Not knowing what their network is like, its hard to say. 

But at $150,000 for laptops that should cover right around 75 to 100 new laptops @ $1500 to to $2000 each.

@Jimbo Name a Duluth dealer that offers the same product at the same price and I'm sure our city council would be more than happy to support a Duluth business. Otherwise, it is a bit difficult to attack the city for going with the lowest bidder considering the budget shortfalls.

Tom - I agree. But it's safe to assume B-man just copied and pasted from the Duluth city website. I wouldn't fault him for not re-typing everything in lowercase.

A business grade laptop is around $1,500. Why the city needs 100 of them, I have no idea.

yeah... I gotta agree with the narumster on this, in the absence of contradictory evidence 1/2 million (while a big number) for computers and software for a city this size is not necessarily out of line. That is all contingent upon use purpose, life, number of, and so on. 100 laptops also doesn't seem out of line.

It's good to ask the questions, the scale is a lot bigger then what we are use to dealing with as individuals though.

Ya..and lets get the guy who controls the city gas grid an Atari 64k..cuz what does he need with clock speed anyway..

@ruby2sd4y The google run is NOT over.

*pats* Ben on the back - there, there...Keep the faith bro. don't stop believin'!.

*snirk*

Criminy. Just read "Duluth business" as "local business" like everyone else did. Looking up a Hermantown car dealer's address just gets in the way of the other things you're supposed to be annoyed with. (Your real argument should be that they are called Duluth Dodge.)(Either way they are still in Htown.)(oh shiiiiit)

I for one always support local business by never ever shopping online. Ever. Except almost always.

I think the key is "AND RELATED EQUIPMENT" which could mean just about anything. Baby seal leather mousepads and ivory back-scratchers, most likely. Or maybe just cheap mice and cases. But probably the baby seal thing.

This is America in general, we are broke and in fiscal distress but we keep spending like we have the bucks. The bills have come due but we still aren't looking at the problem. But we need this or that! Schools all over are in deep trouble. Duluth knows this better then other cities.

$450,000 is not that much money.

It's also out of context: how many computers, and for what, is this intended to purchase? How old are the ones that are being replaced?

half a million potholes in this town says that cash could be better spent elsewhere...

All other financial issues aside, spending more money on a higher-quality business-class laptop will cost less than purchasing cheap consumer-grade laptops.
1 - You can't buy low-end crap and expect it to be useful for years to come. Laptops are near-impossible to upgrade anything other than ram, so if you buy one, you're pretty much locked in with the tech you get at the time. True they may not be playing high-graphics video games, but they are probably working extremely large databases, need to have multiple programs open, and need to be able to keep up to date with any software advances that might be required (like if the state upgrades it's tax submission software and things like that.
2 - Business-grade laptops are a completely different beast than a consumer-grade laptop. I personally purchase business-grade laptops for personal use because they use higher-quality components, higher-quality hardware design, are more hardy when it comes being abused, come with uber-tech support and don't come pre-installed with "Try AOL for 30 days!" software. I may or may not work at a very large local business which tried to use a lower-class PC instead of business-grade PCs and came to realize what a complete shit business-decision that was. As soon as they came off the docks, about 5% broken right off, the survivors had horrible performance, warranty repairs took forever, and they died horrible deaths ahead of the average PC lifespan (then add the cost of downtime, lost data and frustrated employees). Now that they've moved to business-grade equipment, they get hardy equipment, top-notch tech support, great warranty repair and a long lifespan. Sure nice computers cost more upfront, but the cost is worth it over the lifespan.

$450k is well within a typical spend for a municipal government for this much hardware. Besides the fact that they are buying business grade computers, they are also buying enterprise level-support, which includes, but is not limited to, replacement parts, warranties and phone/email support.

Regarding the purchase of the marked Dodges for the DPD, it should be noted that not all dealers offer the police package, and the city should and will bid for these cars to get the lowest price.

Careful with your assumptions there, Bob. It's all to easy to make them when you don't know anyone on any particular listserv...but this ain't that kind of blog. 

Their computers may be necessary, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

In light of a comment that Cat made a post ago, my grandpa always told me that a poor man can't afford to buy cheap shit.

1. If the city is getting a 100 lap tops and the average price is $1,000-$1500 per laptop, then I would expect one hell of a discount for buying 100 of anything. If not you go somewhere else and find someone who wants to sell you a 100 laptops at a discount because of the volume you are helping them turn over. A very common business practice.
2.If these chairs cost as much as claimed then I expect them to be around 100 years from now (literally) Quality furniture can and does last 100 years. I just don't sense that these chairs will be around 100 years from now.
3. I am sitting in a $100 chair as I type this and it is working just fine. It has been used daily by many people for years and it works just fine. Go to Office Max!