Why Buying A Desktop PC For Your Workplace Might Be A Mistake!

Does the traditional tool of a desktop PC have a place in the workplace?
For your typical office environment, everybody uses a PC. Its probably running Microsoft Windows and has a version of Microsoft Office installed. It should have antivirus installed. The PC may have a number of other programs installed such as accounts, databases etc. If its properly installed, and the user is sensible, It will have no critical data stored on the hard drive.
The user reads their email, creates their documents and utilises the other programs to fulfill their job function.
A typical workstation including screen and Ms Office costs £600 and will last 3 years. Taking into account holidays, average sick leave etc it will be used for 660 days, 91p a day less any capital allowances your business can exploit. A bargain!
Compare this to the cost of running a laptop. Typical cost with Ms Office, £500 and applying the same criteria, 76p per day. A 16.5% saving!
Plus with a laptop you get a number of other benefits:-
A laptop will typically have a higher peripheral specification, dvd rewriter, wireless, bluetooth, sound and a webcam.
- A laptop allows the user to work anywhere ( with the right access ). At home, on the road or in another office. This can only have the benefit of increased productivity and better staff morale if they are allowed to have flexible home working
- Laptops present a possible even greater saving. What are the hidden year 2 and year 3 costs of running a desktop PC , obviously the risk of a failure increases and without regular housekeeping the machine will slow down so lost productivity. Or you spend on IT support and/or tools that keep the PC healthy.
The same applies to laptops right? Not necessarily. Lets assume you keep your Microsoft Office licence and and the base cost of the laptop is £270. And lets assume you sell it after one year on ebay in August ( students :-) ), you should get at least £150 for a 1 year old laptop. The cost of operating that laptop for a year has dropped to 55p a day. A 39% saving on the cost of operating a PC.
Then you buy a new laptop ( and the prices are only ever dropping) for £270. The new laptop has the latest performance increases , the latest specification, will be faster and be less likely to fail or have a performance hit. Hidden operating costs are reduced. You repeat the cycle and there are substantial savings. And capital allowances can also have a huge positive effect on these costs.
As an alternative to selling the 1 year old laptops you may want to consider passing them onto staff ( great for moral ) or donating to a good cause. How much publicity could you get for your business by donating 10 laptops to a charity or local project ? Is that publicity going to harm or benefit your business ?
Yes, there will be data wiping consideration but this can be dealt with very simply and cheaply with the correct knowledge and IT support.
And we have not even mentioned cloud applications, cloud desktops and alternatives to traditional laptops and PCs such as chromebooks. Chromebooks are even cheaper! The cloud is taking over and with solutions like Google Apps for Work and Office 365 all running in just the browser you find that more and more of your work tasks are being completed on devices such as smart phones and tablets. No need for the desktop PC.
There will always be reasons to use a PC, complicated multi screen set ups or for CAD are obvious examples but the traditional desktop PC is a weak tool in the modern workplace. So why would you buy one?
For a free review of your organisations IT and free consultation, just click here.
- Google Apps Show
- Google Enterprise
- OCM News
- Frame - Work With Any Software In A Browser
- Windows 10 The Reviews Are In
- Microsoft Windows 10 - What You Need To Know!
- Time For A New Website
- An Introduction To Google Keep
- Lenovo and Superfish - What You Need To Know
- Apple Spring Forward - Whats New
- Raspberry Pi 2 Announced Today
- Are You Quick On The Phone - Free Calls If You Are
- Shellshock Bug
- Why Buying A Desktop PC For Your Workplace Might Be A Mistake!
- The New Apple IPhone 6 Definitely Does Not Charge In The Microwave
- Google Atmosphere 1st October 2014 4.45pm Online
- Growth Vouchers, Free Money !
- I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work! - Thomas Edison
- Ralph Savage - DRS Business Solutions Joins OCM´s Business Finance Forum
- Hacking The House
- 2016 Jul
- 2016 Jun
- 2016 May
- 2016 Mar
- 2016 Feb
- 2016 Jan
- 2015 Dec
- 2015 Nov
- 2015 Oct
- 2015 Sep
- 2015 Aug
- 2015 Jul
- 2015 Jun
- 2015 May
- 2015 Apr
- 2015 Mar
- 2015 Feb
- 2015 Jan
- 2014 Nov
- 2014 Oct
- 2014 Sep
- Shellshock Bug
- Why Buying A Desktop PC For Your Workplace Might Be A Mistake!
- The New Apple IPhone 6 Definitely Does Not Charge In The Microwave
- Google Atmosphere 1st October 2014 4.45pm Online
- Google Enterprise ¨ The Apps Show ¨ Episode 14 Hangouts Tips and Tricks
- Growth Vouchers, Free Money !
- Google Enterprise ¨ The Apps Show ¨ Episode 13. Hangouts on Mobile Devices
- I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work! - Thomas Edison
- Google Enterprise ¨ The Apps Show ¨ Episode 12. Hangouts just got even better!
- Ralph Savage - DRS Business Solutions Joins OCM´s Business Finance Forum
- Google Enterprise ¨ The Apps Show ¨ Episode 11
- 2014 Aug
- 2014 Jul
- 2014 Jun