In a nutshell: Getting quotes
You now have an idea what you want so it’s time to find the best price. I advise that there four main ways to do this yourself, detailed below.
I recommend you try as many of them as you can, if you have the time and patience. You don’t know which one will yield the best results and crucially, once you have an understanding of how much each unit is likely to cost, you can ask your preferred source to match or better any deals you find.
Update: September 2021
I want you to read all the content on this website and learn how to buy computers yourself. Please do this if you have enough time and patience . However, I understand that time is a very limited resource in schools. If you would prefer me to look for something on your behalf, contact me with your specific requirements and I’ll find you suitable options.
1. Go to a trusted purchaser.
You may have a trusted purchaser – perhaps someone within your school, academy or trust – that deals with these things on a regular basis. Now that you know what you want, you can be far more specific with your instruction.
It is your choice as to whether or not you give them a ball-park figure of how much you are expecting to pay per unit. However, I’d recommend letting them do what they can without prejudicing their negotiations with a target price. You can check prices yourself below and use those prices to try to negotiate a better deal if you feel there is one to be had.
2. Check prices at retail.
While you would not expect to get the best price at retail, you could be surprised at how competitive prices can be, particularly when there are sales on. Remember, you can always use retail prices to negotiate better deals with suppliers.
I created a tool a few years ago that allows you search retailers with specific search terms very quickly. For example, if I were looking for a laptop with an i3 processor and 8gb of RAM, I would type “i3 8GB laptop” into the search box and use the tool to search all the retailers I choose for this. It has saved me a lot of time in the past – that’s why I made it!
If you would rather browse than search, you can also visit online retail shops directly, one by one. Use the links below to help. It will take longer to do it this way. Remember to check whether prices include VAT.
3. Go directly to the manufacturer.
The computing manufacturers themselves often sell their equipment directly and discounts for bulk orders are common. Be aware that they sometimes have separate sites for business and consumer.
4. Use a specialist education computing provider.
There are a number of businesses and organisations that supply directly to schools at very competitive prices. Why list these at number 4 instead of number 1? Because you need to have seen how much you would be spending at retail in order to know if you are getting a good deal. While most of these companies offer excellent preferential services for education, it is not unheard of for companies who claim to benefit schools to try to get rid of old stock at full price. So go in there knowing how much you expect to spend per unit.
That’s it! I hope you have been able to use this information and the tools above to save your school money. If you’re interested, I also have some advice on delivering a computing curriculum too, including a full and free framework for primary schools.