@scottalanmiller said:
We will need the DPACK to know for sure, but an R510 is a monster compared to what you have and so much cheaper than the R700 series. The R510 can hold more storage than you could possibly need and is a very low cost chassis. Hard to go wrong with it. It's my favourite entry level Dell on the market. (The R720xd is my favourite mainline Dell.)
We currently are still tower servers...so will look for the equivalent for sure.
@scottalanmiller said:
I put "nice" and "new" in quotes because you definitely should not get new. Check out xByte (see their add on the right over there -----> ) and see how awesome refurb can be. That's all that we buy. Something like a nicer R510 might be all that you need. That will be very cheap. Get a warranty from xByte. So "new to you" and far better than what you have, but nothing crazy.
Checking out XByte now...good prices...would want something strong enough to run all of our VM's...then perhaps re-purpose the current T420 for the redundancy project.
I've got a ghost writer...nice... 
I am just crazy busy at work but this post reflects a fraction of what's on my plate right now. SO let me take a piece at a time.
We are running production VM's on that aging (but licensed) PowerEdge 2900. Do I need replacing that as my priority or perhaps look at the Starwind solution first? We are going to need more storage since we are adopting DocuWare.
@Ambarishrh said:
I know quite a lot of users likes Outlook/OWA, but just wondering, if you guys are using the same for personal email accounts like Gmail? If not, what else do you use? I am thinking of using Windows 10 default mail app to configure my gmail.
I really want to like the stock Windows 10 mail app. But since the 1511 update, it quit syncing Outlook.con mail (Exchange is fine)...I had to rebuild two of those 3 PC's and it fixed the problem but to me, it isn't a solution and I do not want to rebuild my main home PC just to get the mail app to work. 
The NFL ones are good but I dare say these are the best ever...
@scottalanmiller said:
Hard to believe Gateway could be bought up by eMachines. eM always seemed so little. What awful, awful companies. Why did any of them want any of the rest of them. LOL.
They were each, in turn, the Packard Bell of their time.
Not to go off subject, but didn't Gateway own Amiga for a while?
Not as of yet. I've gone 98% Optiplex for workstations (I and one other have an XPS). We also use their servers. But I have to say, we had some DRAC issues last April that caused the VM's to slow to a crawl. It was pretty bad and took them a few weeks to realize we needed a lot of firmware updates. But they were easy to get a hold of, even at 2AM.
I had the privilege and honor to direct and star as THE OLD MAN (Dad) in A CHRISTMAS STORY for a two week run...just wanted to pass along some clips...we have a TINY stage and this show is actually logistically challenging but I think we pulled it off...
@BRRABill said:
Apparently they are working on it.
But they probably won't allow signups on iOS as they have to give a cut to Apple.
Same reason that I doubt Amazon Echo would have direct access to Google Music.
I called Google...I was a YouTube Red subscriber, which also included Google Music. They had no direct upgrade to Google Play Family plan, which does include YouTube RED. They had to cancel RED, and then I immediately had the option for the Family plan...
Now if only Amazon Echo allowed direct playback of Google Music... (you can via bluetooth but no "Alexa, Shuffle Google Music"
@BRRABill said:
Do you have Android? I read you can only sign up via Android.
Yes...they say go into the settings of Google Play Music, hit REFRESH and see if it offers the upgrade...been trying daily since the announcement of the plan.
@BRRABill said:
@garak0410 said:
I see where Google is finally rolling out the family plan for Google Play Music. I've seen articles that show if you go to REFRESH in your music setting, then you will see option to upgrade to Family Plan. Been there, done that. No option for family plan. Even after an update to Google Play Music today, nothing.
I am assuming the roll-out is just going slow and I'll eventually see it, correct?
I'm watching this as I am looking at family music plans.
I think this will be a good plan but assuming the rollout is taking a good while...
I'm liking all of the PLEX I see thus far...
I see where Google is finally rolling out the family plan for Google Play Music. I've seen articles that show if you go to REFRESH in your music setting, then you will see option to upgrade to Family Plan. Been there, done that. No option for family plan. Even after an update to Google Play Music today, nothing.
I am assuming the roll-out is just going slow and I'll eventually see it, correct?
@scottalanmiller said:
HP Folio 13 with Linux Mint.
Which reminds me to finally give Linux Mint a try...
Can't get the Rowsdower song out of my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EGwvwX2X44
Perhaps we can begin a new "sticky" post but I am always interested in what other IT pros are using in their "tech" lives...and how it changes from time to time. I've recently become a convert of using "whatever works" over being "all in" with Microsoft products and ecosystem...so, guess I'll start:
Home:
Dell XPS 8700 with 16 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, GeForce GTX 645 (my primary file/media sever)
Plex Media Server
Seagate Business Storage Windows Server 4-Bay NAS 8TB
WD MyCloud NAS (2 units)
Surface Pro 4 (basically, my main PC)
Amazon Echo (Alexa)
Cloud
OneDrive
Amazon Cloud Drive
Google Play Music
Amazon Music
Groove Music
Mobile
Samsung Note 5
LG Watch Urbane w/Android Wear
Media Center
XBOX One
Plex App
I am currently in transition with my cloud services and music providers. I've been in the Groove ecosystem ever since Zune but since the app on Android is weak (no music scrubbing / fast forwarding), I've decided to try Gogle Play Music. Though ever sense getting an Amazon Echo, I like the convenience of using it for Amazon Music. Their PRIME catalog is way behind Google, Groove and Apple Music but I love to tell Alexa to play something. And Amazon Music has decent apps for the phone and desktop (it has lyrics on a lot of songs). If I can live with less "free music", I may just use Amazon and just buy albums not in Prime that I want . But, I don't know, sometimes paying for Google Music (which includes YouTube RED) is worth taking ads out of YouTube videos...
With Cloud storage, OneDrive seems too quirky for me. I actually mapped my main file server libraries to OneDrive but I always have a handful of files with sync errors but no way to fix them. Amazon Cloud Drive doesn't work quite like OneDrive but it doesn't have to if I need an occasional file. I may always use OneDrive for personal, Office documents. And do I dare say the Mobile version of Excel saves to OneDrive way better than full Excel? I'd always end up with corruption or version problems.
@nadnerB said:
@garak0410 Can you roll back?
It might be worth starting again rather than trying to salvage a failed upgrade.
Everything is good now...just unexpected error messages that were the results of him leaving off a step or two in the install instructions.
It's 2AM CST...I am in the middle of a Dynamics GP2015 upgrade. As always with this blasted product, nothing ever goes as smooth as the consultant says to do. NOTHING...and the blasted product won't uninstall...getting errors there...he won't wake up even when he said "call anytime." GP users expecting to use new GP2015 by 7AM CST