Small business system advice

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christopher_cheater

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Oct 24, 2017
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HI

I have a small business and I'm looking to upgrade the IT side. My budget is not huge.

Currently I have a Dell T5400 Workstation (Vista Business 32bit SP1) running Photoshop and Illustrator. A Dell Inspiron Laptop (windows 7 Pro 64bit SP1) for emails and word processing etc, and a HP XW4300 (Windows XP Fully updated) that I use to run printers.

They are networked to a 1TB NAS via a Gigabit switch over CAT5. Our work is very image intensive sometimes having to deal with several 1,000 images. The NAS is essentially used as a file server, so that we don't get multiple copies on different machines. I currently back the NAS up to an external HD about once a month.

TheT5400 sometimes gives out of virtual memory issues (asked on another thread) and the Dell laptop hangs sometimes with emails (running open office) and can be very slow with opening applications. I have run virus scanners and Spy bot etc .

Any advice on what I could do. I have looked at Dobro Storage to replace the NAS as I could RAID the discs, But I'd still need to back up occasionally to store safely off site. Would I gain anything with new equipment or just wasting money?

 
Solution
USAFRet
DELL T5400 Workstation

Full replacement. That CPU is already 7 years old. No use putting more money into that.
You'll get much better Photoshop and Illustrator performance from something newer.

Laptop
Marginal. The 2GB RAM is the limiting factor here. OS + Office chews that up.
If you can up the RAM to 4GB, do that.

HP XW4300
Print server. If its working, leave it.
Or, functionality could be taken over by the right NAS box.

Dye sub laptop printer
If its working, leave it


NAS/Backup.
Budget dependent. There are multiple Qnap or Synology NAS boxes...2 or 4 drive solutions.
I have one of these: https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/ts-453a...
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christopher_cheater

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Oct 24, 2017
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510
Thanks for the reply, I'm looking to spend as little as possible. Don't see the point of spending 1,000's o new stuff if I can upgrade with similar results for a 100.

Would Windows 7 be a good OS to upgrade to? Its only a couple of systems
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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For the XP and Vista boxes, I'd almost certainly say a full replacement for those.
You've not said the specific specs, but they are likely very, very old.

And $100 just barely covers a Win 7 or 10 license, much less any new parts.

Your backup situation is another budget item. And I'd recommend against Drobo.
I really, really wanted to like those. But I've read far too many reports of their proprietary semiRAID thing failing horribly.

There are better systems, similar price or cheaper.
 
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christopher_cheater

Prominent
Oct 24, 2017
8
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510
hi the specs are:

DELL T5400 Workstation
Used for PHOTOSHOP

Vista Business SP1 32 bit
Xenon E5420 2.50 Ghz
RAM 4.0Gb

For this I was thinking install Windows 7 64bit and 32Gb RAM (board max)

Laptop

DELL Inspiron
Used for EMAIL, OFFICE Etc

Win7 pro SP1 64bit
Pentium Double Core T400 @ 2.00Ghz
RAM 2.00Gb



HP XW4300 Workstation
Used to drive Printers, nothing else. Prints from Qimage and Photoshop.

XP Pro SP3
Pentium 3.20 Ghz
1.00Gb

Old Dell used for shows to drive a dye sub Printer
Laptop
Vista Home SP1
Pentium Dual T2330 1.6Ghz
RAM 2.00Gb

I have also read the same on the Drobo.



 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,474
17,927
184,590
DELL T5400 Workstation

Full replacement. That CPU is already 7 years old. No use putting more money into that.
You'll get much better Photoshop and Illustrator performance from something newer.

Laptop
Marginal. The 2GB RAM is the limiting factor here. OS + Office chews that up.
If you can up the RAM to 4GB, do that.

HP XW4300
Print server. If its working, leave it.
Or, functionality could be taken over by the right NAS box.

Dye sub laptop printer
If its working, leave it


NAS/Backup.
Budget dependent. There are multiple Qnap or Synology NAS boxes...2 or 4 drive solutions.
I have one of these: https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/ts-453a
https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-Professional-Grade-Attached-Supports-TS-453A-4G-US/dp/B017YB7T6U
 
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Solution
C

christopher_cheater

Prominent
Oct 24, 2017
8
0
510
Thanks for the info, on the HP XW4300 I found some extra RAM I've upped that to 2Gb as it wont do any harm.

I'll look round for a replacement for the T5400 as I have found DELL quite good.

I used to work in IT but things have moved on since I got out! I didn't want to spend a fortune for little gain.

 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,474
17,927
184,590


Yes. A current model Dell with an i7 and maybe 16GB RAM would be a HUGE improvement over the current T5400.
 
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