Subject: Comp. Chem. Seats

From: Phil Bays <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1993 15:19:44 -0500 (EST)

I have funding for setting up a computational chemistry lab here at Saint 
 Mary's College.  This will be used by undergraduate students.  The 
 college size is 1500 students, with about 50 taking organic, and 5-10 
 taking physical chemistry.   I give that background because it is 
 important for the following questions:
 
 What has been your experience in setting up such a lab in terms of the 
 ratio of students to workstation?   I can buy 5 IndyPC's, 4 Indy SC's or 
 2 Indigo^2's.  I will be running Spartan and Labvision, possibly 
 MacroModel and Gaussian.    SGI sales people tell me to forget the 
 IndyPC, and go at least to the IndySC.  On the other hand, they also tell 
 me that the Indigo^2 is the only one that has future expandability and 
 upgradability.   My own observation is that SGI pricing is such that 
 upgrading is frequently the same price as a new machine.
 
 Any advice??
 
 Phil Bays
 Saint Mary's College
 Notre Dame   IN  46556
 [email-masked]