THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONSUMER & BUSINESS COMPUTERS

On a semi-regular basis, I’m asked what the difference between consumer & business computers Well, not quite… What I’m asked is why the computers we sell are more expensive than what someone can buy at a retail “Big Box” store. I’d like to give an explanation of the differences, and what they mean to you.

COMPONENTS

Consumer computers are built to be specifically priced for consumer outlets and use. These computers contain components that are made in higher volumes at lower costs. The components are usually purchased from the lowest priced supplier with little emphasis on quality or reliability. These components are the inner-workings of your computer, and are very important! Poor components will cause instability, poor performance, or fail all together. This brings me to my next subject, warranties.

WARRANTIES

This is something that often slips the mind of many people. In a business environment, a computer almost always needs special setup to make it functional and useful for its user. This takes both your time and ours while we install, and your time to become acclimated to its setup after installation. What I’m getting at is that time is money, so you want your investment to last as long as possible. Most all consumer PC’s only have a one year warranty, and don’t offer extended options. If your computer fails after (or even sometimes during) the warranty, it will need to be completely replaced because replacement parts are not kept available to quickly get you back up and running. You will be forced to go through the cost of having another computer setup. Business computers can often be bought with warranties for up to five years!

SOFTWARE

A business computer deserves a business operating system right? Consumer models, typically run on a “home” version of Microsoft Windows which is stripped of security and networking features. A Business operating system will raise the price around $100. Microsoft Office never, ever comes with a computer! That $200 line item for Microsoft Office on our quote adds to the cost, and is usually not considered when comparing costs to retail.

SOFTWARE #2

Yes, this one gets it’s own heading since I didn’t want this to get overlooked. Consumer computers often are loaded with a large amount of “trial ware” or what I like to call “billboard ware”. These are pieces of software that are loaded on the computer because their publisher paid the computer manufacturer to put it there. Essentially, this helps subsidize part of the cost of the computer, bringing the price down. Unfortunately, the price isn’t the only thing that goes down, performance is also adversely affected by the multiple programs running in the background and popping up asking you to “buy me” or “try me”. Along with the effects on performance, it typically takes us more time to set these computers up since we often need to remove these conflicting applications to prevent issues or to be able to load your software.

SUPPORT

We’ve all heard of support nightmares that usually involve speaking with somebody you can’t understand. Eight automated prompts and three support tiers later, maybe you’ve gotten your issue resolved? Have you ever noticed that there is usually a different phone number or dial option for business support? The business support departments and staff are typically easier to deal with, and more competent. If a piece of hardware needs to be replaced, they will usually replace it without much trouble or run-around, especially if they are on the phone with us. We almost always know what tests they will want us to run, so we do these before calling. If either of us is contacting support, you’re probably without a computer, so times is of the essence!

SO..WHICH ONE?

So by now, I’ve said a lot of bad things about computers based for consumers. I’m feeling like that car-salesman, and you’re probably wondering how I could be right, and so many people that buy these computers be wrong? The truth is, a lot of consumer computers are great when they are put in the right place. Consumer computers are not used as heavily, used for fewer hours, and relied upon less. They can also be easily replaced, so when BestBuy has their next amazing $499 computer deal people jump and sometimes replace their computer before its even three years old.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONSUMER & BUSINESS COMPUTERS