Finding Tech Discounts

We love Apple products, but we hate paying top dollar for them. Apple stores have been the traditional retail outlet for many of the company’s products, but this year, the landscape has changed. You may find competitively discounted prices at leading retail stores and websites.

We’re not privy to Apple’s marketing and sales strategies, but we are seeing the Apple store as the place to showcase technologies, take care of repairs and let customers come in and really put a product through its paces. Factory-trained experts can better concentrate on answering questions and offering suggestions without the pressure to sell at full retail prices.

When it’s time to make the purchase, we’re finding lower prices at “big-box” retailers, and that includes many of the latest iPads and Apple Watches. We suspect the retailers are happy to offer Apple products to help build traffic for all other types of products, and if they make a little less on an Apple device, they can more than make it up selling something else.

We’re also finding more widespread buying opportunities and lower prices on Microsoft’s Surface tablets and other manufacturers’ tablets and devices. It could be the start of a “tablet war,” that also includes Samsung and puts three mobile operating systems into play.

The winner of any tablet war should be the consumer. Each tablet manufacturer has several models on the market of varying ages and capabilities – and putting them on the open retail market heats up the pricing competition.

Naturally, this wide-open market is not restricted to tablets. Computers, mobile phones and TVs are part of the product mix. All of this puts it on your shoulders to find the best prices. Research both online and brick-and-mortar retailers for the best prices but be aware of a few caveats – all of which add up to caveat emptor, or buyer beware:

  • When shopping a specific brand and model, make sure you are comparing the same performance specs for the products offered at each store. TVs especially may be a mix of older and newer models, with the older ones having lower refresh rates and resolutions or not having as many features, such the number of HDMI and USB connections or older connection ports. Some may or may not Internet connection capability. There’s nothing wrong with the older or lesser technology; just don’t think you’re scoring a deal that’s too good to be true.
  • Some items just may not be discounted. They may be too new to the market and still have a WOW factor, or their market may be so limited that the manufacturer cannot produce and sell enough to take advantage of any economies of scale.

As you get deeper into your shopping and price comparisons, questions will inevitably arise about whether a product and its price are right for you. We can help you with both the questions and the answers. Just call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us. And remember, we can help you set up any home electronics system.

iPad Pro and the Tech Transformation

Our new iPad Pro is a great device. We love it for what it does – and maybe for the technology transformation that it and other tablets are ushering in.

We can see the iPad Pro and other large tablets edging closer to replacing laptop and notebook computers for some people. If your primary use is to surf the web and take care of email, simply hook up a keyboard, and you’re up and running. If you want to watch videos, the screen on the iPad Pro is amazing for its clarity and speed.

Yes there are some downsides. For one thing, as much as I love it, the tablet is not a full computer. It’s a mobile device, and Apple gives every indication it will not merge its iOS (mobile) and OSX (computer) operating systems. However, with Apple and Microsoft fighting for market share, don’t bet against a tablet replacing your computer. You can get Microsoft Office for tablets – and mobile phones – and as more people get comfortable with storing documents in the cloud, they’re likely to demand more computing capability.

As far as tablets go, iPad Pro is bigger and heavier than previous generations of tablets, but I personally don’t find that to be a problem. In 2005, screens on cell phones started to get bigger, and as we advanced to smart phones with Internet capability, it was only a matter of time that users would demand even bigger screens to watch videos.

By 2010, recalling a once-every-five-years family reunion, the iPad was new to the market, and many family members wondered about the need for it. Well, the iPad and other tablets are here to stay, even though sales have slumped lately. They have a variety of sizes and uses professionally, ranging from healthcare professionals in offices and hospitals who need to maintain patient records as they move through an office or hospital – to IT specialists and sales reps who can do a lot of work without being tethered to a computer.

So, don’t sell tablets short. If the history of mobile devices holds true, enough users will try to push the technology a little farther than its capabilities so that Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and others will notice. Their teams will respond to market demand, and the cycle will start again.

iPad Pro, I love you – until the next better device hits the market.

Have questions about tablets? Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us and tell us what you’re looking for and how much you’d like to spend. There’s a tablet that’s right for you today – and maybe for the next 18 months.

Shortcuts Can Take You the Long Way

Just like there’s no free lunch, there’s no easy solution when you use a shortcut that cuts corners. Whatever time and money you think you are saving can easily be wiped out – at the cost of more time and money – when a failure occurs without warning. You can protect valuable data by taking the time to set up your system properly.

That advice was brought home to a client who received some bad advice from a bargain-basement IT support provider. The provider had moved away but still provided support. When our client – before we took over the account – contacted the provider to help with a database problem, things went from bad to worse very quickly.

In a nutshell, our client’s system had some built-in redundancies, all designed to prevent data-loss problems, but their failure had never been detected. As result, our client was walking a tightrope without a safety net. When called in, the former IT provider instructed our client to reboot the server, but the server never came back online. That was one problem.

Another problem was the failure of the hard drive, and we found a problem there that we consider totally avoidable. It began when the client started running out of space on the server’s hard drive. Instead of taking the time – and money – to back up the data and install a new hard drive, the IT provider repartitioned the drive using a compression program.

That step is something we never even suggest to our clients. In all the literature we’ve come across and in our many years of IT experience, it’s not a stable program. It’s just a bad shortcut to try to pick up extra space.

So, when the hard drive failed, it lost some data that the client had thought was saved. We tried several restore points, but we never could get the data that had been lost. That’s because the database had been corrupted at some point, and the client was backing up corrupted data.

Going forward, the client now understands that imaging a hard drive or partitioning the drive or using any other questionable technique to create more space on a hard drive will only expose them to more risk. It’s a lesson everyone should learn and heed. You can only stuff so much data onto a hard drive before you get distortions (corrupted data) and an outright failure.

If you need more data storage capacity, we can explore a number of options and find the one that best fits your office’s needs and protects the safety of your data. Contact us at 973-433-6676 or email us to set up an appointment.

Phones, Autos and Bluetooth

If you’ve purchased a new iPhone or Droid phone and expect it work seamlessly in your relatively new car, you may be experiencing technical difficulties. Phone technology is miles ahead of automotive communications technology.

We have to admit it drove us “nuts” for a while, trying to get our new iPhone to sync with the Bluetooth system in our car. The hands-free voice capability did not work, and for someone – such as yours truly – who is always on the road and needs to communicate with customers having urgent needs, Bluetooth is a necessity.

We contacted a lot of different companies, and we essentially learned that you need to take a step back to move forward. The latest phones use Bluetooth 4; even the newest cars are running Bluetooth 1 or 2.

Thus, your solution is to downgrade the app on your phone to match the Bluetooth version in your car. While it’s not ideal, we understand the reason – as the situation currently exists. Even if you have the latest and greatest communications technology that was available for your car, it quickly goes out of date. And while it’s easy to get a new phone every year and get other devices pretty often, you generally don’t get a new car every year.

We can help you match your phone and other devices to your car’s Bluetooth system. Sometimes we can even walk you through the steps over the phone. Call us at 973-433-6676 or email us for help. Just have your car’s year, make and model info handy as well as the make and model of your cellphone or device. The ultimate answer will be for auto manufacturers and suppliers to figure out a better way for you to upgrade your car’s Bluetooth version, but in the meantime, we can help you now.

Eye on 2015

Every year holds promises for new technology. Here’s what we see coming in 2015.

For Apple fans, we expect to see the Apple Watch and the iPad Pro. With the iPad model, we’re likely to go from mini to maxi. Some details are starting to leak out, including a 12” to 13” screen, which would put it into the Microsoft Surface category. Speculation includes a new processor and four speakers in the new model with a release date in early spring.

Early spring is also a rumored release time for the Apple Watch. We’ll be watching.

On the Microsoft front, we just loaded a test version of Windows 10. We’ll see how it flows and what similarities it has to Windows 8 and the things we liked in Windows 7. Rumors abound on this product, too, but we hear rumblings of a Microsoft “event” for late January. The rumor mill also points to the operating system working across all platforms, including smartphones, tablets and Xbox One consoles.

We expect a continuing trend toward more use of Microsoft Office 365. We sell it to a lot of our clients and continue to recommend it. We helped a client with Exchange cut costs from $700 to $96.

We also look for improvements to Office 365 and Outlook for the Mac. It was released on Halloween (how’s that for “trick or treat?”), and we immediately downloaded it while traveling. It has the look and feel of Office and Outlook, and while there are some differences between Windows and Mac in the way I use it, the Mac version is 1000 times better than it was. We still don’t have One-Drive for the Mac, but we’re hopeful that will come out next year.

The other tech darling of the consumer world is 4K ultra high-def TV. Flat screen TVs with 720 and 1080 resolution have gotten dirt cheap to the point that you can save a lot of space and electricity costs by junking your “tube” TV.

But if 4K TV catches on in 2015 as we expect, it’s just a matter of time until you’ll want to have it. Priming that pump will be the growth of non-cable, non-satellite content delivery technology from Amazon, Apple TV, Roku and others.

New content delivery systems are just another reminder that technology can change on a dime. So if you’re contemplating a new purchase, be sure to talk to us – especially if you’re buying technology for your office and are looking for tax-saving opportunities. If you don’t need next year’s soon-to-be latest and greatest, you can find some good pricing on this year’s technology and be eligible for applicable tax write-offs for office systems. Call – 973-433-6676 – or email to set up an appointment.

Buy Now, Buy Smart

Now is a good time to buy a new computer. Between upcoming holiday gifts and companies making end-of-the-year purchases, there’s a lot of demand – and supply. Sellers will throw the word “bargain” around very freely and tempt you at every turn. Shop smart to get your true value.

Let’s start with the “five-year rule.” It’s nothing like the “five-second rule,” and therefore, it has nothing to do with your computer falling to the floor. (Whether your computer is still usable depends less on picking it up within five seconds than it does on how far it falls and how cushioned the floor is.)

Five years is about the length of a computer’s useful service life. After five years, your total system can be woefully out-of-date. The computer itself slows down in many cases because your hard drive has less room to write and rewrite the data in the files you use – even if you faithfully run defragging programs to manage the space. If you have an old computer, you are likely to have old software and connection ports, such as older USB, that are all too slow to support newer, faster, more robust systems. That holds true whether your computer is for business or home use.

If you have a computer approaching five years old, it really doesn’t pay to upgrade the software. Your old computer won’t have the processing power to run the software effectively, and your connection ports may not support functions such as Skype or streaming video. If you have kids who are into any of the many popular online gaming activities, such as Minecraft, they won’t be able to keep up, and they won’t be able to maximize learning experiences online.

We’re not telling you to go out and buy the fastest computer on the market. But we are telling you to consider this:

  • Figure on your computer lasting five years.
  • Give a lot of thought to how you plan to use your computer.
    • Are you just surfing the Internet and answering email?
    • Do you plan to use processing-heavy applications such as
      • Complex spreadsheets?
      • Photo editing?
      • Art and graphic design?
      • Skype or other videoconferencing?
      • Online collaboration with large files?
    • Do the applications you depend on require you to upgrade frequently?
    • Will you need speed, video and sound for streaming movies, TV and games?
    • Will you be integrating your new computer with wireless devices over a Wi-Fi network?

Once you know what you expect from your computer, you can better assess what’s on the market. You can look at whether a Windows-based or Mac system is better and whether a desktop or laptop is better. You might also want to consider one of the newer tablets that use the cloud to provide a full range of computing capabilities with the convenience of a tablet.

Nothing beats going to a few stores to try out the computers to see what feels comfortable for you. You can also ask questions, but be prepared for the possibility that the sales person may be trying to steer you to a specific brand or model or may not know any more than you. Give yourself a budget. While you may go over it or find something less expensive than you planned, a budget will give you a guideline for evaluating the apples and oranges you’ll come across.

At the same time, don’t concentrate on just the hardware. Here are key considerations:

  • If you are going to use your existing software, make sure you have your original disks and product keys. You can generally download Internet browsers, programs such as Adobe Reader and drivers for peripherals such as printers – but you can’t do it with application software.
  • Have all of your passwords for your Wi-Fi system, email, cloud storage, etc.
  • Have all of your data files – word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, pictures, etc. – backed up on a portable hard drive, the cloud or CDs and DVDs. There are systems to transfer data files from one computer to another, but you should have it all backed up anyway.
  • Be prepared to buy new software or migrate to cloud-based subscription services. Your software may be so out of date that it won’t run on a new computer.

Finally, make us your first and last stop. We can talk about what you have now, how you’d like to use your new computer system, how long you plan to keep it and how much you’d like to spend. We can help you evaluate the most viable options, and then you can go out and see some things for yourself. Then, come back to us. We can help you choose the best package for your needs, and we may be able to get you a better price.

Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up a time to talk. We want to help you find a system you can.

New iPhone Puts More Tech in Play

Apple’s new iPhone has raised the bar for the device industry and for you, the business owner and consumer. You should consider upgrading to a smartphone and upgrading your tablet because more and more of everyday living will require it.

The new iPhone 6 and 6+ are going to improve your convenience and online security when Apple Pay and NFC (near field communications) technology kick in. As the technology expands, it will be possible to use it in more stores and for other payments such as electricians, plumbers, appliance repairs, landscaping, taxi cabs, etc. Train and bus riders with monthly passes may be able to use their cell phones more and more, eliminating the need to carry separate cards.

You might also find it possible to enter your home or place of work with your cell phone – and for owners to quickly reset access codes.

At home, smartphones and tablets can be integrated with computers to control home entertainment systems, lighting systems and your kids’ access to the internet. You can use your cell and home phones almost interchangeably to start a conversation on one device or system and continue it on another.

The possibilities to do more with smartphones and mobile devices seem to be unlimited. The only limiting factor may be the phone or device itself.

If you’re carrying a flip phone, for example, you likely don’t have access to the Internet for doing any kind of research, getting directions, making purchases or accessing email. You likely have SMS or texting capability, but it’s cumbersome. If all you want phone for is to talk, that’s fine.

If you have an older smartphone, you can still do the basics: find a nearby restaurant or gas station, purchase goods and services online, get your email and maybe watch streaming content. But your options will always be limited, and you’ll never get the performance that is driving so much of our online traffic.

Concurrent with the new iPhones, for example, Apple has released iOS 8, but it will only work with an iPhone 4S or newer model or with an iPad 2 or newer.

Apple is not alone. Samsung is already taking preorders for its new Galaxy Note 4, and you can bet that will raise the bar for performance and features.

On top of that, the major device manufacturers and OS developers will be keeping pace. Why? Because we not only want to be able to do more things online, we want to be able to do more of the things we already do, such as watch movies, play sophisticated games and make even more use of our Internet applications.

Within all of this, you will need to choose a device manufacturer, a cellular carrier and a phone and data plan. In addition to making technological choices, you’ll need to make financial choices and decide how long you actually want to keep your phone or tablet. Depending on what you need and what you want, you may need to replace your technology more often, and that will affect the device and carrier you choose.

Whether you’re a business with 20 computers and devices or a family, we can help. Once you get past the “ah” factor or the “OMG” moment, we can help you choose a technology that matches your needs and your budget as best as possible. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for answers to your questions and to set up an appointment.

Spend More for Speed and Capacity

As we demand more performance from our IT systems, our choices can come down to balancing the speed to write files and the cost of storage media. You can have the best of both worlds if you combine planning and foresight.

A number of so-called “power users” have fallen in love with SSD (solid state) drives, which are totally electronic. They contain no moving parts and they can write data to memory with lightning speed. But they have their downsides, such as cost per gigabyte of storage and the lifetime of the data in flash memory. Data recovery is a much more complicated and labor-intensive process than if you have mechanical drives.

As a result, we think they’re better suited for users with higher levels of technical knowledge and corporations that have the technical capability to support the drives and their users. Most users and small businesses can get great system performance by buying the right drives for computers and servers and planning to replace systems after five years.

We find some basics have held true over our 20 years of IT service.

For individual computers, we recommend SATA drives. They are more than adequate in terms of storage size and speed and provide good cost value. Today’s desktop and laptop computers are available with hard drives having 1 terabyte or more of storage. Some bargain hunters think they’re saving money by buying a smaller 500 GB hard drive, but file sizes are growing larger, and they can eat up free space very quickly. If you’re planning to keep your computer five years – or even longer – you’ll likely exhaust the capacity sooner than you planned, and you’ll need to replace the hard drive (and restore files) or buy a larger external hard drive. As we’ve noted before, once you approach 60% to 75% of your hard drive’s capacity, you make it more difficult for your computer to write files to the drive, and that can severely limit performance. It’s much more cost-effective to buy a large-capacity drive with the computer, which is already set up with the right RAM (random access memory) capacity and motherboard to optimize performance.In addition to size, get a hard drive with enough speed. In general, SATA drives range up to 7200 RPM. When you combine the larger size and RAM with the higher speed, you’ll get better performance for a longer time, and that will keep you happier with your investment.

If you do find you need a new hard drive for your desktop, we may be able to walk you through the process of installing your new drive and recovering your data from an online backup site or an external drive.

For a server, we’ve found SAS drives running at 10,000 to 15,000 RPM offer the best performance. Again, your needs will grow as your business grows, and you’ll want to be able to add upgraded application software, more file storage capacity and more users without sacrificing performance. Whatever you save in buying under-performing technology can be eaten up very quickly in reduced production and unnecessary, unplanned downtime.

For us, the bottom line is getting our clients to think proactively about planning for a cost-effective technology purchase today and budgeting for the next purchase. Everyone has different needs and budget constraints, but everyone has the opportunity to take a smart approach. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your hard-drive and system needs for your computers and servers. Making the right decision today can save you money and give you peace of mind.

It’s a Matter of Trust – and Reassurance

Choosing the right technology is a balance between investing your money wisely and getting enough system capability and capacity to do a little more than you might envision at the time of purchase. The planning stage is the time to ask questions and get advice from your IT provider and trusted friends.

Most people are not that tech savvy, but they buy what they’re told because they trust an advisor or more knowledgeable friend. To paraphrase a PSA (public service announcement) from a few years ago, friends don’t let friends buy the wrong technology. Our friendly and professional advice is: Don’t skimp on technology today because it will cost you more money in less time than you think.

The story of a client with a two-year-old computer illustrates the point. He’s rapidly running out of space on his hard drive – which has only 80 GB of storage. Not only is the storage space too small, the rest of the computer’s tech specs are just not up to date for today’s world. A computer should last three to five years. So, spending $100 or $200 more would have avoided spending $500 to $600 or so now.

In 25 years in the IT business, one of the things we’ve learned is that we always ask our technology systems to do more than we planned. Today, a hard drive with 250 GB of space is relatively small, 500 GB can be acceptable, and 1 TB (terabyte) or more is ideal. Besides needing more storage space for bigger files – at work or at home – we need more RAM (random access memory) and faster processors to work with larger more complex files or handle streaming video over the Internet. Disk speeds are faster, too, also improving performance.

As for cost, we haven’t raised our prices on computers for the past two years, but you still get more. That’s because technology continues to improve and prices actually come down. In a sense, you get more power for the same money every time you make a purchase.

In addition to giving you more power, we don’t partition hard drives. This gives you the flexibility to add more programs and the space to store files and access them. When you change computers or hard drives, it’s easier to transfer your data and programs.

Rapidly changing technology makes it imperative to have a professional assessment for your business and a consultation for home computers. Good planning will help you get the best value for your money and give you better performance with fewer worries about your system’s ability to handle more tasks. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to start your assessment or just to ask our opinion. And check with your knowledgeable friends, too. As we see it, the only way you can go wrong is by not going far enough.

Tech Help for the Holidays

We’re available to help make sure all of your technology gifts are fully up and running. Nothing is more frustrating than technology presents that don’t work as they should, and sometimes only an IT specialist can orchestrate the solution.

That was the situation last year, when one of clients bought some new cell phones and wanted to pass down the older phones to children. We went there on Christmas Eve day to do what the carriers’ retail stores can’t or won’t do: Complete all the data transfers and phone number activations necessary to make Christmas Day merry.

We looked at all the contacts, apps and other data that needed to be transferred to the new phones. In some cases, data can hide in places where most retail techs don’t know to look. In other cases, for example, contacts can be in different places on different phones or not match exactly. The danger in not knowing where to look is that a technician can erase data from the old phone. Once that happens, it’s gone.

We also took the time to understand how each family member planned to use his or her device so that we could set up each one properly. We also made sure they all knew how to access all the features.

We had to program five phones, and that took the better part of a half-day. But the next day, when the stores were closed, everyone enjoyed their new phones.

Whether you are buying new technology for your home or business, you can maximize performance and by making sure your infrastructure has the capability to handle increased traffic.

For homes, this means having the pipeline to handle streaming to new, large flat-screen TVs and/or multiple devices that play streaming content. For businesses, this means being able to handle the newer, faster systems that help you process more business faster – along with a twist.

Some of those Christmas gifts, namely phones and tablets, will likely wind up coming into your office. Whether they’re for business or personal use, they will tap into your office’s network.

So, tap into our service. We can make everyone’s holiday gifts are running properly. Drop us an email to schedule an appointment, but make sure you call us if you need us (973-433-6676) – especially on Christmas Day.

This article was published in Technology Update, the monthly newsletter from Sterling Rose LLC.