Making a computer lab

[Dedpuhl]

I have to submit a proposal for new computers in a lab at my college. The computers in the lab right now are ancient (they dont have cd-rom drives). I have most of my stuff prepared but I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to networking. What equipment should I request?

Here is what I know I am requesting so far:

8 AMD Athlon 1 GHz workstations
LASERJET 4050TN
12 port switch

I am really not sure what else to request. I am not sure what kind of switch to get. Is there anyone that has networked a small group of computers with a printer like I want? What other equipment will I need to make the system work?

 

[Soybomb]

Speaking for my college, for most places 1Ghz is a waste of money. You don't need 1ghz for much word processing or web surfing which is about all our labs get used for. Don't get huge hard drives either, more ram makes much more sense. I just see no reason at all you'd need 1ghz machines, 700 should be more than enough and save lots of cash/let you get more computers. You did select a nice printer though!

 

[Impact55]

Yeah an AMD Athlon 700 mhz, and PC133 256 or 128mb ram, and like a 20gig 7200 rpm hard drive would be nice, unless this is like a graphic computing lab . You can just throw a G400 or something in the computers.

 

[Dedpuhl]

It will be used for Autocad and similar programs...

 

[Soybomb]

Maybe you should consider a plotter then fo autocad?

 

[vi edit]

I'd suggest some Dell Optiplex systems based off of the i810 chipset. They come w/ integrated sound, video, and 10/100 nics. They also have a locking mechanism built right into the case that easily allows you to padlock the case to keep hot fingers off of your equipment.

I recommend Dell because they have great support, and you can easily build 10 of the same systems. Right now, Dell has a program where you buy 5 systems, you get 5% off, if you buy 10, you get 8-10% off.

Try to get the same exact configs on all systems. You can setup on PC with the config you want, ghost the image, and then drop it down to the remaining PC's in about 20 minutes a PC. Makes for incredible handy "emergency restores".

I'd also suggest P-733's, 128 megs of RAM, and 10 gig HD's. The Optiplex minitowers are also incredibly friendly to work with. One button pops off the case, and every component (HD, CDROM, floppy, ect) are set on rails. You can swap out parts in seconds.

Also, going through a company like dell(as well as other large computer manufacturers) will also give you a tax free discount, because I'm assuming that you are a non-profit organization.

Do these machines have to be hooked up to the existing network? If so, I would try to purchase a hub of the same brand as the one that they will be linking into. If it's a college, chances are good that it's a 3com. High price, but industry leading warranty/support.

As far as the printer, check into the NEC superscript 1800. It has higher specs than the 4050TN and runs about half the price. Definitely check into the number of pages that a toner will run for. I've seen some Xerox toners that will run for 25k pages.

 

[vi edit]

A plotter huh? Ouch. There's 10 grand.

Oh, and as far as monitors go, if you go through Dell, spring the extra $$ and get the Trinitrons. Wel worth the extra dough.

 

[vi edit]

Well, if you are running peer-to-peer, you can just use printer sharing under the networking options.

Just hook up the printer locally to one machine and then share it out to the network. That would be the simplest and cheapest solution for only 8 PC's.

 

[toph99]

i agree with the dells

 

[Dedpuhl]

I planned to do that with printer sharing. I will be running off of the existing network set up at school. so all i will need is the computers, switch, and printer (plus all the wiring)? I dont want to propose something and leave something out.

 

[Soybomb]

Good point Vi, most of our lab machines we get with 17" monitors, that would probably be wise to do. This generation we got some of the optiplex's like you mentioned instead of our usual gateways. My own complain is with how intergrated everything is, right down to that riser card. Still nice machines though

 

[optoman]

Don't forget to crack with those sweet looking computers. We need all the help we can get. Drop us a line over in the DC forum when you've got them running. Hope you get it up soon.

 

[nickdakick]

Damn optoman you beat me on that one, GRRRRRR.

 

[denali]

Since you are going to be using these computers for AutoCAD I you make the following suggestions.

Get as much RAM for each machine as you can afford.

Get as much additional memory for the printer that you can afford.

I would get a different printer than the 4050N I'd suggest the 5000N for black/white or the 8550N for color. The reason I suggest these printers is that they support paper sizes of 11x17. You didn't mention a plotter so I assume you have one, if not then depending on what you need printed you might want one. I would highly recommend a plotter that uses roll feed paper instead of cut sheet. Also a plotter that you can configure via the front panel and not by running a sheet of paper through it with various setting marked.

If you need monitors are you going to use a dual montiro setup for each station. I would suggest getting nothing smaller than 21" monitors, if you can afford it 24".

You are also going to need CAT5 cable to connect all the machines.

I don't know but you might be able to get by without and CD-ROM or floppies. If you can push the required software to each machine over the network. You might want to consider getting CD-RW since DWG and DXF files can get very large.

What about digitizers for each station.

 

[hubbs]

Our computers in our school are old macs. I was sitting around doing somethign and I overheard a talk between what computer to instal this encylopedia program on and they are like you definatley should do it on that one because it has a "2 GIG HARD DRIVE!!!!!!!!!."

Time to get new computers

 

[vi edit]

Dedpuhl, have you been given a budget yet? Usually colleges, especially small liberal arts types, are misers when it come to IT equipment.

Having a budget can really help us nail down a rough estimate of what you should need.

Giving us a budget will help us make the decision such as going w/ the 21" monitors like denali suggested.

B

 

[Mark R]

Well, in the computer lab here, they've only just got rid of the 486/33s with 4 MB of RAM and 80 MB HDs.

Their replacements run Winnt 4 instead of Win 3.1, but I've no idea on the specs of the machines - for some odd reason they don't tell you when you switch them on.

Anyhow, it is essential to get machines with good support - that doesn't necessarily mean that they need to come with the support, if you already have your own on-site tech-support/repair department. If you haven't, definitely consider a major OEM, such as Dell or compaq. Similarly, making sure that the machines are all identical will make troubleshooting much easier.

Networking should be the same brand as already installed - NICs in the computers should be the same brand as the hub/switch that you are going to use - this will probably be 3com.

An A3 (as opposed to A4/letter size) printer would also be worthwhile considering.

 

[Dedpuhl]

There is no set budget that I know of....BUT we are a smaller school(McNeese State---We got our butts kicked in the season opener for football this year) and they do like to hesitate when spending the money

I dont want to go over 20K. I found out today that there is a small AutoCAD room located elsewhere on campus so I dont think they will go for licensing more and buying another plotter.

 

[Pod]

Careful with getting a printer too. I run 2 computer labs for the school here. We have HP 8100 DN printers in all our labs. People take full advantage of it...we've had the HPs for 6 months and they already have 200,000 pages printed on them on average.

Also, do not do peer-to-peer.
To save some cash, get a decent server (Dell Poweredge) and a nice switch..we use Foundry Networks FastIron switches here...serve all the major applications off the server and have little ones like netscape and such local.

As for the PCs, you don't need anything special. 700 Mhz is just fine. Get them based on the i815 chipset if you want...

As for any major multimedia support, don't bother if you're just running it for some engineering apps...

 

[Dedpuhl]

I went with
8 Dell Optiplex 800MHz machines
1 NEC Superscript 1800 laser jet
1 SuperStack II Switch 3300 24 10/100

the total estimated cost I turned in was roughly $18300