What is the ideal desktop and laptop configuration for a business? Are there any essentials which must be kept in mind? What are the small things that make a huge difference in the long term? This episode of Lancom TV covers what you need look for when purchasing new business desktops and laptops. Learn the top 3 expert tips you should always keep in mind.
Transcript
Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Lancom TV. I'm sitting here today with Daniel from our engineering team. Hi Daniel.
Hi.
Daniel came here today to give us his helpful tips on a question that we get asked a lot. And I'm sure Daniel gets that question very often. So what should I look for when I'm buying a new business machine, or a laptop, or a desktop. No matter which one that is. So, he's going to give us his three tips for what you should be looking for next time you are procuring your hardware for your business. Shall we get started, Daniel?
Sure.
What's your number one tip for people that are looking to buy a business machine today?
So, the first thing when you buy a laptop, you want to look for a solid-state hard drive, also known as the SSD. The reason for that is because if you compare it to the older generation of hard drives, which is mechanical drive, which runs relatively slower. So if you buy a Solid State Drive it runs faster, it works out...well, better in that sense and more reliable. So you also have less problems in the long run and it just runs a whole lot quicker than a traditional hard drive.
Right. So is SSD or Solid State Drive, so is there a minimum amount of storage that people should be looking for?
So when you go out and shop for SSD drives you will want to look at somewhere between 256 Gig to 512. Obviously, the larger you get the more storage you have, so the smaller...
Absolutely. So depends what you're going to store on that laptop as well, right? So if you're doing lots of photos, videos try to go for bigger, not smaller?
Correct.
Awesome. Okay, so for the number two tip, what would that be now? So we established SSD as your number one?
Correct.
Let's move on to number two.
All right, the next thing you wanna look for is RAM, which also known as Random Access Memory, or you can call it memory for a computer. Given today's computers, they use a lot more than they used to compared to back in the day. So I would say you need at least 8 Gigs of RAM. You can get away with 4 Gigs but in the long run, the computer will run slower over time. It's rather just to go big from the beginning rather than go small and get are too slow, that kinda thing.
And from what I know from quoting laptops or business machines, usually to get that extra 4 Gig and get up to 8 Gig of memory doesn't cost that much. So again, just like your Solid State Drive if you can go bigger, try to go bigger there and look for that 8 Gigabyte as your minimum if possible. Right, that's point two so point three now?
The last thing you wanna look for when you are buying a laptop is always the warranty.
Right, good point.
So when you get a good laptop you always want to make sure it's running fine because it's for your business and everything has to be up and running. If the computer is down you know it's gonna create more problems more than anything else.
Absolutely.
So if you go and buy a laptop look for warranty. Most of them come with, what, three years these days?
Yes, that's right.
So when they come with three years, some of them even have onsight warranties.
That's right.
So they come down for you, they fix it for you and you're back up and running within a couple of hours.
Yes. So, the right hardware vendor or brand will provide you with different options of warranty that you can purchase. We do advise that you try and stick with the three-year which is typically the lifetime of a laptop these days, or a desktop. You can stretch it a little bit, usually up to five years if you are a good person but traditionally the three-year mark is what we provide to people. And try to have a response that will align with your expectations of downtime expose, isn't it Daniel?
Correct.
Okay, that's perfect. So just to recap we've had Solid State Drive, memory and warranty. I think that's a perfect list. Thank you so much.
No worries.
I hope you guys enjoyed watching us today, thanks once again Daniel and we'll see you next time. Bye for now.
Bye.