Advantages: Very low cost
Disadvantages: No potential

...If you are two users working from home, or you require a small good value box to act as a small scale scanned document server then this is the one for you, load it up with your favourite operating system, chuck it in the corner and away you go. i would however advise that you put in a second hard drive and at the very least run on a mirrored pair. At least that way if one drive fails you can carry on working whilst you wait for the replacement. When I think of server I think SCSI hard drives, fault tolerence and expandability of which this server has none by default and whilst IBM products are generally built to a high specification I have never been a big fan of using SATA drives where constant disk access is required. Likewise the celeron processor does not easily lend itself to blistering performance but, on the other side... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: good build quality - rarely break down - It's an IBM!
Disadvantages: support website can sometimes be awkward to navigate.

...that once the initial information has been entered it's pretty much an automated process. Once your up and running you can install the included IBM Director software (it is included with all the servers I have ever bought but I don't see it on the kit list so might be wise to check, although even if it isn't you can download it from the IBM website. The easiest way to find it is search the IBM website or Google for e1cd1.iso. You should also download the serveraid windows agent as well ) which monitors the state of all your hardware and can be configured to send E-Mail or pager alerts in the event of warnings errors or security breaches. As a terminal server it should be good to go for up to 15 users (maybe 20 with plenty of RAM and if only using office docs) but I would probably go for an X236 if you want to do much more than that or have... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: power,redundancy,expandibility
Disadvantages: Price

...The configuration I use is : 2x Xeon 3.6GHz/800MHz (1MB L2 Cache), 4x 512MB ECC 133MHz SDRAM,48x-20x IDE CD-ROM drive, Dual Broadcom 5721 Gigabit Ethernet, ATI Radeon 7000M, IBM 5U x 24in Tower To Rack Conversion Kit ,5x146.4 GB 10 000 rpm Ultra320 80-pin hard drive,Serveraid 7k SCSI raid card, Remote supervisor Adapter II card. Operating System provided by IBM as well ( part number 90P0221) Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Standard Edition. Packaging and manuals: Server is very well packaged,rack conversion comes with explanation for conversion, but the whole conversion is not intuitive at all.Picture provided in installation instructions not very helpful. Bit and pieces included in the packages ,as keyboard and mouse for Server.IBM Director and Serveraid manager CD, plus OS CDin the box, OS pre-installed. Set-Up. Set up is quite easy... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very versatile mid range server
Disadvantages: support web site can be awkward to navigate

...GB 15K disks for the data configured as RAID5 (with the addition of an IBM 7k RAID card) with a hot spare. This gives a 73GB OS partition which should be ample for most SBS installations including the exchange store. I tend to find that most SBS base builds come to about 20GB once everything is installed. This leaves just over 50GB for the exchange store and page file. The data partition would then be about 250GB which should be ample for most SMB's. Inside the server is just as good and as this model has the dual power supplies installed I would imagine it also comes with 6 cooling fans. If you see a cheaper price for the same model make sure it has dual supplies. There is a thick perspex cover directing air from 2 of the fans over the CPU and memory slots whilst two fans at the bottom suck air through the hard drive bays... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Stable
Disadvantages: Heavy

...I have been setup 30 piece of IBM R50 thinkpad for a new company. Basically what happen is I encounter IBM have thier own software install when the brand new R50 delivery to the customer. The most rediculors things is the IBM software use up 3 GB space which not inluded the Operating system. Which mean this R50 come with 40GB harddrive, user only will have 30GB to use, the rest is software usage. Come to the point of hardware issue. This product come with centrino 1.5 and built-in WIFI. Everything is solid look and reliable. Boot up is not as fast as what you think after all the personal software installation which use for startup program. Make you feel like not a 1.5 centrino product. I do not advice home user getting this laptop is because you will get bored of the look. If you insist to get a IBM. I would advice you to get a T41p... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good up to date information on the latest products
Disadvantages: Cost is expensive if like me you dont trust the CDs

... Microsoft Windows ME  Power DVD Player  SNS Chicony Keyboard  SNS Primax Web Cusier PS/2 Mouse  1 Year On-site Warranty Upgrade To: Delivery to Mainland UK + £21.15 Base Unit + Upgrades + Extras: £720.15 Sub Total: £720.15 VAT: + £126.03 Total: £846.17 At the end of the day would you have found a computer at PC World or Dixons on the high street for this price? I would have been happier if VAT had been included! But you cannot have everything. Sorry for going on about this slightly, but it shows that by reading these magazines you could save yourself a fortune and get a better system. The rest of the magazine is very good, with a lot of reviews of software, desktops, laptops, and peripherals. For a change in a computer it comes with a steady amount of adverts which are of a glossy nature... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: reliable, customer service,expandable
Disadvantages: price,accessory

...The particular model my company own is an 8648-4AY It comes with: 1x Xeon 3.0GHz/800MHz (2MB L2 Cache), 1x 512MB PC2-3200 ECC DDR2 SDRAM RDIMM, No disks,1x Broadcom NetXtreme 5721 Gigabit Ethernet, 48x-20x IDE CD-ROM , 1x 530W Power Supply, SVGA (16MB) . What we have as accessories are: IBM ServeRAID-6M Ultra320 SCSI Controller( around £500) 3x146.8 GB 10 000 rpm Ultra320 SCSI hard drives( around £300 each) and a Remote Supervisor Adapter II card ( around £300 ). Packaging and User manual: The server comes with a very good package.User manual ( CD)and IBM Director software included. keyboard and mouse included.The user manual is very good and include details about connections,set up and enviromental set-up ( noise generated,heat and cooling requirement) Set-up: For our particular configuration , we had to create the disk subsystem... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Powerful - impressive - cutting edge
Disadvantages: Like a big filing cabinet on wheels

...such as archived mailboxes and the like. It has a capacity for 12 300GB SAS drives giving 3TB of storage if required. The high vis neon green drive lights were constantly flashing on and off on the one I built because the RAID card is constantly performing data scrubbing which monitors and repairs any errors it finds in the stripes on the array. Apparently all the RAID cards IBM supply do it but only the 8i card has the ability to flash the disk lights whilst it does it which I find kind of bizarre. Above the drive bays is the CPU tray which, once you have removed all the relevant clips and air channels, can be slid out of the front and up to four processors can be plugged in. Reseat this board and move into the area behind where the CPUs sit to the memory area. The memory is plugged into what are effectively daughterboards each of which will hold 4... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Reliable, fast, robust
Disadvantages: A bit heavy... but doesn't matter once it's in the rack

...I have recently installed a couple of the IBM x445 servers at work, and as I've been generally impressed with the way they've performed, thought I'd share my findings. I won't go through the finer and minute technical details of this server simply because that wouldn't be a review- that would be simply copying the specification, which anyone can read anyway. I decided it be a lot more helpful to describe in business terms the benefits of the server, and how reliable and effective it has been in our infrastructure. Nevertheless, some bare technical details should be discussed- so in essence, let me point out that it comes with 2Gb of RAM and 2 Intel Zeon processors running at 2.5 GHz. It has the capability of using up to 64Gb of RAM (if you should ever really need to). There are the usual slots available for adding SCSI hard disks... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: average spec, great for developers
Disadvantages: looks/appearance

...Firstly, wow Secondly, wow wow Thirdly, what the... This machine is one of the newest brought out by IBM, which makes it something to look forward to. Well it is. I say this because I’m a person who develops websites, and using a piece of machinery like this did impress the judge. If you are a common Joe then, lets face it you won't be amazed. The unit faces an awckward task of creating versatility, while still trying to impress everyone with the looks of a London double decker. The 1.5 Ghz processor can handle almost anything that the world has to offer in terms of software developing or corporate dealings. The unit comes preinstalled with 256 SDRAM and a portable 40Gb hardrive. This makes it an ok item for home users, but again who would want this in their living room spoiling the view. The 14.1" monitor has the capability... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful