Giving is great, but give smart people!

[Flame]

A certain popular talk show host(ess) and her show donated a large number of pc's to a school which only had a couple of old bangers.
I think that's brilliant, except they bought them a bunch of top-of-the-line gateway pc's with 17 in flat screens...

I've often thought that it would be a better idea for situations like this to use the money more wisely...
If you are willing to spend 5,000 dollars (example amount) then why not buy good quality stuff - but not top-of-the-line so that more can be given? Makes sense to me...

Toni

[LuxFerum]

they are boosting their confidence too.

[mummymonkey]

Maybe they should have asked the school what they wanted (up to a set budget). On the other hand there may have been some kind of deal done with the supplier in return for free advertising space or whatever, so it was up to Gateway what models to provide.

[Luciana]

Flame:

As someone who has been in the "giving end", while I worked for a non-profit...

if you have the means, give the best computer possible. Why? Because they will last longer and require less maintenance, at least while they're new.

Top-of-the-line doesn't last long regarding computers.

Also, there's a psychological factor - if a certain organization earns computers, and everybody knows it, this organization won't be the recipient of equipament donations any time soon. Because people will always give preference to those who have none. So if they're given entry-level or old computers, in a couple of years they will have computers from the Jurassic, and no one will be interested to donate because "they already have it".

[Flame]

I totally agree about good quality goods... but 17 inch flat screen monitors ? My husband's office just replaced all their monitors and they are ridiculously expensive compared even to the 15 inch flat screens...

[Graham]

Originally posted by Flame
I totally agree about good quality goods... but 17 inch flat screen monitors ? My husband's office just replaced all their monitors and they are ridiculously expensive compared even to the 15 inch flat screens...

Hmm - a 17" flat panel costs around €500 that's getting close to the price of a mid-range PC.

By getting the same computers with ordainary monitors they could have bought almost twice the number of machines.

On the other hand, I agree with mummymonkey - they probably got a "job lot" from Gateway at a fixed price that included the setup specified.

Graham

[Luciana]

Or, also likely, Gateway wants to advertise those flat screens, as in "you can have that at home, look at them!"

Well, once again, I think that those in need deserve the best. :) Now I hope that the example will exort other TV hosts to donate top-of-the-line computers, so that more people can have it. :)

[Yahweh]

Giving is great, but give smart people!
And I do, I try to donate as much of my annual income into Creation Science research that I can spare!