Igor Web provides low-tech solutions : good for your budget, good for the planet.
What means low-tech ?
A Dell Optiplex, low-tech rockstar for those who know.
What is low-tech, and why is it a smart choice ?
Fun fact : Igor Web's IT infrastructure is built with outdated, underpowered, and secondhand, minimum ten-years old computers. Is this a joke ? Not really, rather it's a choice based on a deduction : most users own hardware that is too sophisticated and overpriced for their real needs.
Low-tech (as opposed to high-tech) is a state of mind, but also a concrete path to significantly lower both one's IT costs, and environmental footprint. It is a concrete step towards a better environment, economy and society.
To put it simply : low tech means using technology that is considered obsolete, but is in fact reliable and time-teste.In IT, this means using hardware that meets the real needs of users, rather than overpowered one, and prioritizing second-hand and renewed devices rather than new ones.
As an example : if you're looking for a new computer to check your emails and the weather, with a few Facebook chats here and there, you don't really need a 4GHz, 8-cores CPU ! A simple one will do the job if the operating system is optimized and configured properly.
So then, next time you think about throwing away your aging laptop, think twice, as you might have gold in your hands !
But, in real life, how is it possible, and what does it really bring to use low-tech ?
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Outdated hardware, state of the art software.The secret ingredient that makes low-tech possible is the software it runs. Rather than using power-hungry operating systems (OSes) such as Windows 11, we use lightweight ones such as Ubuntu MATE, which only has few background processes running, easing the load on your CPU. As a result, even an older computer can run faster, and is not working in the background.
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Relevant upgrades.Sometimes, upgrading just one component is enough to make an old computer fast again. For instance, upgrade your old spinning hard drive to a SSD storage gives a computer a huge boost of performance, as now, data is not limited by the speed of discs spinning, but rather travels at the speed of electrons on the SSD (well, not exactly if any physicist reads us, but still, much faster).
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An environmental action.By opting for a lightweight OS, sometimes upgrading a component or two, your computer can get five, often ten, more years of life. This is a strong step towards a greener society, and e-waste reduction. By opting for low-tech solutions, you and your company's carbon footprint are greatly reduced !
With Debian and XFCE, even your grandmother's dusty laptop will feel young again.
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Computers that match your real needs.Low-tech also means reflecting on your real usage. A file server (SMB or NFS if you want to know) doesn't require a very fast CPU, or even SSD storage, what it needs is a high-capacity drive of moderate speed and a stable ethernet connection. We help you in selecting and purchasing the hardware that you will really use, a far call from the sirens of marketing and aggressive hardware makers, trying to sell you supercomputers to browse the weather channel and Yahoo News.
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Social and economical benefits.Low-tech IT contributes to the circular and local economy. It is also an action towards a fairer society, as it allows the less wealthy members of our society to access the Internet and IT in general, which reduces inequalities
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Ownership and usage costs reduction.When we talk about secondhand computers, we mean computer lab or library hardware, which often are in pristine condition and have known only moderate usage. These refurbished but functional computers allow for significant savings in acquisition cost, without posing a risk to your IT infrastructure, as they are thoroughly tested before being sold. We help you in choosing and buying quality secondhand computers.
Computer lab hardware offers one of the best price-quality ratios out here.
Mini-PCs such as the B1 Pro are a clever low-tech solution.
For very old hardware, a headless (without a screen) local server is a possible use case.
A single part can overhaul your whole hardware, here SSD storage.
