For many small businesses, acquisition of new IT products doesn’t necessarily involve consideration of how the product will fit with existing understanding and expectations. That’s unfortunate, because an IT product that fits poorly can cost thousands of dollars in lost time and frustration. For example, consider the purchase of a new multi-function printer (MPF). Such printers print, copy, scan, (and some still fax) — but has a completely ..
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Regarding computer terminals (such as those that connect to Microsoft Remote Desktop Service), there is little benefit to purchasing units bran-new. Bran-new units can cost as much as a standalone PC, yet usually have no benefit over a unit procured at a fraction of the price through a site such as Ebay. The components of a terminal are ..
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Regarding printers, we recommend avoiding inkjet printers except in a few exceptions (such as wide-carriage printers and plotters). Inkjet printers suffer from costly supplies, ink “clots”, and (typically) short lifespans. The resulting downtime, frustration, and expense simply isn’t worth the lower acquisition cost of the printer. For most businesses, the best printers are Laser for standard sheet-fed printing, ..
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Businesses typically have slightly different demands of their PCs that home users. Not surprisingly most major hardware vendors market PCs designed specially for business. Regarding laptop PCs, business-grade units are typically more durable, feature better warranties, and often have the ability to “dock” the laptop, which makes it a breeze to connect to monitor(s), keyboard, mouse, and a wired Ethernet ..
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As for server hardware, we highly recommend rack-based units, even if you do not store them in a typical rack enclosure. The rack form-factor appears to be the de facto standard once you get to a certain level of power and redundancy, and is therefore usually offers better features and more value than the typical “tower” server. You can save ..
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