System sufficient for office work until 2016?

[Gigantopithecus]

I've been asked to build a dozen systems next month for an office. These computers will be used for nothing more demanding than running Office 2010, a few medical software titles that are no more demanding than Office 2010, and browsing the web.

The consideration that gives me pause is that I have been told these systems need to last until 2016. I'm not entirely sure why the customer demands this, but the customer wants what the customer wants and that's what I'm going to do for them.

So what would you do in terms of the CPU? The Celeron G530 is my new go-to CPU for office builds. But I don't know if it's going to cut it in 2016. Would you go for the Core i3-2100? Or would it be a better idea to spring for the i5-2300?

And how about for the SSD vs. HDD issue? HDDs are really expensive right now. Intel warrants many of their SSDs for 5 years, so they apparently don't consider reliability to be an issue for their SSDs. (Storage space is not an issue.) Or would you stick with HDDs simply because it's a more established (read: older) technology?

Thanks for your input.

 

[SKORPI0]

System requirements for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

My last built was from summer 2007 (Asus P5K premium, Q6600, 9600GT 1024mb, 8GB DDR2) still does what I'm using it for (video re-encoding). Dated but still does the job, although slower compared to current tech.

Maybe you can get a discount if you buy 12 systems from either Dell or HP, with a good warranty. Just get what is the minimum requirement is with current technology and you should be okay for 4 years.

 

[Ken g6]

Yeah, I'd say the G530 should be fine too. Remember, MS has to support schools that get those 4-year-old computers second hand, and keep them for another 4 years!

Unless you think the medical software titles will suddenly require 3D holographic interfaces.

 

[imagoon]

Dell Optiplex 790 or 990 w/ 5 year next day repair warranty. All for cheaper than you can build it and waste your labor on. Call them and they will discount you for buying 12 of them. Basically if you pay the website price you "did it wrong." You also don't cause future issues for the customer by using web special parts they can't replace in 3 years because they are no longer to be found.

 

[Rifter]

I agree with the prebuilt for this as well, unless you do not have to support them.

 

[kazryv]

Just get prebuilt systems, no sense wasting your time building something that really doesn't need impressive stats. Plus many pre-builts come with office 2010 free.

 

[corkyg]

Concur with pre-built. But, if you build them to run Office 2010 today, they should still be able to keep doing it through 2016. That assumes the same OS and the same Office 2010.

And, I understand that you would earn more $$$ by building than if they bought pre-builts. Definitely a consideration. I also understand you are in grad school, and will you be around to provide tech support until 2016? (Another source of earned income.) I would minimally go with I3 - and I5 would be up to them. That's a pure hardware cost - labor would be the same.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I'm definitely cognizant of the many advantages of going with Dell or HP and explained them to him candidly. Notably I'm done in less than one year and he knows I won't be around to service them. But he's adamant about not going with pre-builts. Apparently some ahh, less than impressive experiences in the late 90s and early 00s dissuaded him from ever going pre-built again. Plus he's been very pleased with the E2140 systems I built for him back in 2007. So, I did my best on that front and he wants what he wants, so...

I think my next steps will be to discuss with him how the really high cost of HDDs right now makes the SSD option a lot more appealing, and that i3-2100s will be up to the tasks of his office until 2016. I'm mostly concerned that while the G530 is fine for W7 Pro/Office 2010/web browsing right now, that it will start to show its age a lot sooner than the i3-2100. I'm starting to think quad-core i5s would be total overkill and not really worth the money, but I've inferred from some of his comments that he's sitting on cash and primarily just wants to burn some of that by reinvesting into his office equipment. (He's updating a lot of other things in addition to the computers.)

One thing that's really made me think about this possible job is that this is the first time where I'm entirely confident that mid-range - and maybe even budget - CPUs will definitely be able to comfortably handle office work for five full years.

 

[iluvdeal]

For the business's sake, I would go pre-built as well with a vendor that can provide same or next day on site service. If the CEO or CFO's computer goes down, you don't want to be on the receiving end of that support call do you? Time is money for a business, down time has to be minimized. You need someone who will at the drop of a dime respond to their request and send a replacement part or service person out. You may pay more for prebuilt, but their field support infrastructure is a valuable part of that service you get.

 

[piasabird]

My last office computer was an i-5. If you want an office computer build it similar to a gaming computer with no gaming video card, or use an underpowered gaming video card. Depends what you want to spend. If you want to make a computer last longer get extra RAM (8 gigs) and a QUADcore processor for long life. That way you can open your groupware, database application, web-page, excel, office and whatever else you want.

It may seem like you dont do much in an office, but an awful lot is required. The trick is not to order inferior computers for the office. Plus the longer you keep computers, the faster the processors you should get. Another idea is not to get them all at once. You could buy half the computers you need every 2 years, and cascade the computers out to the areas of less use.

 

[piasabird]

If I was going to buy 12 computers, I would suggest getting a business customer account from DELL and seeing if you can negotiate . You need to shmooze sometimes to get different discounts. Of course I work for a college and we buy over 100 computers at a time and they get here during the summer.

There are some internet sites where they will assemble the computer for a little less. Assembling 12 computers seems like a lot of work.

Might look at some sites like : www.directron.com
They assemble computers with standard parts. I am not sure whether you are better off building everything yourself or not. I am just thinking of all that boxing material for 12 computers.

 

[sm625]

Just make sure it can support two or perhaps even four 1080p panels. Dont laugh. Right now you can get two pairs of 1080p panels for $500. In 2016 they might very well be built into one package and/or cost only $57 apiece ($35 in 2011 dollars lol). Everyone will want 3-4 screens, and who is gonna be the one stuck installing eyefinity cards 3 years from now?

 

[mfenn]

Dell Optiplex 790 or 990 w/ 5 year next day repair warranty. All for cheaper than you can build it and waste your labor on. Call them and they will discount you for buying 12 of them. Basically if you pay the website price you "did it wrong." You also don't cause future issues for the customer by using web special parts they can't replace in 3 years because they are no longer to be found.

Agree 100%.

If the business owner is stubborn and doesn't understand TCO, I dunno what you can do other than wish him luck with some i3's or whatever.