Proceedure to upgrade computers?

[russellhltn]

you could ask one of the clerks who has been around a while for an estimate

Chances are you'd get an inflated estimate. I had one ward tell me they were due for replacement and I told them they weren't - if they didn't believe me to check the manufacture date on the back of the monitor. (We got our GX270 and monitors in the same batch.)

It turns out they were remembering when they got the prior computer.

Your mileage may vary, but I find the wards have very selective memories. Like the ward that some how keeps remembering that I "stole" (with the stake president's permission) a replacement computer (a "cascaded" one from CHQ) and swapped it with one in the FHC. Well, if they really want their P90 back, I think I can arrange that.

(Way back then, it was MIS/FIS. Wards didn't need a Windows-capable machine, but the FHC was in desperate need of Internet-capable computers. Of course now, I think moving machines between the wards and FHCs would be frowned upon.)

But the point being is that I find wards tend to remember only things that are to their advantage to remember.

[russellhltn]

The majority of them were installed in 2004

Which is the year the 5-year program started. Anything below 500MHz was replaceable. Needless to say, much of the church got their replacement that year. So by extension, this year was the time for getting a large group of them replaces. But the sluggish economy made that a problem. (And I'll bet that many FM groups forgot to put it in their budget - like mine almost did.)

As for upgrade, I personally like Crucial. There are many good companies, but I'd highly recommend going with one that takes your computer model and tells you what you need rather than look up the specs yourself. Otherwise, just one tiny spec off and you get a machine that becomes unstable.

I think you get the most bang for the buck by upgrading from 256 to 512. You can order a 512MB kit (try to buy the memory in pairs, it helps the performance.). Then take the 256 out of that computer and put it in another. So you end up upgrading two computers for $30. The price jumps to $50/computer if you try to push for 1GB. 1GB is nice, but it's nowhere near the performance of jump of 256 to 512.

[natet]

Do you get the FM group to pay for the memory upgrade, or do you get the stake to fund it?

[russellhltn]

Do you get the FM group to pay for the memory upgrade, or do you get the stake to fund it?

In our case, the stake funded the upgrade to the stake computer. I don't know of anyone who got the FM group to pay.

[natet]

Hmm, this might get interesting. I'll have to put together an estimate for the stake president, but I might have some difficulty getting them to pay for it, since I just spent $2k+ on equipment to set up the Meetinghouse Communicator for our recent stake conference (though, in the process I did end up saving the stake $40 a month in our ISP bills).

[techgy]

The FM group is responsible to order items that meet the criteria that SLC has defined. In the case of a computer, that system will be delivered meeting a minimum set of standards as defined by Church HQ.

We upgraded the RAM in 3 pc's a few years ago and it was the responsibility of the stake to pay for it.

[Mikerowaved]

Hmm, this might get interesting. I'll have to put together an estimate for the stake president, but I might have some difficulty getting them to pay for it, since I just spent $2k+ on equipment to set up the Meetinghouse Communicator for our recent stake conference (though, in the process I did end up saving the stake $40 a month in our ISP bills).

In THIS post, I laid out how it could be done for under $10 per PC. Like most things, it pays to shop around a bit.