Decisions

[kvfb97]

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. 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.

 

[kvfb97]

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.

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.

Im sure if you speak to Dell/Apple/OcUK theres business discount too, isnt it for business you get VAT back?

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.

 

[kvfb97]

1 Million, I hate to say it, isn't much in company funding.

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]

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.

PCs do what we require, but they would also do what 90% of Mac users require also.

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

Web Programming and design. We don't need Quad cores anyway. Thats why I mentioned a middle Mac would be good.

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..

We will use Pages + Numbers. If we really need Any office applications we can boot into Windows/Parallels.

 

[kvfb97]

If you have 12 people, you will want a server or two. Especially for basic stuff like source control in a programming company!

Everything is based online, so we were just going to hook up a decent router and use wireless...

 

[kvfb97]

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!

Thanks.

You do know Dell machines are meant to be good for Hackintosh-ing

I wish, but not really appropriate.

True - sometimes you need to spend money to make money.

For capital that's not that much but getting that back from revenue.. well you have your business plan so I'll leave you to it!

I certainly would be a lot less inclined to slosh money around on a depreciating asset. Maybe set yourself a budget and work to that.

The problem really inter-communications between companies. I assume you're doing work for customers? Although PDF works..

Also about the servers- I would go with this comment. You'll not recover if you loose your code bases. Infact I'd be inclined to go Dell with a couple of servers and a good backup & recovery archive offsite.

We won't have customers, no. We'll just be working on one large website.

Think we are going for iMac's now.

Still don't know why we would need a server. Obviously we will have a dedicated one somewhere in the world, but not one for the computers locally. All files will be stored online and there would be a backup online and on each of the computers.

 

[kvfb97]

Well it's more of the configuration management for version control - not a problem when there's three of you but 12 designers/engineers?
An uncontrolled out of control code base is just as bad as loosing it completely. As long as something's in place (even a centralised svn/cvs!).

I'm not being totally negative about macs - believe me.

We already have an SVN setup on our server.

I still don't quite grasp the point in getting cables as we won't be sharing anything directly with each other. Everyone will be working from the Interweb.

The very fact you're contemplating spending twice as much on equipment to do the same function (if not worse when you regard having to use virtual machines to complete some tasks) is just mind blowing - with an attitude like that I wouldn't expect you around for long, no offense.

As stated before we still have 300k left over from our investment (this is only financial forecasting at the minute), and we have a guide price of around 25k for computer equipment.

The boss has decided we're going for iMac's, however I am completely againist this. Not just because they are double the price for less spec, but because programmers will most likely be more prominent with the Windows environment. His reasoning is because they looks good, easy to move, user friendly. All of which are completely useless in an office environment, really. Mac Fan-boy.

Been on the phone all night with no budge. Stupid. Annoyed, to be honest.

 

[kvfb97]

where you setting up base?

London.

 

[kvfb97]

Central?

Stratford. No idea if that is central or not. Not from there lol.