Equipment for home office. Whats most important for computer programs.?

Question

How fast should the processor be? How much memory should you have? What should be the capacity of your hard drive?

Answer 1

A lot of it depends on your needs.

If you are mobile, I would recommend a laptop with at least Windows XP and Office 2000 Professional.

If your business is graphics orientated...I'd say use an Mac/Apple...otherwise...go PC.

Check around to see what you can afford.

You can have a huge hard drive, but if your memory is low...all that space won't speed your PC.

Proprietary (Dell, IBM, etc.) systems won't enable you to self-upgrade as necessary. So, if you are the tinkering type, consider getting what is often called a "white-box" system which will enable you to pop open the casing and update parts as needed.

I would also recommend, based on your question MS Money, which seems to be more user friendly.

I agree that Quickbooks is a better application, but for the novice small business owner...I'd go with MS Money.

Go to www.j2.com and subscribe (fee based) to their electronic fax services. U get a dedicated fax number. Faxes can come to your email address as attachments and this will save you $$ in the expense of having to purchase a new phone line AND the expense of maintaining a stand-alone fax machine.

If you need to create Adobe PDFs on a regular basis, don't spend hundreds buying the whole Adobe application. Go to the Adobe.com site and look for the service to create PDFs online.

You'll configure ur printer settings to where you select the "Create Adobe PDF" option in the printer drop-down menu and then you go to the site to get the create PDF. It's about $100 +/- per year. Much cheaper that spending hundreds for the full application.

As far as computer processors...that's a loaded question. I have used AMD rather than Intel chips only because they are cheaper. I believe Intel makes a better chip.

Lastly, I would recommend a Palm Treo smart phone. The Treo 700 series is the latest series.

Look at http://www.palm.com/us

I have the Palm based Treo 600, which is like my right arm. I love it!

Some of the 600 and 700 series are Microsoft based....ICK! Look for the ones that are Palm based (possibly the model 700p).

Consider going to eBay.com and buy an unlocked model which is compatible to your cell phone provider.

Some say Blackberrys are great devices. Ick!

If you need to have a practical mobile organizer that just-so-happens to have phone capabilities...the Treo is what you need.

Answer 2

Always, always, always get the most computer you can afford.
Get the biggest, best and most powerful computer you can pay for.
Why?
Because today it will be more than enough, but who says that will be enough in a couple of years?