Day 10 : Dell Vostro v130–I want that one.

#TradeSecret no.3 Always select Dell Pro Support.

One of the reasons I can manage a large amount of Desktops across a varied group of clients is that I outsource the management and maintenance of the Desktops to Dell. Choosing 3Yr Pro Support with every client machine , specifically the Optiplex range , ensures that I will have next day on site engineer support should the hardware behave erratically after installation. The warranty period provides a good marker for the client to consider upgrades and  replacement costs within their  budgets which can be planned for. 

A further #TradeSecret here is the name convention I use on devices . I use a short letter prefix ( lets say RH for Redhack ) and then the Year, Month and Day of the installation. Which means  you can open the Network view at a client site and see a list of Device names to predict those that are due for replacement. 

One thing to note is that modern machines take less time for installation and configuration . Site times per PC are down from 3 hours to 2  and this includes installing Microsoft Office, Antivirus ( Avast or Comodo ) , Sage Act Pro 2011 , Firefox, thunderbird and Adobe Acrobat reader.

I encourage clients to buy fully boxed non OEM installations of Office since this allows for the  transfer of a license from one PC to another in the event that we are replacing machines and wiping the old ones. It also allows for Laptops to have a complimentary license installation 

 

The Vostro V130 was out and about with me and the comments from the employees were that they wanted to replace their more bulky Vostro 3700 laptops in favour of the  v130. Their original purchase  decision for the 3700 was the larger screen for presentation purposes. It is clear from their conversations that given the choice they would move to the v130 .

 

The other surprise for the client was the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse.  It has a  flexible back for low profile storage. It was  more elegant than the conventional USB mouse they have been carrying for the 3700 and I can see that I might be asked to include this in any future quotes. 

 

Thanks for reading.