Help building some office machines

[Jon55]

A friend of mine has a small business and is looking for four (4) office machines which can each run two or three monitors. He got a quote from Dell that came out to nearly $4k, and we're trying to decide if that's an outrageous price or not, and how worth it it is.

Anyway, here's some info:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
General office work, web browsing, light media stuff such as being plugged into a TV for powerpoint presentations/DVD playback
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$4,000 total (shipping and tax included), but the less spent the better
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Southern California
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, mobo, RAM, PSU, GPU, case, dvd drive, mouse, keyboard
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Four 24" 1080p monitors
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
He wants to get two more 24" 1080p monitors
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Sooner the better
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Standard stuff
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No

 

[tiraides]

What are the system specs of the Dell systems? In most cases similar to yours, I'd recommend a prebuilt system as Dell's customer service and warranty support are generally better toward businesses than individuals.

But $4,000 does sound like a lot of money for four "simple" machines. Does the cost also factor in any additional monitors?

 

[Tsuyoi]

Keep in mind, since he requested machines that can run 2-3 monitors each, they probably put in some discrete GPUs in them, increasing the price. Does Dell's quoted price include all the peripherals like OS, extended warranty, Office Suite, etc? If so, $1000 a pop is pretty much standard.

 

[cyclone3d]

If you aren't opposed to going HP, you can get a pretty nice fully loaded i5-2400 system for $800 a piece + tax.. shipping should still be free.

They come with discreet graphics cards, although you will need an DP to DVI adapter for the second monitor if your monitors do not support DP. The cards that come with them, have one DVI port, and one DP port. The DP port should be able to be split into two seperate outputs with the correct adapter.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...p/psg/desktops/Everyday_computing/p7qe_series

If you go with Dell, you are going to have to get add-on video cards, which will run you about $100+ extra per machine. Plus the Dell machines cost a bit more for a lesser system.

I know this because I spent a couple hours pricing stuff out a couple days ago.

As for the extra monitors, watch newegg for their sales and promo codes. We just ordered another 23.6" for $129.99 shipped.

And if you need to get the DP to DVI adapters, get them on newegg as well. They are way cheaper than other places.

 

[Jon55]

Yeah I guess a representative gave him a couple quotes via email, here they are (sorry for the small font):

Here's a direct link to each image: quote 1, quote 2

 

[Tsuyoi]

Ok, see the first quote includes 4 monitors, which is why it's coming out to $3,255. The second quote seems to be for 2 computers without monitors, with Windows 7 Professional, and extended warranty and ProSupport, for $1577.

This works out to be about $780 per computer, which really isn't a bad deal at all for a computer with discrete graphics with an OS installed and extended warranty+support.