In a previous thread, Robert wrote: >At what price-point is worth our while to simply purchase >refurbished machines?
> WITS is selling pallets of PIIIs like the classroom machines for > $20 per machine[1]. They have a minimum of 800 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, > 10 GB HDD, 10/100 NIC, video, sound, USB2. The ones I looked at had > 20 GB drives. > They have been tested and are ready to go except for an OS. > [1] If you purchase an entire pallet it works out to about $12 per > machine. I am in absolute favor of researching the idea of purchasing PCs from WITS, or EPC or other computer re-sellers that sell "naked" PCs. I called EPC in St. Charles several months ago, and received a price of ~$70 for significantly better PCs than the ones that Robert mentioned. If we can mitigate this price with a donation from EPC or other grants, then I can see Byteworks doubling the number of students that we teach, as well as providing them with machines that will be usable for a longer time than the ones we're providing now. This will not obviate the need for the shop-side of Byteworks. We will still need the shop to process the purchased computers, install software, and still take in donated computers. In fact, I could see the need for *more* shop volunteers due to the increased amount of throughput. There would be a lot of work in buying the computers, installing software, finding peripherals, etc.. In addition, I bet we'd get a fair amount of DOA computers that we'd have to take back, even from vendors like WITS. This would need to be taken into consideration. There is a definite price-point that I would like to identify, and I will bring it up at the next board meeting. If we could double our student throughput, we could make a great case for getting more grants as well. I would appreciate thoughts, especially from our shop volunteers about the issues we'd have to consider if we would buy some of our computers. I think it's in Byteworks best interest to continue to take donated computers/equipment. It is very valuable to maintain a community relationship where people can see their donations going towards a worthy cause. We've discussed this before, but it would be nice to get a refresher on the subject. Please throw any links to prior discussions onto this conversation if that would help. Thanks, --Nate
