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Build help: Office PCs

A

alxlwson

You Know Where I Live
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Aug 25, 2013
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Hello all!
Wice wife works for a small business in the horticulture industry. They are in dire need of PC upgrades. There are at least four of them that need to be replaced. Currently, they are all old Windows XP machines. They use the systems for their build ordersn very lightweight software for use in the floral arrangement industry. The only extras that the computers have are obviously KB/M, and a small webcam for capturing completed orders. One of them has a ribbon printer attached.
I'm looking for advice on replacing these machines. Currently, they are all SFF machines, similar to the Dell Optiplex 745. I would love to build replacements for the owner if it's cost effective to do so. The computers all have LCD monitors. Im having the wife double check, but they're all dvi or vga panels.

The systems need to be small, and capable of running Microsoft Office, and the FTD Mercury software.

I know the general advice is that "whole system" is not acceptable, but that's what I need, sans display and kb/m. Having internal wifi would be nice but is not a deal breaker. Due to the age of the systems, there are no internals that I'm going to be reusing.

My location is central Kentucky, and I'm two hours from a Microcenter.


Thanms for the help!
 
Could you tell us what kind of budget you have to work with? Frankly, it sounds to me that a bunch of Intel NUCs/Gigabyte BRIX systems would do the trick here. What connector does the ribbon printer require?
 
EuphoricRage470 said:
Could you tell us what kind of budget you have to work with? Frankly, it sounds to me that a bunch of Intel NUCs/Gigabyte BRIX systems would do the trick here. What connector does the ribbon printer require?
Click to expand...


Trying to keep cost down as much as possible. I'm submitting a proposal to the owner, so I haven't a price in mind yet. Trying to explore my options. I was thinking the same thing about the NUC style systems.
Having the wife check on the ribbon printer. I'm hoping that it's USB.
 
alxlwson said:
Trying to keep cost down as much as possible. I'm submitting a proposal to the owner, so I haven't a price in mind yet. Trying to explore my options. I was thinking the same thing about the NUC style systems.
Having the wife check on the ribbon printer. I'm hoping that it's USB.
Click to expand...

Got it. Yeah, I think your best bet are some NUCs. They are super compact and should pack enough punch for what they will be used for.
 
The Dell SFF systems are pretty good bang/buck if you go with only 8GB of ram.
 
Would there be any advantage in going fanless? Otherwise I would consider skipping NUC and going straight to mini-STX if the pricing is competitive.
 
the_servicer said:
Would there be any advantage in going fanless? Otherwise I would consider skipping NUC and going straight to mini-STX if the pricing is competitive.
Click to expand...

Not particularly. Although, I do want these to be kinda functional lol. My experience with those fanless things are that they are incredibly slow.
 
alxlwson said:
My experience with those fanless things are that they are incredibly slow.
Click to expand...
I think it depends. I have never used a Core i5-6300U but I do not imagine it is slow -- in fact it is most certainly faster than most NUC desktops. Now that Zotac has improved cooling I would probably go with a ZBOX rather than any Intel unit but that's just me.
 
All the 0000U processors are dual core and cost the same as their non-U counterparts. If it doesn't need to be ultra small, then go with regular Small Form Factor systems that have the regular 4-core processors. It's A LOT faster for the same money.
 
Good observation, Henri108. Though I respect people willing to drop 800 USD on a NUC, sometimes I think people on this forum mindlessly recommend the NUC brand because it is catchy and Intel is a well-liked company, despite all of the problems NUC products have had over the years. (There is some effort demonstrated to uncover the many alternatives, but not much.) And then there is your point about the use of Skylake-U and similar chips in fixed desktops.
Henri108 said:
If it doesn't need to be ultra small, then go with regular Small Form Factor systems
Click to expand...
This is why I suggested mini-STX. For most desks and offices it's not too much larger than NUC anyway.
 
the_servicer said:
Good observation, Henri108. Though I respect people willing to drop 800 USD on a NUC, sometimes I think people on this forum mindlessly recommend the NUC brand because it is catchy and Intel is a well-liked company, despite all of the problems NUC products have had over the years. (There is some effort demonstrated to uncover the many alternatives, but not much.) And then there is your point about the use of Skylake-U and similar chips in fixed desktops.

This is why I suggested mini-STX. For most desks and offices it's not too much larger than NUC anyway.
Click to expand...


I really like the mini-stx. I'm going to explore that route. Now, build ideas? Barebones and build up myself, or buy ready to go out of the box?
 
I haven't ever really priced out a NUC/Brix/ZBOX/etc after adding in all the necessary bits and getting an OS (i.e. whether the company is fine with purchasing keys versus buying the retail/OEM software from a retailer), but I'd have to imagine some of the off lease and refurbished computers I've gotten from or seen at dellrefurbished.com and the Dell Outlet are very competitively priced for complete systems.

If you need something pretty compact, while maybe not as small as the NUC or competing products, something like an Optiplex Micro (3020, 3040, 7040, or 9020) might work. Obviously, the new ones cost more, but refurb ones can be pretty reasonable and still come with a standard year warranty. I think I've seen them as low as probably about $210+tax with the frequent outlet coupons for a basic model with a G3250T, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, wifi, W7/8.1Pro, etc., or something around $300+tax for an i5-4590T with similar other specs. I think I paid about $400 about a year ago for my i5 model that game with 8GB/500GB/wifi. We actually have 6 of them around my office (the Pentium G3240T/G3250T models), and they work fine. Lenovo and HP also make similar systems (Lenovo M73/M93P and HP EliteDesk 800 mini and maybe others), though I've never really used them.

Or, if cost is more of a concern, I've seen a variety of off lease stuff at dellrefurbished.com that's very reasonable, and good enough for any basic office use. The most recent I've purchased (back in February) was an Optiplex 7010 USFF for $201 after tax with an i5-3470S, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD. Given that it's the USFF model, it has no real expandability. It pretty much can take 2 sticks of RAM (I can't imagine most office use needing more than 8GB, let alone 16GB), one 2.5" SATA drive, and an optical drive. I have also seen in the past, some of the USFF models with the i5-2400S/2500S for as low as $160-180 after tax as well. The USFF models are very compact as far as desktops go, but nowhere near as small as NUC or those Dell Optiplex micro models, but they do take your standard power connector, rather than an external power brick.

It may or may not be an issue, but I think most modern Optiplex models (I think pretty much everything within the last 6-8 years) will have a VGA port and 1 or 2 DisplayPort outputs, so if you need more than 1 screen, you'll probably need a newer monitor or an adapter if all you have are VGA and DVI monitors

I'd just say that buying a prebuilt might be a simple solution to get warrantied office machines with minimal assembly/setup required.
 
Also remember that if you buy a more powerfull system now, it will be lasting for a lot longer. Up to 1000$, every buck you spend more will offer a big ROI. Our current Optiplexes were 1000$ at the time (6-8 years ago) and are only being replaced now because we need even faster machines. These are faster than new i3 machines.
Most companies change PC's every 4 years and spend 500$, you can get better performance for the first 4 years, and equal performance after 4 years (with the current evolution of CPU's probably even longer) and have the productivity increases NOW.
At least get 4-core i5 machines with 8GB of ram and a SSD. That's where the sweetspot is for Productivity increase/dollar in office PC's.
Go prebuild with warranty. You will at most pay 20% extra and you'll have on-site support for 5 years. If you factor in your time building, setting up and troubleshooting over the course of 5 years, building yourself is A LOT more expensive. Having a dead mobo will cost you at least 100$ in labor alone and a lot of time without a working machine (warranty procedure or buying a new mobo). Companies like Dell will come within 24 hours and fix it within 48 hours. Most of my hardware failures with Dells were fixed within 16hours of calling. That takes me 5 minutes for a call/email. Compared to having to test the ram in anohter system, test the SSD in another system, test the CPU in another system, testing the system with another PSU and then realising it's the mobo. Believe me, I've done this before and it takes you at least half a day to determine the actual problem and start the warranty procedure (which might take weeks).

For your own system, build it yourself, but for office use, buy them pre-build with reliable on-site service.
 
If I remember right, Dell is gradually phasing out the VGA port on their very newest designs. However VGA is still going strong at HP even on the tiniest EliteDesk and ProDesk computers with Skylake.
yee245 said:
I think most modern Optiplex models (I think pretty much everything within the last 6-8 years) will have a VGA port and 1 or 2 DisplayPort outputs
Click to expand...
 
the_servicer said:
If I remember right, Dell is gradually phasing out the VGA port on their very newest designs. However VGA is still going strong at HP even on the tiniest EliteDesk and ProDesk computers with Skylake.
Click to expand...
You're right. I hadn't really looked at the 3040 and 7040 models in much detail (or really any of their newest offerings), but it looks like they come with DisplayPort and HDMI with optional VGA as the 3rd connector (though it's hard enough to find the add in card to get a second DisplayPort or HDMI into the 9020 micro, so I'd imagine it would be easier to get a Displayport-VGA adapter if needed for the 3040/7040 instead of the internal option). Good to know... I was only partially aware of the new Skylake models of the Optiplex micros until I saw someone selling one on reddit for an i5 model for $250.
 
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