People often ask us which computer to buy and expect a model number. We would rather give you the reasoning, because models change every few months and the reasoning does not. If you understand what actually matters, you can walk into any conversation with a supplier and not be sold something you will regret in eighteen months.
Most brands make two quite different lines of computer. The consumer range is built for a family in a living room, sold at a sharp price, and refreshed constantly. The business range costs more for what looks like similar specifications on paper, and the difference is in the parts you do not see on the label.
Business models generally have sturdier hinges, keyboards and chassis, because they get carried and knocked. They stay in production longer, so the machine you buy today can be matched next year when you hire someone. They come with proper warranty options. They tend to have the ports a working setup needs rather than one socket and a bag of adapters. And they are cleaner out of the box, without the trial software that a consumer machine arrives loaded with.
An office with six matching business machines is materially easier and cheaper to support than six different consumer models bought at different times from different retailers. When something breaks we already know the machine.
These are the floor, not the target. Buying below them saves a little now and costs more later.
Ask what the warranty actually is, not just how many years. There is a large practical difference between sending a laptop away for three weeks and having a technician come to your office with the part.
Three years with onsite or next-business-day service is the option we recommend for anything someone depends on daily. It costs a modest amount at purchase and it is very difficult to add later. Weigh it against what a week without that machine costs the business, including the time we would spend arranging a loan machine and moving someone's work onto it.
A laptop on its own is a compromise. Most people work considerably better with the laptop connected to one or two external screens, a proper keyboard and mouse, and a dock so it is one cable to connect in the morning.
If you are buying docks, buy the ones matched to the laptops you chose, check how many screens each dock genuinely drives, and buy the same model across the office. Mixed docks are a recurring source of the display faults we get called about.
We can specify, order and configure the machine before it reaches you, so it arrives at your desk joined to your systems with your apps, printers and files already in place rather than as a box and an afternoon of setup. See our article on getting a new computer set up properly for what that involves.
We do not mark up hardware. What the supplier charges is what you pay. Our interest is in you buying a machine that lasts, because the alternative shows up as support tickets.
Email admin@yougrowit.com.au with what the machine is for and who will use it, and we will come back with a recommendation and a quote in writing. You can also call 03 9028 4358 during business hours, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.