In my position I have to setup and repair many different laptops from the big manufacturers. Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Compaq, HP, Acer, Sony...I'll stop there. I'd have to rate Dell at the top in terms of the quality of their machines, options, and service. Gateway number 2...they have the best looking displays of them all, but the quality is not as good as Dell and their service is much worse. Dell gets me a part in 24 hours...Gateway can take up to a week. I could recomend either of those two without any hesitation. Toshiba SUCKS and that's all there is to them. I've had problems with every one that's come through my hands(20+). Compaq - Don't think I really need to say much about them, save to say that if you ever get a replacement part for them, they never follow up. HP - Ha. Acer - The couple we've had are alright. Not the fastest...they're mostly in the slim laptop market, meaning that your extra drives are external...haven't had to deal with their service. And that leaves Sony on my list...I'd never buy a Sony PC product. As far as I know you can only get XP on their new systems, they don't provide drivers for any other OS's...and some of them are XP only anyhow. They lock out much of the functionality of XP to start with...No Administrator login, and the admin access you have, isn't. Dell and Gateway both offer price reductions on multiple machine orders and are generally well priced. Of the brands I've listed I would recommend one of them. If you're looking for an open system that allows you to install whatever OS you want as well as adding hardware...they're the best and the easiest.
-michael
Faculty Storm.
on
Dorm Storm?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I wish I could tell you that it's easy, that with good organization and understanding it just "does itself". But I have no idea. Dare I say you actually have an easier task... I work at the helpdesk for the College of Ed at a Southern University. There are Three of us that service about 1500-2000 machines. It's hard to be exact. And I'm talking 45%-50% Mac's. Running on a Novell network. IP's assigned from BootP. I've got Grad Students running Win95 on Compaq Deskpro 166's...up to new faculty that spent $25000....yes Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars...on new equipment. You should see the office, Post-It notes everywhere. We talk about organization, but it's impossible, the time we do have a spare moment is spent catching up on jobs that got forgotten about, or a job that you were working on and had to put down thinking you'd be back in a minute only to be out for 3 hours. We tried a web-based ticketing system, in the midst of setting up ~300 new machines over the summer, needless to say it's still a Pre-Work in Progress. At the most jobs get written down in a notebook. We've got a backlog of 60-75 work orders called in since Monday. It can be frustrating, but also rewarding...Free food from faculty, a chance to check out the latest gadget. And the experience is crazy. I've learned more in the 8 months I've worked there than in the 10 years since I've been using computers. That's not just PC's either. I know a Mac like I know the back of my hand...now. Try telling a full professor that's got written instructions on how to check their email that they have to switch their AppleTalk connection from Ethernet to Printer/Modem port so they can print and then back again to get to shared drives...Jesus. I'm looking for ways to improve the situation...sounds like I'm bitching, but I'm not, it's a great job, great experience.
Anyone down here in GA need a hardworking tech with Mac/PC experience? Send me a line, you'll get my resume.
Bottom line - You need people. You need a way to use them effectively. You need an up-to-date and easy to use network. Good luck to you.
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In my position I have to setup and repair many different laptops from the big manufacturers. Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, Compaq, HP, Acer, Sony...I'll stop there. I'd have to rate Dell at the top in terms of the quality of their machines, options, and service. Gateway number 2...they have the best looking displays of them all, but the quality is not as good as Dell and their service is much worse. Dell gets me a part in 24 hours...Gateway can take up to a week. I could recomend either of those two without any hesitation. Toshiba SUCKS and that's all there is to them. I've had problems with every one that's come through my hands(20+). Compaq - Don't think I really need to say much about them, save to say that if you ever get a replacement part for them, they never follow up. HP - Ha. Acer - The couple we've had are alright. Not the fastest...they're mostly in the slim laptop market, meaning that your extra drives are external...haven't had to deal with their service. And that leaves Sony on my list...I'd never buy a Sony PC product. As far as I know you can only get XP on their new systems, they don't provide drivers for any other OS's...and some of them are XP only anyhow. They lock out much of the functionality of XP to start with...No Administrator login, and the admin access you have, isn't. Dell and Gateway both offer price reductions on multiple machine orders and are generally well priced. Of the brands I've listed I would recommend one of them. If you're looking for an open system that allows you to install whatever OS you want as well as adding hardware...they're the best and the easiest.
-michael
I wish I could tell you that it's easy, that with good organization and understanding it just "does itself". But I have no idea. Dare I say you actually have an easier task... I work at the helpdesk for the College of Ed at a Southern University. There are Three of us that service about 1500-2000 machines. It's hard to be exact. And I'm talking 45%-50% Mac's. Running on a Novell network. IP's assigned from BootP. I've got Grad Students running Win95 on Compaq Deskpro 166's...up to new faculty that spent $25000....yes Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars...on new equipment. You should see the office, Post-It notes everywhere. We talk about organization, but it's impossible, the time we do have a spare moment is spent catching up on jobs that got forgotten about, or a job that you were working on and had to put down thinking you'd be back in a minute only to be out for 3 hours. We tried a web-based ticketing system, in the midst of setting up ~300 new machines over the summer, needless to say it's still a Pre-Work in Progress. At the most jobs get written down in a notebook. We've got a backlog of 60-75 work orders called in since Monday. It can be frustrating, but also rewarding...Free food from faculty, a chance to check out the latest gadget. And the experience is crazy. I've learned more in the 8 months I've worked there than in the 10 years since I've been using computers. That's not just PC's either. I know a Mac like I know the back of my hand...now. Try telling a full professor that's got written instructions on how to check their email that they have to switch their AppleTalk connection from Ethernet to Printer/Modem port so they can print and then back again to get to shared drives...Jesus. I'm looking for ways to improve the situation...sounds like I'm bitching, but I'm not, it's a great job, great experience. Anyone down here in GA need a hardworking tech with Mac/PC experience? Send me a line, you'll get my resume. Bottom line - You need people. You need a way to use them effectively. You need an up-to-date and easy to use network. Good luck to you.