[Jesse_alex]

Hello Everyone...
I am the Media & IT Executive with a non-profit org. I was always into Media, never was into IT. So this is a very tricky situation I am in. So really looking for you guys to help me on this.

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I have to buy 40 Business desktops for our organization. I had initially 3 brands in my mind - HP, Dell, IBM.
After reading some of the posts here about the better Dell services as compared to HP. I have zeroed on to buy Dell Machines for my organization.

I wanted to buy something very sleek and powerful. Could you guys please suggest me some good business desktop models that I could purchase for my organization?

Also what are "Thin-Clients"? I read bout them but am not quite sure yet what they are. Are Thin Clients the idle choice our organization or is it a standard desktops.

(these 40 machines would be doing accounting and administrative jobs. none of them would be working on heavy graphics. The Accounting guys would be accessing the files from a server)

Please suggest me a solution.

[ChRoNo16]

as far as accounting, any base model dell should work, but I like the new Vostro machines by dell as far as business performance, I Have noticed a better quality off them.

I prefer HP for business machines w/ Athlon 64 processors, but it is a choice of the IT staff

Either way you really cant lose with bits of common sense.

If storing files on servers, Local HD size isnt very important. Fast netwok is essential, more ram is better and insures fast running.

Sad sometimes the performance you lose when using AD, School machines we used were dells w/ Pentium 4 3.4GHz/1gb ram/80gb HD and they ran like Pentium 3's with 256 ram.

So keep that stuff in mind when ordering said machines.

If you want more info faster you can get my personal email address @ shusnik@gmail.com

[Jesse_alex]

THanks man for ur post..

[squidboy]

Normally I ask things like budget, time to deliver, OS, etc...you should too since we don't know if you have a special application or need beyond the basic internet/mail/print/file storage of the 'average' PC, but I'll try to zero in on your question.

Any of those brands will serve you well. A thin client is a basic PC+OS that runs it's applications off a server. This significantly reduces management and upgrades of said applications because it's centralized. The thin client PC requires less performance. But you need someone who is knowledgeable to setup and maintain this. And you should only pursue this if it makes sense for your core application(s).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client

[Jesse_alex]

Thanks squidboy... I think we can go for a Thin Client then...
had a lil doubt... would a 1Gb Ram be more than sufficient for the machine in order to function flawlessly...??

[squidboy]

1 GB ram should be sufficient. Mind you..

these 40 machines would be doing accounting and administrative jobs. none of them would be working on heavy graphics. The Accounting guys would be accessing the files from a server

don't confuse 'thin client' with a scaled down PC. If your organization runs Citrix or some other thin client software already, that's fine. Based on that quote above, however, it appears you just need a basic PC, or 40 of them. In terms of PC spec they are likely similar anyway. I just don't want a decision made that doesn't meet your business requirements for today and tomorrow.

[Jesse_alex]

no bro... we dont run Citrix yet.. but did have this in mind.... do u know any other thin client software that would be less expensive than Citrix...

and... do these Thin Clients function as similar to normal PCs?? and do they have Optical Drives and stuff?

im sorry man.. I think im really sounding dumb in here... but thanks for ur patience..

[squidboy]

There is other thin client software, yes. I could not recommend one over the other as I do not have enough experience with the individual software.

At one time thin clients made sense because PC's were expensive (thousands of dollars) and administering a core application centrally was easier was less expensive. You didn't have to update each PC, which could be located very far away.

and... do these Thin Clients function as similar to normal PCs?? and do they have Optical Drives and stuff?

Nowadays, they are identical. Because a PC is so cheap, companies don't distinguish between a 'thin client' and a regular PC. They are identical and only differ in the software they run. Small hospitals and clinics, for example, are fond of thin clients because they can distribute them as basic PC's but get access to robust patient history software stored centrally. They will pay a fee to Johnson&Johnson (for example), but their data is central, secure and updated.

Much more cost effective than building their own infrastructure, software and deploying/maintaining their own servers.

[Jesse_alex]

wow... thats cool... now I have a fair idea of what exactly Thin Clients are... Thanks a lot squidboy