They’re all over the place – Black Friday deals on computers, television sets, tablets and everything under the sun. When you see a computer for a few hundred dollars, it can be pretty tempting to go ahead and purchase the machine for business. Saving money is a priority for you and you need all the help you can get. But purchasing consumer-quality computers on Black Friday is a huge mistake. Here are a few reasons you should avoid refreshing your employee workstations with Black Friday deals:
- Buy it now, pay for it later.
Cheap pricing is a really compelling argument for those looking for new workstations that are hoping to take advantage of Black Friday deals. But the truth is that if you buy Black Friday computers, you’ll pay the decreased price for it now and pay the difference later when the equipment fails. The pricing that you see on Black Friday deals is typically so inexpensive because the equipment is inferior. It’s not built to last like commercial grade equipment and is built with inexpensive parts that cannot handle the demand that an office user would put on it.
- You’ll have to pay for business licensing.
The licensing that comes with Black Friday equipment comes with a Home operating system and cannot be connected to a business domain or server, which means it can’t participate in a business network. This means that you lose on the ability to have centrally managed security policies and user account access (which some regulating bodies require). The cost of upgrading to business licensing would completely offset the cost of the computer and such inexpensive computers typically are not built handle business software.
- Your warranty isn’t going to cut it.
Because of the low quality equipment, you can almost guarantee that you’ll get a comparable warranty. Consumer machines typically come with a 1-year warranty and have a 4-6 week turn time for faulty machines that have to be mailed in. Commercial warranties, on the other hand, are typically 3-year warranties with next-day turnaround and technicians that come to your location to troubleshoot and repair warranty issues.
Businesses are always looking to save money, but you should always be aware of the difference between saving money and making technology decisions that could cost you even more down the road. Workstation refreshes don’t have to be an extremely cumbersome, last minute cost if you take the time to create a refresh strategy and budget and use a professional to help you plan out the best options for you based on your needs.
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