the course of time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torg Posted April 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Hey thanks guys for all the things to think about - i will use this for my initial notes on what we need to think about budgeting for. They will be using the PC's for your normal MS Office stuff (excel, email, word... etc.) and with some kind of industry specific database work management software yet unnamed or decided. I plan to get some sort of IT company to do the initial set up for email / network / database server... but I'd like to keep the day to day needs down to a minimum. Service contracts on each machine may be a good way to go for anything specific to the workstations. I'll plan on 1k for each workstation ... and 365 office packages added in as well. Thanks again, when I know more about the plans I may refine my questions lol. -d 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romans832 Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Awesome bro, best wishes on this endeavor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 https://www.costco.com/HP-Performance-Pavilion-580-137c-Desktop---AMD-Ryzen-7---4GB-Graphics.product.100377698.htmlPretty $650 seems like a good price with the discount (sale ends the 15th). More of a gaming PC than one for work. Doesn't include a monitor, but those are so easy to acquire, especially with all TVs now having the same imput as monitors (HDMI). Could also look into free geek ( https://www.freegeek.org/ ). It's a non-profit in SE portland that recycles and refurbishes PCs. I recall them having some deal with either Intel or Microsoft, where they supply low end workstations via some sort of contract. Doesn't seem to be on the website. Though I'm told their buisness has gotten wierd lately, and is being influenced by big money (founded by hippy programmers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Free Geek PCs have serious reliability problems IME. My son went through their program as part of his Senior Project, and I went along for fun -- we both got refurbished Linux machines at the end and neither one lasted more than 6 months before failing. The recycling part of their process is great for the environment though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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