I just received my $199 LX195. The HP special last week was too good to pass up. There is not much to talk about. There is no reason to take it apart. I am not even going to review it. So why did I buy it?
I already have a home built WHS and this little LX195 was not purchased for me. I am giving it to my sister and her husband. Why? Well let me explain why you should do the same. If you are reading this article then you probably already own a Windows Home Server. Being the proud owner of a WHS you know all the benefits of having centralized storage, daily backups and remote access. My sister however, really does not care about these features. She just wants to use her existing PCs and keep some old files on a letter drive. Why buy her a WHS then? Is this not a waste or overkill?
Mental note: I have always been bewildered by some people that are serious computer professionals yet have a difficult time maintaining their own personal equipment. My mechanic has a crappy car. Is it the same thing?
Background
I bought the LX195 because my sisters Buffalo took a crap. I bet you have never heard that excuse before. Anyway…the Buffalo NAS drive I bought her two years ago stopped working three weeks ago. It goes into some safe mode, from what she tells me, but I am 547 miles away and cannot remote access to her network to try and fix it. Since I am the sole employee of Daleo Family Tech Support it is my job to get it fixed. I paid about $150 at CC a few years back and to replace it with a modern version would cost about the same today. The price is close enough to the LX195 for me to pay for the upgrade. I ordered the LX195. Sweet.
Equipment Needed:
LX195 MediaSmart Server for $219.49
Six Imported Beers (to be provided by sister)
One Dead Buffalo
Why buy the LX195 for someone who could careless about WHS?
My sister does not know, or care, about WHS. Yet. I do not expect her to care, yet. So why do this? $219.49 is a lot to pay for a gift to a sibling but it makes financial sense if you take the time to do the math. She needs the LX195. She just does not know it yet.
She is so far away I cannot service her PCs quickly so “when” a drive dies or she has system errors someone else will have to fix it. Best Buy is just down the street from her but they want $299.99 for their standard repair service.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8545988&type=product&id=1188560394765
In addition, she currently forgets to regularly backup her systems (one Dell laptop and three Dell desktops) and is just rolling the dice for future issues. When you consider the time it takes to restore a drive or fix some serious errors the HP LX195 is the only way to go. She does not need TB size drives, Windows Media Center or even Add-Ins. The WHS is a Windows supported insurance program. Seriously.
Conclusion
Not much to conclude here. The LX195 showed up as ordered and was at a great price. Viva HP. Viva WHS. Seriously.
See you next Friday night,
Timothy Daleo
Yeah, I had to do a double take on your sister's Buffalo taking a shit. Glad you explained that one.
Great article, point's out the market HP is trying to get with the LX195. With an box like this, I think a price of $149 to $195 is more in line with what you get.
You heard the line " under promise & over deliver" With a price of $199, and HP placing this with the NAS's ( from what I read) the price is right. But then they can over deliver with it because it is a WHS.
So your sister's 4 computer are regularly backed up and you can remote in. Sweet, for a company ( Daleo Family Tech Support ) who pays for their customers needs 🙂