BTDT, I used to think the same way, but the caveats are killers. I have even seen 5 "identical" consumer PC's (ok, Gateway's so it's been a few years) that had two different motherboards and when it came time to upgrade the purchased RAM it only worked in three of the five.
Sometimes a local business gets bought by a bigger business and the local business is no longer around to support said white boxes. This is how I inherited my biggest client - their local IT support place - which had been selling them white box PC's - got bought and they no longer supported sub 100-seat clients. They now had to be supported by me, and as they had been buying 3-4 PC's/year they had at least 7 different motherboards/CPU's and since they were white box PC's there was no way to know what was what. The FIRST thing I did was standardize on corporate PC (means Optiplex not Dimension, for example). Standardization and consistency are key (Drivers anyone? One stop shop for all drivers for every system the business has). I've been using Dell for over 11 years and other than their Optiplex GX270 swollen capacitor fiasco their stuff has *very* low MTBF. Any business big enough for a server is big enough for business-class systems. Unless I was always up on current hardware (I'm not, no money in it vs. learning software and technologies), it would cost my client more for me to spec out the internals and have it delivered and installed than it does for me to go to Dell and spec out the Optiplex that closely matches the last one they ordered (as in, whichever model replaced the model we ordered last year). End-to-end time/money/effort from "we need 5 PC's, spec some out" to the time the machine is EOL has proven to be extremely predictable and very low from a hardware standpoint. Dave From: Cynicalgeek [mailto:cynicalg...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 11:55 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Favorite corporate PCs? I've been on both sides of this over the past 17 years and have heard all of the question answer sessions before. Go with a local business who has a good reputation and uses either true Intel boards or ASUS boards. Is Dell's tech support/replacement part solution that wonderful that justifies the overpriced computer? Have you *EVER* gotten a replacement part from Dell that wasn't s refurb? I had servers on Gold or Platinum support and when a RAID array drive is sent out for replacement it is a refurb. Does that seem fair to you? On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 1:59 PM, John Cook <john.c...@pfsf.org<mailto:john.c...@pfsf.org>> wrote: Local business go out of business at inopportune times and there is much more to the vendor relationship with Dell than just buying a box. John W. Cook Systems Administrator Partnership for Strong Families From: Cynicalgeek [mailto:cynicalg...@gmail.com<mailto:cynicalg...@gmail.com>] Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 01:27 PM To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>> Subject: Re: Favorite corporate PCs? Why not support a local business instead of buying overpriced Dell computers? On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 12:24 PM, Tom Miller <tmil...@hnncsb.org<mailto:tmil...@hnncsb.org>> wrote: We purchase a number of PCs each month as part of a rotation cycle. I've been a Dell customer for years, but lately don't think Dell has been offering the best price we can get (we are non-profit and state/GSA, although non-profit pricing is usually better). So I'm looking around. For desktops I'm not too picky as long as specs are similar. HP? Lenovo? Big Lots? Thanks, Tom Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin -- -cynicalgeek- cynicalgeek<at>gmail.com<http://gmail.com> -- ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: The information transmitted, or contained or attached to or with this Notice is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain Protected Health Information (PHI), confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, transmission, dissemination, or other use of, and taking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient without the express written consent of the sender are prohibited. This information may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and other Federal and Florida laws. Improper or unauthorized use or disclosure of this information could result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. This email and any attached files are confidential and intended solely for the intended recipient(s). If you are not the named recipient you should not read, distribute, copy or alter this email. Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and do not represent those of the company. Warning: Although precautions have been taken to make sure no viruses are present in this email, the company cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage that arise from the use of this email or attachments. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin -- -cynicalgeek- cynicalgeek<at>gmail.com<http://gmail.com> -- ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
