When helping small businesses one of the first things we ask them is where do they purchase their hardware from. In most cases, for businesses with under 15 employees, it is at the local retail store (e.g., Staples, Best Buy, etc.). From an IT standpoint there are a few key reasons not to do this:
1. Preloaded software (Bloatware)
Computers purchased at retail stores, or from the consumer section on vendor websites, contain all sorts of preloaded software. Everything from add-ons to your web browser to games and various applications. All these applications add to the boot time of your system, eat up resources (such as memory and disk space), and generally interfere with a clean environment for your employees to work.
2. Warranty
The warranty for most PC’s purchased at the store are for 15-30 days (full refund) and then the manufacturer’s warranty which is usually a year of mail in hardware replacement. I don’t know about you, but an employee sitting around for a week or two without a PC, while waiting for replacement, sound like a good way to lose money. Most PC’s purchased though a business vendor or direct from the business section of a company’s web site, have much better warranties for lower costs. At Wireguided, all PC’s purchased for our clients come with a minimum next business day on site repair or replacement warranty. Usually for less then a stores ‘add-on’ or ‘extended’ warranty.
3. Network stability
Retail PC’s can have any number of parts inside of them, even the same makes and models. Different network cards, video cards, etc.. As your business grows these various parts can have negative effects on automatic updates or when trying to standardize desktop environments.
4. Wrong Operating system
Why is that PC at Best Buy $100 less expensive then the one my IT person wants to buy? In many cases it is because computers bought at the store have the consumer version of the operating system which may not work in a networked environment with a server (e.g., Windows 7 Home vs. Windows 7 Professional).
If you would like more information on purchasing business ready computers please contact Wireguided.
-Tim
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Esther Griswold
Bruce DelleChiaie
Andrew Hegarty
Lisa Wollaston
