Buying a business PC
Purchasing a desktop PC for a business, large or small, requires a heavy dose of common sense as well as a good knowledge of what makes the perfect desktop PC. You'll often encounter contradictory information as to what to do and when, and while there's a wealth of advice out there, few resources actually cover the steps we've highlighted here.
We'll look at all the factors you need to consider – from deciding how much to spend and what brands to trust, to what to do before and after the purchase, and, perhaps most importantly, when to pull the trigger. So let's get on and list the five things you need to bear in mind when buying a business PC.
- In partnership with PC World Business
Do you really need to buy a PC?
The first question you must ponder is: do you actually need to buy a new PC? If you're buying for a small outfit, an upgrade may well be a more cost-effective alternative. Changing only two components could make a really big difference to the user's experience.
Upgrading your RAM, say from 2GB to 8GB, will significantly improve your system's performance and swapping a hard disk drive for a solid state drive will add to that, making your system feel like a new one. Consider an operating system refresh (Windows 7 and above) as well if you are dumping the hard disk drive (or using it as a second reserve drive). Allow for a couple of hours per computer.
- In partnership with PC World Business
Do you really need a PC?
By this we mean that there are other alternatives to the traditional PC. At one end of the spectrum is the laptop, an entirely different proposition that allows the employee to roam freely offsite and even work from home. Then there are all-in-ones and dongle PCs, both of which aim to reduce the footprint of a traditional PC by hiding everything behind or inside the monitor (the former will require you to replace your existing monitor).
Throw in other operating systems (Linux, Mac or even Android/Chrome OS) and you can truly start to look outside the (computer) box. Even when it comes to desktop PCs, you're spoilt for choice between ultra-small form factors with limited expansion capabilities and the big 'uns with tons of empty space.
- In partnership with PC World Business
Who is going to install and embed them?
Perhaps the most important point to bear in mind, alongside how much money you want to spend, is who is going to be in charge of the project, from initial evaluation stages to implementation and making sure that there are no post-installation issues.
Big corporations will have entire teams dedicated to rolling out new computers. For a small organisation, the entire process might be outsourced to a third party or even allocated to someone internally who knows "a little bit" about technology. Either way, singling out the go-to-entity is probably the most important decision of the entire process as it will determine what can and what can't be done, as well as putting a timeline on the affair.
- In partnership with PC World Business
What will be the three most-used applications?
Doing this exercise will determine what type of business PC you will need to buy. Use Chrome browser most of the time for cloud-based tasks with nothing else? Then why not try a Chrome OS device. Mostly Windows-based Office applications? Then a traditional Windows operating system is your best bet.
Plan to use creative content tools or anything demanding? Then you may have to prioritise your graphics card, invest in getting the best processor for your budget and get as much system memory as possible. Note that the operating system, which is the one piece of software you will always use on any computer, has seen stabilising resource demands. A PC that runs Windows 7 is likely to run Windows 10 just as well. What has changed are the increasing hardware demands of popular applications over the years.
- In partnership with PC World Business
How will the existing PCs be recycled?
If you decide to get rid of your existing fleet of personal computers, then what's the best way to do it? How about trading them in and getting some cash out of that? All the tier-1 computer vendors (Lenovo, Dell and HP) have regular trade-in promotions that allow small and medium businesses to get hundreds of pounds off new kit. Just don't forget to remove all your data from computers being sent for recycling.
That might be a good excuse to reinstall your operating system, thereby getting rid of any gremlins and relics that often remain after consecutive installations and updates. Refreshing your OS is also an excellent opportunity to update drivers as well as applications being used.
- In partnership with PC World Business
