[bornestar]

I am wanting to open an internet cafe once I complete school



My girlfriend will be leaving me when she goes to college so I figure why the hell not

Thats what I am thinking so far... I have about 2-3 more years till I even finish so its a while

I am wanting at least 20 computers... and 3 tvs with game consoles.

Do yall think that layout would be a decent start?

*Remember this is just ideas... I did this in 20 minutes at work

This post has been edited by bornestar: 21 August 2005 - 04:20 AM

[James302]

I'd go.

[savaria]

If it works out, it would definatly be something I think people would want to go to.

[bornestar]

there are a few in new orleans, la that ive been to. They always full adn it kinda sucks lol no room for me. I wouldnt want it in a big city like that but theres a smaller city that is growing that I would like to do it as they do not have one YET heh

Will see. I dont think the building would be exactly like that... prob longer.. I have MANY ideas

[.John.]

My recommendation would be to start off with fewer PC's, to see how popular you become - and then you can reassess the situation at that time.

[.Aaron]

مشكل, on Aug 21 2005, 12:34 AM, said:

My recommendation would be to start off with fewer PC's, to see how popular you become - and then you can reassess the situation at that time.

I agree completely. But that does look great!

[.John.]

The reason I bring that up, is if you fail - you'll have all these extra computers.

Especially with all the computers being a majority of the capital required to startup.

Secondly, if this does become a success - you'll need a lot more computers, but more importantly - a lot more space. So you'd have to move locations, and reorganize everything at that time anyway.

[Why Two Kay]

Nothing like Coffee n' Stuff

[.John.]

ryanveltidi, on Aug 21 2005, 01:11 AM, said:

Nothing like Coffee n' Stuff

Speaking of Coffee n' Stuff, I'm wondering what the Tech Room is for...

[James302]

مشكل, on Aug 21 2005, 01:14 AM, said:

Speaking of Coffee n' Stuff, I'm wondering what the Tech Room is for...

The servers and hubs and all that good stuff?

[Ian]

Doesn't look bad, but personally I'd move the Inventory Closet into the Tech Room and have bigger bath rooms. Also you might want to think about a separate place for people to buy computer access rather than having to go to the Coffee 'n' Stuff bar.
Also I think 20 PCs a bit much to begin with, especially if your plan doesn't work out, go for a smaller number like 10 and see how you go from there, you can always get a bigger building and have everything more spread out but then it leaves you with space to expand into quickly.

Ian

[John]

52" TV's?

[GameFox]

I imagine you don't need telling, but you'll need to work out your plan for getting your money back before embarking on anything.

20 PCs = -$20,000 or so
+ premises, power, furniture, tvs, coffee stocks etc...

[Falling Down]

And maybe more sitting-opportunities---

[//Nathan]

Here's a question: where do you imagine the door will be? Between the tech room and the bathroom, or opposite that, by the TVs?

Xbox and Ps2 on the same TV? Meaning pick one? I'd have Xbox on one, Ps2 on another, and for the third another one of those, a Gamecube, or something else. Ps3 and Xbox360 will be out soon...

What kind of PCs? My brother asked me about the cheapest PC I could have built, and it came out to $350 or so, just for a basic Sempron system with VERY limited gaming capabilities... as in it might play Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3, but nothing more advanced. And I built my gaming rig for $900 or so, but have so far put $1150 or so into it (including initial build costs). And that's all box-only, no software or monitor or peripherals.

If any are for Net access only, you could save yourself a lot of trouble and money by installing Linux on those. You'll need Windows XP (preferrably Home, it's cheaper and does 99% of what Pro does) for gaming and multimedia, but for people who just want to surf the Net or do homework, Linux is perfect.

I like the idea of cybercafes, but they tend to gouge for Internet access, just like they and regular coffeehouses gouge for coffee. It's like people tell me about bars... you're not paying those ridiculous prices for the beer/coffeee/net access, you're paying for the atmosphere. That said, you'll want to plan a good location, hopefully near a college or trade school, and have a really good atmosphere to put people in a mood to game and drink coffee.

Good luck with the project.

[bornestar]

Yea 52" tvs They are beyond awesome to play games on. Better for tournaments also.

[CTerry]

This may be nice as a goal, but you probably want to start out with something less ambitious and expand services from there. If you start out with this and your business bombs you'll end up owing a whole lot of debt. Might wanna start off with some cheap business Dells, and then work towards this if business picks up.

[.John.]

James302, on Aug 21 2005, 02:55 AM, said:

The servers and hubs and all that good stuff?

You definitly don't need an entire room that size for a switch and router...

Ian, on Aug 21 2005, 05:03 AM, said:

Doesn't look bad, but personally I'd move the Inventory Closet into the Tech Room and have bigger bath rooms. Also you might want to think about a separate place for people to buy computer access rather than having to go to the Coffee 'n' Stuff bar.
Also I think 20 PCs a bit much to begin with, especially if your plan doesn't work out, go for a smaller number like 10 and see how you go from there, you can always get a bigger building and have everything more spread out but then it leaves you with space to expand into quickly.

Ian

As I said, you should start off with less. You could always get more...

Dark Reality, on Aug 21 2005, 10:00 AM, said:

Here's a question: where do you imagine the door will be? Between the tech room and the bathroom, or opposite that, by the TVs?

Xbox and Ps2 on the same TV? Meaning pick one? I'd have Xbox on one, Ps2 on another, and for the third another one of those, a Gamecube, or something else. Ps3 and Xbox360 will be out soon...

What kind of PCs? My brother asked me about the cheapest PC I could have built, and it came out to $350 or so, just for a basic Sempron system with VERY limited gaming capabilities... as in it might play Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3, but nothing more advanced. And I built my gaming rig for $900 or so, but have so far put $1150 or so into it (including initial build costs). And that's all box-only, no software or monitor or peripherals.

If any are for Net access only, you could save yourself a lot of trouble and money by installing Linux on those. You'll need Windows XP (preferrably Home, it's cheaper and does 99% of what Pro does) for gaming and multimedia, but for people who just want to surf the Net or do homework, Linux is perfect.

I like the idea of cybercafes, but they tend to gouge for Internet access, just like they and regular coffeehouses gouge for coffee. It's like people tell me about bars... you're not paying those ridiculous prices for the beer/coffeee/net access, you're paying for the atmosphere. That said, you'll want to plan a good location, hopefully near a college or trade school, and have a really good atmosphere to put people in a mood to game and drink coffee.

Good luck with the project.

Actually, to the contrary. You SHOULD get XP Pro, and not XP Home. Reason being? Well, it's not really that much more. But anyway, you should make everything all part of a domain. Having a domain, though - you'll have to have a domain controller. That gets a bit pricy though, but if you want to be professional - it's required.

CTerry, on Aug 21 2005, 03:26 PM, said:

This may be nice as a goal, but you probably want to start out with something less ambitious and expand services from there. If you start out with this and your business bombs you'll end up owing a whole lot of debt. Might wanna start off with some cheap business Dells, and then work towards this if business picks up.

Yes, in the startup phases - Dells would be perfect.

[bornestar]

Dells would be good, but I would like the users to be able to play the "up to date" games. Dropping it down to 10 would be acceptable. The good thing about computers is if you don't do well, you could always sell them I forgot to mention the "tech room" would be for computer troubleshooting. I would like to do computer repair jobs on the side.

[.John.]

Dells can play "up to the date" games just fine...