Anyone know about buying and running a computer lab?

lowlylowlycook

My Sister in Law just called me up to ask about a computer lab at the private school where my nephews and nieces go. Apparently the current one is pretty dire and money is tight so getting the $30k they were quoted for 30 computers and networking from a local shop is far from assured. I don't really know how much support is included in that quote.

As far as I can tell, the biggest complaints are lack of ability to run Powerpoint, connect to the internet and electrical shocks (!). I'm not sure but I'd guess that the computers would be used in a classroom setting and not by unsupervised students.

In my naive view, if they could get some company to donate old computers buy a couple 10/100 switches and cables then they would be in a much better situation than they are now, but I know how easily I could be wrong. In particular, I don't know how these computers would be maintained or by who.

Anyway, any ideas on what would be the bare minimum requirements? Any experience with MS licensing for a school?

Mugsley

I'm curious who's running the computer lab, and if they would mind you and a couple friends coming in and cleaning up the computers over a weekend. A dozen cans of compressed air and some monkeying around may resurrect the computers. My guess is they're just short some RAM if they can't run PowerPoint reliably.


As in new hardware, I have no clue. I work for the government.

bowen

Well, $1000 per PC is probably about par for mid grade PCs with new monitors. My guess is there's absolutely nothing else buy 30 PCs and some power strips.

Impersonator

1000$ per PC is definitely highway robbery.

Mr_Rose

Talk to Dell.
Yes, I know, but seriously; they love their "corporate" clients and may even give a discount for being an educational institution.

As for $1000 being highway robbery, I guess that depends on whether that $1k includes software licenses and suchlike for shit like Blackboard or whatever that other classroom stuff is.
OTOH, I sincerely doubt new hardware will do much for "electrical shocks" - that's either really bad wiring which a local computer shop is not qualified to deal with, or its poorly grounded dusty rooms causing static build-up.

bowen

Impersonator wrote: »

1000$ per PC is definitely highway robbery.

Well, it also depends what they're getting. If they're getting a celeron chip, it sure is. If they're getting I5 or I7 chips, with decent specs, I could see it getting awfully close to $1000 with monitors, and a legal copy of Windows7/XP (which is 200-300 itself).

Mr_Rose

OTOH, if the principal issue is inability to run powerpoint or connect to the outside world, an i5 or i7 is serious overkill.

Also @lowlylowlycook: How are you for internetwork infrastructure? I know that if you were an educational institution in the UK, you could get hooked up to our Academic Network backbone (for a relatively small fee) and get ludicrous speeds without having to deal with normal ISP bullshit; is there an equivalent in the US?

Impersonator

Damn, now bowen's post got me thinking about how in a few years time i7s will be the most common processor chips available. Crazy.

bowen

I don't know, they're still selling laptops with nearly the same specs I Got on a laptop almost 8 years ago. I'm not sure how Celeron's have changed lately, but they still look to be the same spec number on it, too.

lowlylowlycook

Thanks for the ideas, guys.

I'm sorry I don't really have more info but my brother lives 4 hours drive from me so I'm getting all of this second hand through my SiL.

The latest I've heard is that this same shop is redoing the computers in another school and could refurbish their old computers and install networking for $10k. In his opinion their old computers would be a huge upgrade.

I'll be visiting in a bit over a week so I'll be able to form a better opinion then.