“Of course, I had hesitations … but you’ve got to take a chance in life,” said Burns, who has nothing but positive things to say about his district’s experience with the refurbished machines. He added: “Now, I don’t plan to buy anything but refurbs, especially with our budget. Tomorrow night, I’ve got a board meeting, and I’m going to tell the board that I want to go with CDI and these refurb computers. I don’t plan to buy new computers.”
Brian Bray, director of technology for Lebanon Community Schools in Oregon, feels the same.
“First, the decision had to be made that we would buy refurbished equipment, leased-returned equipment,” Bray said.
It made good business sense, he said, so the district bought 2,000 Dell desktop computers from CDI to use in its administrative offices, students labs, and classrooms.
“We are rolling out way, way, way more technology in front of our kids for the dollar, and it’s completely reliable. And at these prices, you [can] keep some spares in the building and when it quits, you say: ‘Go swap it,’” Bray said.
“It’s been a total good experience. I often check in with other school districts about their acquisition strategies and their fleet maintenance strategies, and what we’re doing wins. It’s the right thing.”
He added: “We get machines that are just a little behind the curve, [but] they are more than enough to do what we need to do. We get very good pricing, we get warranty coverage, and there’s some logistical considerations for us.”
Greater efficiency
In addition to low prices, buying refurbished computers from CDI has helped the Lebanon Community Schools standardize its computers on only one model, which in turn helps its staff of three full-time equivalents be more efficient.
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