Decisions

kvfb97

kvfb97

kvfb97

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Armagh, Northern Ireland
I have been working for a company for the last year from home, however we have received £1mil investment for a project we are working on. So, we're getting an office.

Basically, we are all Mac Fan-boys. :p There are currently 3 of us but there will be 12.

Now, we were going to go with iMacs + another Screen, but we decided that it would look wierd (don't you think?).

Then we thought about Mac Pros with dual screens, even though we don't need Mac Pro's. Total came to £29k. That isn't bad, we can afford it. Spec is: 1x 2.8 Quad core, 2GB ram, 320GB drive, 2600xt 256, 2x 23in Display

However, I checked with Dell and we can get this spec for £11k!
2.6 Quad, 3GB Ram, 320GB drive, a decent GFX, 2x 24in displays...

We REALLY want Macs, but this is a hard choice :(

I wish there was an 'in-between' the Mac Mini and Pro.
 
wow that is a huge price difference!

How much do you need the Macs? Can your business justify the extra spend or would the difference be better served as a contingency fund of sorts or be better spent elsewhere in the business/project?
 
Blackout said:
wow that is a huge price difference!

How much do you need the Macs? Can your business justify the extra spend or would the difference be better served as a contingency fund of sorts or be better spent elsewhere in the business/project?
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My heart's saying GO FOR IT! - But the business brain says go the other way!

Although...and I may redeem myself here... dont forget that Apple computers do last MUCH longer than their windoze counterparts... like for like...

Decisions indeed!! :)

EDIT// I imagine that 23" cinema displays in the numbers you're talking about would be expensive! Why dont you stump for the mac hardware and save a bit and buy dell displays??
 
Can you not just decide who needs Mac Pro's and who dont?

I think 24" iMacs would look very nice for business use, thats what id vote for anyway!
 
The reason its costing so much is because apple's monitors are stupidly priced atm- (this may change next week with the Developer Conference and the new displays being brought in)
At the moment each screen is costing 600 pounds each, which is ridiculous when you need two as well.

If i was you, i would get the Mac Pro's with Single Quad Core- which are brilliant machines and would serve you well, and get non apple monitors instead, which would work just as well. This way, your find that the pricing of the computers would be far cheaper. (You can get perfectly good 24 inch monitors for around 250 pounds each whilst apples 23 inch ones cost 600 pounds. As there are 12 of you, it means you would save 8400 pounds roughly not using mac monitors.

If i was you, i would buy:
Quad Core 2.8ghz Mac pro - 1,429 pounds x 12 = 17148 inc vat
OcUK Value L2442WD-VA 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black x24 = 4,991 pounds inc vat
Total = 22139 inc vat (As a business it would be cheaper due to no vat costs im right in thinking ?)
 
What sort of work are you doing? Graphics design? Web? CAD? Architecture?

TBH I would go for nice 24" non-Apple TFTs instead (particularly if you can get hold of S-IPS panels).

Also you have to factor in other costs such as servers, network infrastructure, backup and software licencing which will probably be at least equal to your spend on workstations

EDIT: also dont be ghey and go for "what looks best"- go for what's functional and provides the best working solution. You will need mini-DVI to DVI adapters for the iMacs though.
 
Im sure if you speak to Dell/Apple/OcUK theres business discount too, isnt it for business you get VAT back?
 
Whiskas said:
What sort of work are you doing? Graphics design? Web? CAD? Architecture?

TBH I would go for nice 24" non-Apple TFTs instead (particularly if you can get hold of S-IPS panels).

Also you have to factor in other costs such as servers, network infrastructure, backup and software licencing which will probably be at least equal to your spend on workstations

EDIT: also dont be ghey and go for "what looks best"- go for what's functional and provides the best working solution. You will need mini-DVI to DVI adapters for the iMacs though.
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We're designers/programmers.

We probably won't need a server, not at the minute anyway. Software licensing we have already taken into account- it is a lot.

syke said:
Im sure if you speak to Dell/Apple/OcUK theres business discount too, isnt it for business you get VAT back?
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You only get VAT back if you charge VAT. We probably won't make anything, or much in our first year so won't have to claim VAT. Apple provide business discount but not very much from what I can see. Dell do too, but I haven't looked into them much yet.
 
A business is all about making profit, whilst keeping costs low to maximise it. So I'd go for the Dells, and save money.
 
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Sometimes you need to speculate to accumulate. That's only an excuse for the Mac's though. :D

Otherwise, the Dell's seems allot better as they are cheaper. Depends if cheaper is something you need to worry about at this moment.
 
1 Million, I hate to say it, isn't much in company funding.

Part of funding (and input into negotiations for the next round of funding) is what you did with it. So don't go on a spending spree.

The PCs are 1/2 the price. They will do what you require? Then there's little argument I'm afraid. Skill sets for supporting PCs are easier to come by too.

Also - what exactly are you programming? Webpages? Audio/Visual? Or scientific medical scanners?

Lastly - MS Office. MS have stated they're putting VBA back into mac:Office to make it compatible with the PC version again.. no statement when that is..
Will you be running parallels+Windows+Office?
I have to say it - mac software does not come close to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Visio..
 
All depends on whether you think the extra cost will pay off in some way, whether it be higher productivity, better shelf-life, etc.

To be honest, I'd wait til after the conference to see if there's any major changes planned with any of the hardware you plan on buying.

If it were my money, I'd go with Macs every time. I'm thankful that nearly all businesses plump for bog standard PCs though, else I'd be out of a job!!
 
NickK said:
1 Million, I hate to say it, isn't much in company funding.
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We have calculated everything so far and it has came to £650k. That includes high paid lawyers and financial advisor's.
Part of funding (and input into negotiations for the next round of funding) is what you did with it. So don't go on a spending spree.[/quote]

NickK said:
The PCs are 1/2 the price. They will do what you require? Then there's little argument I'm afraid. Skill sets for supporting PCs are easier to come by too.
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PCs do what we require, but they would also do what 90% of Mac users require also. :P
NickK said:
Also - what exactly are you programming? Webpages? Audio/Visual? Or scientific medical scanners?
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Web Programming and design. We don't need Quad cores anyway. Thats why I mentioned a middle Mac would be good.
NickK said:
Lastly - MS Office. MS have stated they're putting VBA back into mac:Office to make it compatible with the PC version again.. no statement when that is..
Will you be running parallels+Windows+Office?
I have to say it - mac software does not come close to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Visio..
Click to expand...
We will use Pages + Numbers. If we really need Any office applications we can boot into Windows/Parallels.
 
Think about the extra licensing costs need for windows + parallels + windows version of office per pc too.
 
If you have 12 people, you will want a server or two. Especially for basic stuff like source control in a programming company!
 
Matt said:
If you have 12 people, you will want a server or two. Especially for basic stuff like source control in a programming company!
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Everything is based online, so we were just going to hook up a decent router and use wireless...
 
Wasting the money on the monitors would be absolutely idiotic. Sounds more like a bunch of lads who've found a bag of money than a business!
 
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