mslunecka
asked on
Testing Recommendations Needed
My organization is currently in the processing of selecting who will be our primary PC vendor for the next three years. We'll be entering into a contract with them to provide us with 5 standard PC configurations.
A mainstream desktop system
A high-end mutlimedia type desktop system
A mainstream notebook computer
An ultraportable notebook computer
A convertible tablet PC
I know 5 models is more "standard systems" than an ordinary organization has, but trust me if we can get everyone to buy just 5 models it will be a big improvement for us. We might whittle this down to 3 or 4 over time, but for now we're willing to accept 5 and be happy.
We've evaluated all of our vendors and we're interested in having them all send us their equipment to evaluate. We need to come up with some tests to put each system through, however.
Here are the tests I've already come up with:
Standard Benchmarking
Disassembly/Reassembly time
Install our basic hardware-agnostic image and see if it boots
Here are some tests I'd like to run but need advice on how to conduct:
Heat buildup test
Acoustic noise test
Those last two tests are information I would like to know, but don't necessarily have the instruments to perform properly. I could probably get a laser thermometer from the building engineers if one was necessary. I've also never conducted an acoustic test before, so I'd need some advice on how to do that properly.
What tests do you guys run on new systems? Subjective or objective tests are fine. Aethetics don't play a big role in my decision, but they can count for something if the results are close. I'm more concerned with ease of maintenance for me and ease of use for the users.
If I have to split points several ways I will add points
A mainstream desktop system
A high-end mutlimedia type desktop system
A mainstream notebook computer
An ultraportable notebook computer
A convertible tablet PC
I know 5 models is more "standard systems" than an ordinary organization has, but trust me if we can get everyone to buy just 5 models it will be a big improvement for us. We might whittle this down to 3 or 4 over time, but for now we're willing to accept 5 and be happy.
We've evaluated all of our vendors and we're interested in having them all send us their equipment to evaluate. We need to come up with some tests to put each system through, however.
Here are the tests I've already come up with:
Standard Benchmarking
Disassembly/Reassembly time
Install our basic hardware-agnostic image and see if it boots
Here are some tests I'd like to run but need advice on how to conduct:
Heat buildup test
Acoustic noise test
Those last two tests are information I would like to know, but don't necessarily have the instruments to perform properly. I could probably get a laser thermometer from the building engineers if one was necessary. I've also never conducted an acoustic test before, so I'd need some advice on how to do that properly.
What tests do you guys run on new systems? Subjective or objective tests are fine. Aethetics don't play a big role in my decision, but they can count for something if the results are close. I'm more concerned with ease of maintenance for me and ease of use for the users.
If I have to split points several ways I will add points
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rindi
I thought of that as well, but this, if the supplier knows you are a possible customer to come, probably will not give you real life results, as it is likely you'll be better served than once you are a customer. I think it is better to listen around on how others have fared with those companies.
ASKER
If I want to test power drain how can I go about doing that? Are there instruments I can plug into the computer that tell me how many watts they're pulling down?
ASKER
Also I'm not too concerned with the quality of their phone technical support as we have our own IT staff and help desk that handles that kind of thing. We're more interested in our business level support. Ease of ordering, pricing, RMA part supply, things like that. Ghost shopping the technical support would be OK if we intended to use it, but the other stuff you can't actually test until you're an active client. So you have to rely on other peoples' accounts.
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By the way I forgot to add Futuremark is a real nice place to start and use there ORB for comparing your systems to others Hundreds of thousands of stored tests in there to compare to.