Budget 0-20k Need new config for light office work

S

silverbyte

Disciple
hi guys,
Need a desktop config for office work - need for this is inclusive of monitor+keyboard+mouse cost. The desktop will be running linux and will be used to do document editing, spreadsheets and browser/internet work. Nothing big on HDD or monitor is required. No optical drive or speakers needed.

I'm reserving 1300 rs for 4GB RAM (many browser windows!), but am open to everything for the latter. I was thinking of an AMD APU based config for cost savings.

You guys would be great if you can bring the config to under 15K (we need to get 20 of these desktops!)

thanks!
 
Template would be helpful. But a few pointers :

1. Don't go for hard disks as it would eat up a lot of your budget. Install OS on a cheap USB pen drive (4 or 8 GB can be had for Rs. 300-400). Install on one and clone on others using dd command to save time.

2. Go for AMD E-350 or E-450 based combo motherboards (goes for less than Rs 6k, and includes processor and graphics)

3. From the saved money, buy 3 3TB hard disks (would cost around 28k total) and install in one of the machines. Install btrfs RAID 1 to create total of about 4 TB usable space. Space is lost to formatting, filesystem overhead and RAID 1. NFS mount it on the other machines. This will ensure all data is at least on 2 hard disks at a time. An average of 200 GB would be available to all the 20 users, and quota can be managed dynamically so that one user can even use 1 TB if others are not using much.
 
@amitkher - thanks for the suggestion. I have a self-compiled ZFS mount running in the office. However a thin client model will not work in this case. I would have to have hard disks. However thanks for your suggestion on AMD E-450 - I'll take that into account.

Can you guys expand on the config a little more ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
silverbyte said:
@amitkher - thanks for the suggestion. I have a self-compiled ZFS mount running in the office. However a thin client model will not work in this case. I would have to have hard disks. However thanks for your suggestion on AMD E-450 - I'll take that into account.

Can you guys expand on the config a little more ?
Click to expand...


This is not exactly a thin client, only slightly similar. If you insist on hard drives, you'd have to make big compromises to make the 15 k mark, you should up it to 18 k. I'll update the configuration in a while, though others are more up to date with prices so they are better placed for it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
amitkher said:
This is not exactly a thin client, only slightly similar. If you insist on hard drives, you'd have to make big compromises to make the 15 k mark, you should up it to 18 k. I'll update the configuration in a while, though others are more up to date with prices so they are better placed for it.
Click to expand...

I think hard drives are going to be a must. Pretty much I would be OK with even an ARM based CPU - as long as I can open 10 tabs on a browser and OpenOffice on the side !
I can even go with 15 inch monitors and all to save cost.

I was actually seriously considering this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QX4dH59Nb0&feature=relmfu
 
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