Free Tip #6: The Spare Parts Checklist
Even If your office has no tech support staff, a
small spare parts inventory will save you a lot of downtime. Things break. Needs arise. Well-stocked local computer stores are things of the past. Repair people don't
always bring the parts they need and generally charge high prices for any parts they supply. It's good to have
insurance - especially when it's dirt cheap.
You can maintain a well-stocked inventory of parts and acessories for less than $500. Your stock of parts will probably last more than 3 years with minimal (or no) replennishment.
Any single spare part may save you hundreds of dollars later.
What's Covered By The Checklists?
The items in these checklists are for use with PCs and, in some cases. MACs. If you want to keep spare parts on hand for Servers or Network equipment, please consult your
What kind of stuff should you keep around?
Stock low cost parts and acessories that you'r most likely to need and require little storage space. Include items like these.
| • Adapters |
• Computer Screws |
• Hard Drives |
| • Cables |
• Flash Memory (USB & Card) |
• Hard Drive Enclosures |
| • CD/DVD Drives |
• Flash Memory Cards |
• Power Supplies |
Using the Checklists
Each item in the checklist below is tied to an online shopping cart at Newegg.com, CablesForLess, or another on line vendor we regularly use when placing orders for our customers.
Simply click on any item to order, and change the order qty as necessary.
While we don't "formally" endorse these or other vendors, we do recognize that including them in our checklist constitutes an endorsement of sorts.
The principal purpose of the checklist is to save time, and it takes considerable time to shop around for the parts and accessories listed below. A checklist without vendors would serve little practical use. Please feel free to use the vendor of your choice.
| 10 |
USB A-B Cable, 10 feet |
$ 1.89 |
$ 18.90 |
| 3 |
USB A-B Cable, 15 feet |
2.49 |
7.47 |
| 3 |
USB A-A Female Cable, 10 feet |
2.09 |
6.27 |
| 5 |
USB A-B Mini 5 Pin Cable, 6 Feet |
2.19 |
10.95 |
| 2 |
USB A-B Mini 4 pin Cable |
1.99 |
3.98 |
| 2 |
USB A-B Mini 8 pin Cable, Flat, 6 Feet |
5.39 |
10.78 |
| 2 |
USB A-B Mini 8 pin Cable, Inward Notch, 6 Feet |
5.89 |
11.78 |
| 2 |
Single Link DVI-D Monitor Cable, 12 Feet |
12.59 |
25.18 |
| 2 |
HDMI Cable, 15 Feet |
9.89 |
19.78 |
| |
Total Order |
|
$ 115.09 |
Components & Accessories: NewEgg.com
| 2 |
DVI Male to VGA Female Monitor Cable Adapter |
$ 2.99 |
$ 5.98 |
| 2 |
DVI Female to VGA Male Monitor Cable Adapter |
2.99 |
5.98 |
| 1 |
External 3.5" Floppy Drive (Optional) |
15.99 |
15.99 |
| 2 |
Internal PC Power Cable, 4 Pin to SATA |
1.99 |
3.98 |
| 2 |
Internal IDE Connector Cable, 24"
(Usually for PCs 3+ Years Old)
|
3.99 |
7.98 |
| 2 |
Internal SATA II Connector Cable, 18"
(Usuall for newer PCs)
|
1.99 |
3.98 |
| 2 |
USB Multi-Format Card Reader
(Smart, Flash, Memory Stick, SD, Mini SD, Micros SD, more ... ) |
12.99 |
12.99 |
| 5 |
USB Flash Drive 2GB |
5.99 |
29.95 |
| 2 |
USB Flash Drive 8GB |
11.99 |
23.98 |
| 2 |
Car or Outlet to USB Charger, Portable
(Optional -
For Phones with USB ports including iPhones) |
14.49 |
28.98 |
| 1 |
USB to IDE or SATAHard Drive Connection Cable |
19.99 |
19.99 |
| 1 |
USB to SATA Hard Drive Holder, External |
36.99 |
36.99 |
| 1 |
CD/DVD RW, 20x |
24.99 |
24.95 |
| |
Total, Standard Items |
|
$ 168.77 |
| |
Total, Optional Items |
|
$ 52.95 |
| |
Total Order |
|
$ 221.72 |
Hard Drives Checklists: NewEgg.com
Sould you keep extra hard drives on hand? Maybe. Hard drives fail, but they're commonly available in local stores and in repair people's kits. Installing and reloading a hard drive takes some expertise: if you rely on tech support to repair your PC, let them worry about drives too. If, on the other hand, you don't mind holding an additional $150-$300 in spare parts, having extra drives around certainly won't hurt.
Check your PC requirements before you order drives. There are five basic drive types. We've listed one of each below. It's best to make a list of your machines and determine your requirements before you order.
If you want to be sure, check the manufacturers' web sites by model to see what's inside.
ide 160 GB 3.5" 8 MB Cache 44.99
SATA 3.5" 500 GB 16 MB Cache 55.99.
ide 320GB 2.5" 99.99
sata 3.0 2.5" 160GB 7200
