DealersEdge Professional Forums

Looking for some ideas for new computers for our shop. We have a pretty small shop. One gm franchise store. 6 techs
Right now I have 2 techs next to each other who have older pcs that now will NOT accept the new updates from gm. 2 other Techs where tired of waiting for owner to pull trigger on new technology and went out and purchased there own personal laptops and are using them.

All techs have laptops, except lube tech and he has older PC.

Likely will only purchase laptops for shop in future. PCs take up a lot of the tool box / work bench area. Laptops make test drives easier .

A question for you. You said your techs brought in their own computers. Do they connect to your in-house system? If so, how does your dealer handle security? Do you have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy? If you have a written policy I would like to see / read it. This issue has come up at our dealership in the past and I have always kept BYOD's outside of firewall - no exception. One tech has his own laptop and company laptop on his tool box. He connects his to our customer wireless connection and streams music. Since that is a separate "slice" of the bandwidth I don't police that.

We use Gigabyte mini PC's in the shop. SSD drive with no fan to draw in the dirt. Dimensions: 42.8 mm x 107.6 mm x 114.4 mm (1.69" x 4.24" x 4.5")

All of the techs here use laptops and they are the "toughbook" category, they are happy with them. The two veteran master techs we have use laptops and they have their own
desktops also at their stations. All of our techs buy their own computers with the understanding that once they access our dealership internet then they stay at work period. We do not
have any problems with our policy here and the techs provide themselves with what they need to make their lives easier and improve efficiency.

steve@gmdealer wrote:We use Gigabyte mini PC's in the shop. SSD drive with no fan to draw in the dirt. Dimensions: 42.8 mm x 107.6 mm x 114.4 mm (1.69" x 4.24" x 4.5")

What do your guys do with a computer screen no larger than 4.24 x 4.5 ?

Whiner wrote:

steve@gmdealer wrote:We use Gigabyte mini PC's in the shop. SSD drive with no fan to draw in the dirt. Dimensions: 42.8 mm x 107.6 mm x 114.4 mm (1.69" x 4.24" x 4.5")

What do your guys do with a computer screen no larger than 4.24 x 4.5 ?

We use the same and remember a PC is a Personal Computer. The display/monitor is separate and can be as large or small as space dictates.

The only drawback I've found is the lack of an optical drive. Most updates and software are online so the need for DVD drives while rare can be overcome by a $45.00 external unit. I was skeptical at first but have found them quite durable with no lack for computing power. Laptops by comparison are very expensive and prone to breakage and abuse.

WHAT IS THE giga comp. Never heard of them? is it just a tower and you add keyboard and screen? Are they pricey ?

LOWAIRD1964 wrote:WHAT IS THE giga comp. Never heard of them? is it just a tower and you add keyboard and screen? Are they pricey ?

Open a search engine and look for mini PC. We use HP's.

Noticed on GM's infrastructure guidelines that it says windows PRO and all is needed. Is this true? Or can I just shop for a deal on some cheap mini laptops this black Friday?

LOWAIRD1964 wrote:Noticed on GM's infrastructure guidelines that it says windows PRO and all is needed. Is this true? Or can I just shop for a deal on some cheap mini laptops this black Friday?

Depends on what you are going to do with the computer. If you are only going to use it on your in-house system and what you purchase meets your network and in-house specs you are good to go.

However, if you want to use it with any of GM's systems - especially any service department applications, you must have Windows 7 or 10 Pro. If you require assistance from GM they will check your PC specs and if not up to their standards they will not assist you.