Technology for the home based small business

[phenom4hire]

So an issue I've ran into in pursuit of fast lane success is that of aging tech in the household. We all have tablets we use for various purposes, and I admittedly use mine as a mouse pad more often than not. I have the only computer which is an aging desktop that I built some 6-7 years ago.

Problem is with all the improvement in information presented online I find my current machine inadequate for my needs. It has started crashing more frequently and struggles under the load of some sites/applications that I use or need to use.

So question time. What kind of equipment are you guys using to run your businesses? What are some good investments or waste of money? Desktop, laptop or both? Any programs/equipment that are must for saving time, productivity, overall value? What are things you could not see operating your business without?

I know businesses and owners vary, but I just wanted to pose this question to see what others are using or doing. Thanks in advance.

 

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[jon.a]

About every 5 years, I buy the previous years mid range Dell desktop. Works for me. Oh, and a flip phone.

 

[phenom4hire]

Fair enough. Do you run anything online Jon? Or are you mostly offline? I think I might be over thinking this a bit but if their is anything I can buy or transition into to make things easier to operate/manage, then I would like to go ahead and implement those options now father than playing catch up later.

 

[LightHouse]

This question is far too broad. What I need to run my biz will vary to what you need. A lot of people get caught up in the buying of new stuff that really doesn't impact their bottom line at all.

If your computer runs for and just crashes, buy an ssd and load a fresh copy of whatever OS on it. Problem solved for just about every average online business owner.

 

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[The Autobahn]

Asus Laptop i7 SSD with Windows 10.. is more able to manage open source stuff,also Technical Programs like Zbrush,Solidworks but has the issues of Microsoft.
I think Imac/macbook is more trouble free if you need something more stable.

 

[Gsuz]

I do the majority of my work on a Dell Poweredge T20 that I got for ~250, added 16 GB Ram and a cheap graphic card to power 3 monitors and it's working better than anything I ever owned. Nearly silent, fast as hell. As monitors I use Dell UltraSharp U2515H which I absolutely LOVE. Wouldn't ever go back to 1080p.

So for ~1400 total I get an amazing setup, but as @LightHouse said, it really depends on your requirements.

 

[LightHouse]

I do the majority of my work on a Dell Poweredge T20 that I got for ~250, added 16 GB Ram and a cheap graphic card to power 3 monitors and it's working better than anything I ever owned. Nearly silent, fast as hell. As monitors I use Dell UltraSharp U2515H which I absolutely LOVE. Wouldn't ever go back to 1080p.

So for ~1400 total I get an amazing setup, but as @LightHouse said, it really depends on your requirements.

I'm on mobile so I can't bring the specs up, but judging by the 1080p quip I assume your monitors are 16:10/ 1920x1200? That's what I have 3 of, surprised they are in such low demand.

 

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[Gsuz]

I'm on mobile so I can't bring the specs up, but judging by the 1080p quip I assume your monitors are 16:10/ 1920x1200? That's what I have 3 of, surprised they are in such low demand.

They are 16/9 (tho I love 16/10), but at a resolution of 2560x1440 which looks absolutely amazing on a 25" display, similar to Retina on a Macbook Pro. Bezel is extremely thin as well; huge PLUS if you use 3 of them, height adjustable (about 11 cm) and not too expensive. Would definitely check them out if you get the chance!

 

[CommonCents]

17" laptop. For next round, hopefully they'll make a large convertible laptop/tablet 15-17" with digital wacom type pen. The newer surface book pros are getting there but want a bigger screen for an all around device especially on the go away from desk where i keep a larger screen. I Use a samsung note phone with the digital S-pen all the time to take notes, mark up documents/photos, write lists, sketch etc... The digital S-pen is most handy productive technology i've used in a long time, and would like to use it on the next laptop. A digital pen is the most natural all around input for me and the technology is pretty darn good now with little limitations. (like a digitized paper notebook with much more functionality) My tablet is just an expensive nightstand clock.

 

[GMJimmy]

It depends on what needs to be done.

For any business: reliability comes first.

Then performance, but again depending on the tasks tlyou are doing.

My business right now involves a lot of surfing on websites, I use spreadsheets and docs, basic image manipulations, etc. Not very resource intensive, but has to be accessible so I store my stuff in google drive & onedrive and create regular backups.

I like high performance machines because occasionally I have to do more complex image editing like photoshop and I want the result to be there immediately.
So I have a Macbook pro 15" with SSD and all the fancy stuff, and I still use my older lenovo AMD a6 touchscreen laptop so I can have 2 computers at hand.

I could go with less but I got these at a good deal so the "time gained" vs "cost" is really good. But I would not invest in anything that is not impacting my performance directly, i.e. by reducing idle times etc.

I'm buying a higher capacity printer soon because these tasks getting more frequent now.

Otherwise I'm always evaluating weak points and bottlenecks of my processes and look for improvements there, but that does not necessarily means buying a new hardware. It can be outsourcing, buying software, services, education, whatever has the biggest impact.

I.e. you could buy a photographer's professional equipment and Photoshop license for 15000. But if you only make product photos for your website or your new book cover - this may not be the best investment.

 

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[RazorCut]

I don't use a laptop as I do a lot of graphic and spreadsheet work so a desktop with at least 2 monitors is a must. Software wise Todoist, Scrivener, Photoshop, MS Office and Roboform are my bare minimums.

Works for me. Oh, and a flip phone.

I still have a Motorola Flip phone in a draw somewhere.

 

[catchmeifyoucan]

Many companies require their employees to use Thinkpad laptops for their enterprise software. After 2 to 3 years when the leases expire, you can find these machines on the used market for one-fourth of the retail prices. I believe they are underpriced relative to the overall used laptop market due to the high supply.

It should be noted that the recent years improvements to the core i5 and core i7 mobile processors are focused on energy efficiency. The newer ivy-bridge laptops (t430) have a much longer battery life, but in terms of processing performance, they are not a major leap from older generation i5 and i7 models. Because of this, buying an off-lease ThinkPad represents access to almost-current performance at highly depreciated prices.

What I specifically love about Thinkpads is that they have a distinctive industrial design which evokes professionalism and seriousness. Unlike most other laptops which look more like they belong for home/personal use. Moreover, since the Thinkpad design has remained consistent for so long, they don't appear to age very fast. A 4-year-old Thinkpad looks very similar to the current outgoing model.

They are also very rugged and versatile, well-built machines suitable for entrepreneurs on the go. Internal roll cages and gel-wrapped hard drives means the are less likely to be damaged by bumps and shocks. The time lost on fixing a computer is a serious waste.

The only downside to these machines are that the TN-panel displays are often of a poor quality, and the speakers are very quiet (intentionally designed that way to minimize office disruptions).

 

[hacktick]

Three Tipps from me:

1. Lenovo is heavily overpriced since the chinese bought it off of IBM. No currently Lenovo Hits the quality or reliability of past ibm thinkpads.

2. Buy average consumer Notebooks the quality gap is not AS big AS in the past (See point 1 Lenovo)

3. if you need a Monster Maschine consider buying Microsoft action pack for 300 or so euros per year. You get 85 euros worth of azure time per month. This means you can configure a real high performance Maschine in azure. Then just stop the Maschine. If you need it sign into azure start the Maschine and connect through RDP. Azure only prices the time the Maschine is running.

P.s. are Apple products sidewalking ?

Gesendet von meinem XT1072 mit Tapatalk

 

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