Why Buy Business-Grade Computer Equipment?

At DynaSis, we have been working with small to mid-sized businesses in the Metro Atlanta area for the past 25 years, so we speak with a lot of businesses about their technology needs. When we are asked to recommend new hardware, we always recommend business-grade computer equipment. Why? The equipment you would buy to use at home is simply not the same equipment you should buy for your business.

Is it tempting to buy the less expensive home-grade equipment? Sure. It seems to do exactly the same things and appears to be just as good. It’s not. The equipment you can buy off the shelf at your local retailer or big box store, or online at Amazon, etc., is designed for home use, not your office, but let’s look at the differences.

Operating Systems: A business-grade computer will come with a business grade operating system that will be better for business use because it will provide better security, better account control, and encryption tools that will do a better job of safeguarding your company’s data. A consumer-grade unit will also come loaded with “bloatware” that may take hours to remove. That cost of that removal can easily offset the cost of the higher-grade piece of equipment. But why not let the bloatware just sit there? (Some of it cannot be removed, anyway, due to manufacturers’ agreements with bloatware providers.) Much of this bloatware provides employees a great opportunity to waste time…and time is money.

More Robust: A business-grade computer, as well as firewalls and routers, are generally more robustly built, making them more durable, allowing them to be used for a longer period of time. Failure rates of business-grade computers is generally much lower than that of consumer units.

Support: Better quality machines generally come with better support, both from the manufacturer and from your IT support company. Spare parts are generally more available so, for all these reasons, and some of the above, downtime is usually considerably less.

Longer, Better Warranties: While home computers often come with 90-day to one-year warranties, business grade equipment generally come with three year warranties. You can add several years to your home-type computer, but that will offset most or all the cost differential.

Faster Repairs: If you buy a home-grade computer, you may find that you actually have to mail it in for repairs. Imagine the time that takes, not to mention the gigantic pain in the you-know-what. Some big box stores have on-site repairs, but that usually requires buying the longer warranties mentioned above.

Security: Many home-grade pieces of equipment, particularly firewalls and routers, have factory installed default passwords, which many people fail to change. These default passwords can often be found simply by Googling “default password” for the type of equipment and the manufacturer.

So, you may save yourself $100 to $300 by avoiding the business-class computer (which, admittedly, can add up when you are buying 10 or 20 or more), but our 25 years of experience as an Atlanta IT support provider has taught us that the extra cost of the better piece of equipment is money well spent.

DynaSis is in its third decade of helping small to mid-sized businesses with a wide range of IT support, from 24 x 7 x 365 help desk, to monitoring, managing and maintaining entire IT networks. We are also offer the DynaSis Business Cloud IT Solution, along with Microsoft Azure Cloud. For more information, please call us at 678-373-0716 or look us up at www.DynaSis.com.