Building a net cafe

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B&W

B&W

B&W

Soldato
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Hi, I just got offered a job to deploy a internet cafe from scratch.

Requirements:

6 pc's
1 server pc
printer all in one thingy
router
hub

and all the networking things I need such as patch cables.

Then theres the software, OS will be XP and I will use http://www.cafezee.com/ for the cafe software.

Since theres only a small amount of pc's and a small room im thinking of simply running patch cables under the carpet from the pc's to the hub.

I've saw it done before and it works fine, to make it look neat I might consider a rack for the router and hub.

Now the main thing will be the pcs themselves.

Would it be better for me to buy components individually and then build everything or would it be better to just buy some prebuilt machines?

Either way I intend to charge them for building the pc's.
 
Thanks but I should have made clear the budget for the pc's each is around £200-300 max. This must include a tft,keyb/mouse/webcam/headset.
 
for a netcafe, i would consider prebuilt pcs that come with call out support since it means you will not be called out for every minor problem if the cafe owners/staff cant fix the problem
 
Thats a tight budget, but doable. Probably cheaper to build them yourself. Whats the server going to be?
Also here's a tip, stop calling it a hub. If you're setting up an internet café Id like to think you have a bit of networking knowledge.

Depending on the size might be cheaper to buy a reel of cable and make your own patch cable.
Have you thought about anti virus, office apps anything else people might want to do?
 
lol , just couldnt be bothered to type switch. ive done this kinda stuff before so I am capable.

well the server will be the machine with cafezee on it, dont expect it to be much different then the others really. mite stick a extra stik of ram in it.

as for av, thinking of NOD32. will be upto them of course but am gonna recommend that they buy a business license. as for office and other apps im gonna need to ask them, this will all be sorted tomorrow when i go down and see the place.

right now i need an estimate for the cost of the physical machines, so i can have some kind of quote ready for them tomorrow.
 
The Asus EEE Box will come with a pack that includes a 19" widescreen monitor, keyboard and mouse. They also come with XP Home. They can be had from the channel islands DVD place for just over £300 each. Without a CD drive and the ability to hide them behind the monitor, it removed the temptation for people to fidle with them, and they will be cheap to run and quiet. Its not like u need uber powerfull machines.
 
Skeeter said:
The Asus EEE Box will come with a pack that includes a 19" widescreen monitor, keyboard and mouse. They also come with XP Home. They can be had from the channel islands DVD place for just over £300 each. Without a CD drive and the ability to hide them behind the monitor, it removed the temptation for people to fidle with them, and they will be cheap to run and quiet. Its not like u need uber powerfull machines.
Click to expand...

+1 they look nice too
 
Skeeter said:
The Asus EEE Box will come with a pack that includes a 19" widescreen monitor, keyboard and mouse. They also come with XP Home. They can be had from the channel islands DVD place for just over £300 each. Without a CD drive and the ability to hide them behind the monitor, it removed the temptation for people to fidle with them, and they will be cheap to run and quiet. Its not like u need uber powerfull machines.
Click to expand...

I just had a look, I like that idea! those eee boxes arent a bad spec considering.
 
The only issue is the EEE Box/Monitor/KB/Mouse bundle doesnt apear to be out yet. But it would defintely be the solution I would go for.
 
For an internet cafe, you could get some Dell Vostro 200s with 17" TFTs for £256 ex VAT and delivery.

For 6, the total would be £1,536.

Probably the cheapest way to go.

Also: LOL@cutters. £600 for internet cafe PCs?
 
You say Dell are expensive??
Are you looking at the small-medium business section?
Take a look at the Dell Vostro series.
If I were doing it I would plump for the basic Vostro 410 @ £229 which is decent spec Q6600 1GB RAM 160GB HD 128MB dedicated GFX card vista home and a DVD ROM. There's also the option to upgrade to 3 years business grade support still under £300. Then source some cheap pretty looking monitors from elsewhere. The basic price Includes KB and mouse + all the cables and usually a "complementary" 512MB memory stick. you can add £5 or whatever for a nice mouse but if the public are using them I wouldn't bother as you'll be replacing them every 5 mins anyways.
 
The Vostro 410 would be £400 a pop with a 17" monitor and the added 3 year support.

The 200 is the best option. You really don't need a quad core for internet cafe usage. It's £236 with 17" TFT.
 
I dunno, I wouldn't reckon the 200 is futureproof enough. If this is a new venture you will want to make them last. Plus you can get a 17" monitor for about £70. no point buying a nice one for people to put greasy fingers all over. Plus the 410 would have an upgrade path. Should you want to offer LAN gaming or something later on all you need to is pop a memory stick and a new GFx card in whereas I reckon the 800MHz dual core would struggle a bit.
If budget is that rigid then go for the 200 but for about £320 you could have 410s with 1 year support. Bear in mind also you said you were going to charge them extra for building the PCs, surely that would come to more than £20 per box? I wouldn't bother with the 3 years, cos support can be quite a nice little earner for you :) £80 callout + 60 per hour ;)
 
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2180 Processor (2.00GHz,800MHz,1MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
Microsoft® Works 9.0 - English
Display Not Included
1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
16x DVD +/- RW Drive
Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse


^^ E2180 800MHz FSB. I'd advise greatly AGAINST overclocking them for use in an internet cafe.

I'm not saying it's a crap spec just bang for buck the 410 is better value and if his budget can stretch to it he's better off getting the best possible to start out with.
 
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