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Need a robust PC for the observatory?
An expensive brand-name PC I have had in my obs has become unreliable lately - it's USB ports keep dropping out, refusing to connect, etc etc etc. So I have decided to replace it.
The key factors were:
1. reasonable but not necessarily blazing performance - a Core 2 Due at 3.0 GHZ will do;
2. Good build quality - not all computers are created alike - equates to reliability.
3. Cost.
I already have a good old Dell desktop in the obs running one pier and it just keeps on keeping on so when I spotted Grays Online were auctioning some ex-lease Dell OptiPlex 755,760s the other day I decided to grab 2 of them and got then at $84 plus GST and freight each. An OEM version of Win7 Home Premium 32Bit for under $100 brought each PC in at under 300 apiece delivered.
As PCs go, these are drafthorses, not sprinters but they do seem to have a way of surviving where the others don't.
Peter
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