Prioritizing Computer Replacements?

cuzality asks: "The public library I work for is (hopefully) going to get some money in the coming months to replace some of our computers. Since we can't replace all of them at the same time, we need to decide which machines to replace first. We have begun working on a survey instrument to help us accomplish this, but since this is the first time we are replacing computers (most were bought in 1999), this is also the first time we have tried to put together a survey for this purpose. What kind of criteria have you used to prioritize replacement of computers? Examples of surveys you have used would also be very helpful..."

Comments

Simple: Replace the ones that don't work first!

[bhima]

at least that's what we always do....

How we've done this before...

[brigc]

FWIW, I used to be automation consultant for a regional library system, and we generally recommended folks look at things in this order:

PUBLIC machines first
As much for PR reasons as any.

SHARED STAFF MACHINES second
Usually most cost-effective distribution.

DEDICATED STAFF MACHINES third
Meaning the director's desktop usually gets upgraded last! :)

Within each category, we then looked at how old the BIOS was and how much RAM each machine had. Then we looked at budget issues.

These are, of course, general guidelines... sometimes things are done differently because you either have a funding source wanting to push a particular program or service... sometimes you have a machine which fails or is unreliable. Common sense should always override a plan, if it hasn't already been incorporated within the plan. ...brig

LTSP - Reuse Old Equipment Effectively!

[runswithd6s]

If I were given free reign to decide how to design the network, I would quickly install the Linux Terminal Server Project. Without going into a lot of details, here are some of your benefits:

• Reuse older equipment
• Operate diskless terminals (less moving parts, less breakage)
• Centralized Management
• Put money where it counts, in the servers and network infrastructure
• Leverage the security of Linux (No Windows boxen getting infected)

IMHO, 90% of the operations office staff and library patrons perform do not require specialized, personal PC's. Diskless "thin" clients are by far the least problematic with respect to hardware failure or OS maintenance.

Unless you absolutely require Windows clients, which I highly doubt given that most Library databases are searchable via Internet or Intranet sites, stay away from them. If the recent IE exploits hadn't scared you away yet, nothing will.