|
So you bought a PC at BestBuy…
...and you want it hooked up to your corporate network? Yes, of course it can be done, but is it worth it? PCs that you buy at places like BestBuy and Sams Club are made for the home market. And with that we mean that they are MADE for the home market. Those PCs usually come loaded with Windows Media Center edition which has built-in support for that specific hardware. Yes, you can install Windows XP Professional on it, but many times, you won’t be able to find all the drivers to support the system, because the manufacturer doesn’t support it.
So after buying the PC, a Windows XP Professional license and having us spend several hours re-installing it, is that machine still as cheap as you thought it was in the first place?
Let’s talk about the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of that cheap PC. The PC probably comes with warranty and support, but what happens when you really need it? You (or we) will spend hours on the phone with Technical Support and they will have you try everything they can think of, from restarting your computer to re-installing Windows, just so they don’t have to send that piece of hardware that’s really broken. Wait... Re-install Windows? That means they will have you put in the recovery CD that came with the PC, so you’ll be back where you started in the first place, with Windows Media Center, and your hardware problem still isn’t fixed. Or you can take the PC back to BestBuy or where ever you bought it and have them repair it for you. Too bad you got it back with a freshly formatted harddrive, nicely installed with Windows Media Center and no trace of your precious data. So now we can come out to your office again to re-install Windows XP Professional and start from scratch. Tell us again how cheap that PC was?
Why not get a faster, business class HP PC, with business class service? That means three years warranty on parts, and we generally spend about ten minutes on the phone with HP business support to get the part we need. Better yet, the first year we’ll come out and fix any hardware issues for free. All of that for less that what you spent on that cheap PC.
Take the BestBuy box home for your kids and start saving your company some money today.
|
