Question for computer geeks, netwrk. admins, or anyone - Toyota Yaris Forums

*tomato* · 10-14-2009, 11:46 PM

Let's say that you're running a small business network, and the workstations (PC's) are about 5 years old, and just about to run out of their extended warranty w/ DELL.

Workstations are sluggish but still good, parts have been changed as needed (DELL had a bad batch of motherboard with faulty capacitors, and sure enough, we got them, but DELL has honored the warranty every time and replaced the boards and misc. failed hardware as needed), so right now everything is running and in production.

Current workstations' OS is Win 2000, and they are running non-mainstream software, very specific to the business, without any problem right now. But

1) extended warranty on hardware is running out
2) some of that software is asking for upgrades which exceeds the capacity of the workstations (we can add memory but we can't make the processors faster!)

So we're thinking of replacing the workstations.

We know that the applications we're running will be fine with Windows XP Pro.
We know that some will NOT work with Vista, so Vista Pro is not an option (otherwise it would be an easy decision)
We expect they would work with Windows 7, but haven't tested that yet. In fact, if we go that road, we probably would wait a few months until all the Beta testers out there have returned their verdict

So what would you do:

Option No. 1) purchase XP stations right now but run the risk of going obsolete too soon
Option No. 2) extend warranty again and wait for Windows 7 to come out and be thoroughly tested
Option No. 3) take a chance, save money on extended warranty and wait for Windows 7 (kind of makes me nervous because we don't keep spare workstations)

Thoughts, anyone?

(No, we're not getting Macs! )

10-14-2009, 11:46 PM	#1
tomato Super Moderator View User's Garage Drives: Yaris 2DR LB 07, MT, Abs. Red Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 5,155	Question for computer geeks, netwrk. admins, or anyone Let's say that you're running a small business network, and the workstations (PC's) are about 5 years old, and just about to run out of their extended warranty w/ DELL. Workstations are sluggish but still good, parts have been changed as needed (DELL had a bad batch of motherboard with faulty capacitors, and sure enough, we got them, but DELL has honored the warranty every time and replaced the boards and misc. failed hardware as needed), so right now everything is running and in production. Current workstations' OS is Win 2000, and they are running non-mainstream software, very specific to the business, without any problem right now. But 1) extended warranty on hardware is running out 2) some of that software is asking for upgrades which exceeds the capacity of the workstations (we can add memory but we can't make the processors faster!) So we're thinking of replacing the workstations. We know that the applications we're running will be fine with Windows XP Pro. We know that some will NOT work with Vista, so Vista Pro is not an option (otherwise it would be an easy decision) We expect they would work with Windows 7, but haven't tested that yet. In fact, if we go that road, we probably would wait a few months until all the Beta testers out there have returned their verdict So what would you do: Option No. 1) purchase XP stations right now but run the risk of going obsolete too soon Option No. 2) extend warranty again and wait for Windows 7 to come out and be thoroughly tested Option No. 3) take a chance, save money on extended warranty and wait for Windows 7 (kind of makes me nervous because we don't keep spare workstations) Thoughts, anyone? (No, we're not getting Macs! ) __________________ Follow Bamboo the YarisWorld Traveler here Last edited by tomato; 10-14-2009 at 11:59 PM.