Tag Archives: PC

Can a Chromebook be used for business?

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Setting up or even maintaining computers in a business can be a very expensive and complicated process. So is there a better way? Can a Chromebook be used for business? This guide will look at why you might consider a Chromebook, what you need to understand, and how you decide which one to buy.

A Chromebook refers to a laptop or 2in1 that runs Google’s Chrome Operating system. The experience is a pure web browser interface and will not run windows applications.

WHY should you consider a Chromebook over a PC for business?

We live in a connected world. If you visit Officeworks, it isn’t easy to buy a piece of standalone software that you load onto a computer. Everything is now cloud-based solutions, and you use your browser to access your application via the internet. A business will most likely use an accounting package like Xero, a CRM database, a POS system or even a spreadsheet, all accessed via the internet.

Why would you not use a Chromebook?

Suppose your business needs a standalone software application with many dedicated computer resources (e.g. memory, fast processor etc.). In that case, a chrome book is not for you.
If you need to work mostly independent of the internet or there is simply no internet, then a chrome book is not for you.

Why should you consider a Chromebook?
  • Prices of Chromebooks are considerably cheaper than a PC, and this is because the hardware requirements are significantly lower.
  • A Chromebook’s reliability is likely higher as it is a simpler Operating system with no extra software that is loaded, whether for applications or hardware drivers. Thus everything is simpler, and it is unlikely you will need the services of an IT Guy.
  • Light and compact. A Chromebook is likely to be far less power-hungry so that batteries can be smaller and last all day. Thus delivering you a small package, especially if you are on the road.
  • Instant On. A Chromebook does not need to load lots of code to start and will open at the press of a button, ready for you to access information.
  • Cloud-based storage means you never run out of capacity, and the information is backed up automatically.
  • Android Apps designed to run on smartphones and tablets will run on a Chromebook

WHAT should I know about Chromebooks?

The Chromebook itself does not need to be very powerful. Almost everything you do is done online or, more correctly, in the cloud. Thus although the hardware is not as powerful, the user will not experience any disadvantage over a much more powerful PC. However, one caveat is that if your internet connection is not reliable, this will affect performance.

A Chromebook was designed with security in mind and will be safer than a Windows or macOS computer. Security updates happen automatically, and no viruses or malware are known to target Chromebooks. Indeed, you do not have to buy antivirus software.

Unlike a PC, a Chromebook comes standard with productivity software for word processing, spreadsheet, email, presentations etc. The Google productivity suite is the core software; however, Microsoft applications can be installed just like downloading an app on your smartphone.

You will never lose your work because everything is in the cloud and saved when you type it. Thus, assuming you have an internet connection, you will never regret ever not saving a document or forgetting to back up your computer.

If you are without the internet, you can still use your Chromebook to read email, take notes, create and edit documents, spreadsheets and slides, view and edit photos, listen to music, watch downloaded videos and play games offline.

Collaboration is key for sharing information with your workmates, so everyone is updated. As everything is stored in the cloud, sharing the latest information is a simple one-off permission click to allow others to share real-time data.

No extra software is needed, but if you need something, additional Android apps can be installed.

A Chromebook will connect to printers, keyboards, a wireless mouse and most importantly, an external monitor to give you the flexibility to work off a large screen.

HOW do you decide which Chromebook to buy?

Unlike our guide on which PC I should buy, your choice is determined by how you will use the Chromebook. A basic Chromebook can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, and more expensive models can have touchscreens and be used as a tablet, giving more flexibility on the road.

Options you will consider when choosing a Chromebook:

Screen size will determine the size of the unit, which may be important if you require to take the Chromebook on the road. Sizes vary from 10 to 15 inches.

A chrome book can come in the following form: laptop, convertible or detachable tablet. We like the fact you can use it as a tablet. To support this, the screen may be detachable from the keyboard, or the keyboard may swing behind on 360-degree hinges.

A touchscreen improves your ability to interact quickly with your Chromebook, especially when it is hard to use a keyboard. A stylus may also be useful, especially if you want to make handwritten notes or draw.

Consider the battery life, and will it last you the time you expect to be away from mains?

Colour is the case, not the screen, if fashion is important to you. A protective cover is also a good idea and may help position the unit.

Ram will be in the 4 to 8GB range. With 4GB is adequate for most users.

All Chromebooks use solid-state storage rather than spinning hard drives. As storage is online, you would only consider a larger capacity if you want offline access.

Some Chromebooks now have expanded keyboards with a number pad to the right of the letter keys for those working with lots of numbers.

Processor variants are available but are not as important as a PC specification as all the tough computing work will be done in the cloud.

Connectivity is a consideration if you require an onboard 4G/5G connection and also if you need Wi-Fi 6 over Wi-Fi 5.

Other options to consider include the quality of the camera, availability of extra USB ports and support for wireless charging.

The following brands sell Chromebooks in Australia:  Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo.

HINTS

Suppose you still need to run a standalone PC program. In that case, you can use Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop app on your Chromebook to access traditional desktop software via another computer. This app allows you to access a running PC from any location and emulate the screen on your Chromebook.

To research this topic, Small Business Answers trialled an ASUS CM3000DV Chromebook. Our findings were quite the opposite of what we expected. We thought a Chromebook would not suit business, but we completely changed our minds. The Chromebook could handle everything I had done on a 13-inch i5 Intel notebook. TheCM3000 has a detachable cover that acts as an adjustable stand in either horizontal or vertical orientations. The detachable keyboard allows 1.5mm of movement on each key, giving a realistic typing experience while keeping the package compact. Two features I loved were the included stylus and a 15-second charge providing 45minutes of use. (yes, you did read that correctly)
The CM3 is 8mm thick with a 10-inch display and up to 12 hours of use. It is a touch screen device and weighs only 0.51kg. A front 2M camera, rear 8M camera, microphone, and stereo speakers enhance multimedia capability. It only has 1 x USB-C socket so you may need a USB hub, but it supports Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth connectivity. For those familiar with the Google ecosystem, it helps Google Assistant and comes with one year of 100GB of Google cloud storage. Our test unit had 4GB of RAM, a 2Ghz processor and a 64GB SSD drive but we would have had no idea about this as the Chromebook just worked.

SUMMARY – Can a Chromebook be used for business?

Can a Chromebook be used for business? Yes!

When deciding to use a Chromebook, you must ask, is chrome OS the right choice for you? It will change your current mindset but remember the kids are doing it fine at school as their first computer, and they don’t know any better.

A Chromebook is a browser and app-based device that uses the internet and the cloud to do all the work. Almost every type of application today is on the cloud, so an expensive notebook computer may indeed be overkill versus a Chromebook.

A Chromebook can still be bought in different configurations, and carefully consider which options best suit your needs.

Empower remote work

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34% of Australia’s small and medium businesses (SMBs) are expected to convert to a 100% laptop setup post-COVID-19, underscoring the importance of mobility in a hybrid workplace to empower remote work. 

This finding is one of the many interesting strategic insights revealed in an IDC Survey Commissioned by ASUS. The survey explored how SMBs are adapting their technology use and how COVID-19 has affected technology decisions.

Long-Term Remote Work Arrangements

For Australia in particular, the survey found that over half of SMBs (68%) were ready for WFH arrangements brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Over a third (33%) of those SMBs said they were not completely prepared with the office equipment and software to enable remote working.  50% of employers expect their workforce to return to the office once the situation is resolved as opposed to the APAC average of 45%. This revealed a general lack of long-term planning for remote working by Australian SMBs.

“Equipping staff with the appropriate technologies for remote working has turned pivotal in enabling a positive employee experience and enhancing productivity,” said Simon Piff, Vice President, IDC, Asia/Pacific. “Purchasing decisions on devices – laptops in particular – need to be reassessed to keep pace with employee expectations, especially among the younger generation of workers who are more digitally astute and are demanding more flexible working arrangements”.  

 “ASUS has a good understanding of how people work and their requirements, and we were able to draw on this experience to adapt quickly and help our customers manage the challenges”,. said Emma Ou, Country Manager, ASUS ANZ.

Emma continued. “Businesses that adopt more modern, flexible ways of working with the help of digital technology will reap the benefits of greater resource management, streamlined processes, more efficient workflows, and deeper, more actionable insights based on their data.”

Other key Australian SMB findings from the survey include:
  • 54% of employees in Australia want to have a say in the allotment of their devices but in reality 75% of businesses in Australia provision laptops as a standard offering where it is purchase by the company 
  • 49% of employees stated that businesses that offer advanced equipment and flexible working arrangements have a competitive edge over other companies
  • Australian businesses adopt a tactical rather than a strategic approach to laptop refreshes that are meant to occur every 3 years. SMBs in Australia hold onto their laptops a little longer than their APAC counterparts. ASUS speculates that this is because Australian SMBs tend to buy more expensive and powerful systems than the rest of APAC, which extends service life.
    • 49% of businesses only refresh laptops when the staff complain that they are slow, and another 47% only do so when they are broken, whenever the budget allows
    • 42% of Australian businesses are considering procuring laptops/desktops under a lease model. However, the budget is the primary concern
  • 63% of Australia’s millennials said mobility is pivotal in laptop purchase decisions. This includes all-day battery life, lightweight, fast charging and compact size
  • Almost one-third of organisation in Australia state that more than 30% of their physical meetings are shifting online, with 72% of local organisations using a laptop for web conferencing with a built-in camera and microphone

Looking ahead to empower remote work

The survey infers that equipping employees with the latest devices that can empower remote work and hybrid work environment will significantly impact employee productivity and experience and provide a competitive edge to organisations to attract and retain talent. 

“The need for remote working increased tremendously in 2020, and there was still great uncertainty about how coronavirus will shape business in the coming years”, said Emma Ou, ASUS ANZ Country Manager. “It was these conditions that led ASUS to develop and release new, innovative technologies that will help people get back to better productivity this year, no matter where or how they are working.” 

Suggestions for Australian SMBs to implement technology :
  1. Include laptops in as-a-service agreements – Give employees their choice in devices and move away from inflexible standardised units. An as-a-service model can also provide easy access to features previously found only in enterprise-grade, custom-developed devices.
  2. Ensure employees have the right tools to do their job.  Doing away with a one-size-fits-all strategy and adopting a more personalised approach to computing by offering employees the laptop of their choice, or based on computing needs, will improve productivity and efficiency.
  3. Refresh laptops faster for better employee experience – Shorten refresh cycles of laptops to keep in step with workforce requirements and boost employee productivity and efficiency.

Find more information in our guide on which PC to buy

Survey Methodology

The “IDC Asia/Pacific Laptops and Workspace Trends Survey 2020” was conducted in mid-2020 in 10 countries across the Asia Pacific, including Australia. With 2,018 respondents across the Asia Pacific, with 200 of them from Australia – split equally between employers (IT decision-makers) and employees who use laptops for work – the survey sought to discover the critical challenges of remote working impacting SMBs and how their provisioning of laptops and other work devices has changed since mid-2020. 

Which computer should I buy?

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You need a new computer, some are $300 others are $3000. Where do you start?  What do you need?  In this guide, as we don’t understand your circumstances we cannot recommend the right computer but we will help you make that decision yourself.

PC is an abbreviation for personal computer. Personal computers allow us to write papers, create spreadsheets, track our finances, play games, and do many other things. If a PC is connected to the Internet, it can be used to browse the Web, check e-mail, communicate with friends via instant messaging programs, and download files. PCs have become such an integral part of our lives that it can be difficult to imagine life without them!

WHY do I need a new or different Computer?

The fact you are reading this guide means you are already considering a new PC. 

The most common reasons for a new PC are:

New staff member
Old PC is too slow
Old PC has failed
Existing PC will not run the program you need
PC has been written off from a financial perspective or deemed too old to continue being reliable.

The question that needs answering here is what is the difference between a PC for home versus a PC for work? Not a great deal depending on what you do for work.  These days a lot of home PCs have features built in to support gaming which is not much use at work unless you are doing graphic or video work.

A PC will not last forever and any moving part like a disk drive or fan is the most likely component to fail.

WHAT do I need to understand about a PC?

Walk into a retailer or go online and you will be presented with lots of choice and price points.  There are some key decisions you need to make upfront before we look at how to evaluate a PC.

  1. Desktop or Laptop – Laptops may also be called notebooks, which are generally slightly smaller. A Laptop is portable whilst a desktop is not.  A desktop can be more powerful, have more connection port options and upgradeable but few people except for gamers ever upgrade their desktop by replacing components. Historically desktops are cheaper for similar specifications but not always.  If the user will work away from the office they should have a laptop.
    1. Desktop – come as either a tower unit which is large upright box, compact or small form factor which places everything in a sandwich sided box, or an all-in-one which combines the components into the back of a monitor.
    1. Laptops –  are a self-sufficient solution with battery including screen, keyboard and touchpad (mouse).  Features, screen size and weight distinguish models.
  2. Operation system – Today there are four main types:
    1. Microsoft Windows – most common and will run almost every software.
    1. Apple Mac OS – traditionally favoured by creatives or anyone who has gone down the Apple ecosystem.
    1. Google Chrome – a cheaper solution that combined with a lower specified hardware set without a hard drive will perform most functions via a browser and the internet.  Popular in education today.
    1. Linux– an opensource operating system which is very cheap and generally only used in specialised applications.
  3. Tablet as PC replacement – Some modern tablets are so powerful they could be used as a laptop replacement.  When combined with a keyboard they are essentially the same with a different operating system.

As more and more applications and solutions go to the cloud, the operating system is becoming more irrelevant and all you need is to run a browser connected to the internet.  However, you do need to ensure that any specialist software or application your business will use can run on the device you buy.

HOW do choose which Personal Computer?

Now you have picked your form factor and operating system this starts to narrow down your selection.  Next, you can compare at various retailers instore or online, alternatively visit a specific manufacturers website who sell direct like HP or Dell.

Very simply the higher the specification on each of the below technologies the more expensive the PC will be. If your needs are basic the most basic solutions will do the job but we will make some recommendations below based on value for money and suitability for 3 to 4 years usage.

Key technologies include:

Screen or Monitor:  built into a laptop and often bundled with a desktop.  Similar technology as a TV.  Two factors to consider are screen size measured in inches and resolution.  For desktops, we recommend a 27-inch display with Full HD (1920×1080 pixels) resolution.  Those doing graphics or video work should consider a larger display with a 4K resolution.  More money will also buy more accurate colours.

Processor or CPU: This is your brains of the PC and will be an Intel or AMD product. The bigger the number the faster it will complete a task but at a higher cost.  A good sweet spot is an Intel Core i5. Those doing complicated mathematics or graphics should spend more money here.

Memory or RAM:  This is the PC’s short term memory. It controls how much it can remember in real-time.  8GB is the sweet-spot, however, most devices can be upgraded if not enough.

Storage or hard drive:  This is the long term memory and the place you store all your applications and files. A standard hard drive has moving parts and is cost-effective and can store large amounts of data.  A modern alternative is a solid-state drive or SSD which essentially uses computer chips to store data.  An SSD is very fast to boot and access files.  If you are using a laptop we recommend using an SSD of 256GB, if using a Desktop SSD would be good but 1 TB drive is the sweet spot.  In a desktop having both an SSD and hard drive will give you speed and greater storage.

Graphics card:  Unless you are using graphic intensive programs, we don’t suggest you need this functionality as the basics are built into the processor.  Graphics cards are very popular with home gamers.

Connections:  This is how you connect devices to your PC.  We recommend you ensure you have the following ports-

  • HDMI to connect an external monitor.
  • USB 3 to connect keyboards, mouse, printers, memory sticks, camera’s etc. Two or more ports recommended.
  • Thunderbolt (not essential but replaces both of the above).
  • WiFi is how you might connect to the internet wirelessly (see Set up a WiFi network guide).
  • Ethernet will only be required if you want a cable connection to the internet from the PC.
  • Bluetooth allows you to connect wirelessly to a mouse, keyboard or your smartphone.
  • Speakers are included in a laptop but generally needed to be added to a desktop.
  • SD card slot (not essential) makes it easy to transfer from this medium used in cameras and phones.

You will need to consider software for your new PC and further details on this can be found in our guides on office productivity software and internet security.

HINTS

Visit the gadgetguy website to see reviews and recommendations on various PC products.

How to choose a Windows laptop – a guide for home and office use 2021

Watch out for specials. As this is such a competitive market they are always around and will save you some money.

Next year’s technology will always be better so just accept your PC is out of date soon after you buy it.  However, most 3-year-old computers can handle any solutions currently available today.

Ensure you also read our guide on Backup- keeping your data safe.

Your IT support business or computer retailer can also recommend suitable models.

SUMMARY – understand the computer jargon

Buying a new PC can be a daunting task with lots of jargon and so much to choose from.  If you stick to reputable brands and understand the implications the various technologies have on the performance of a PC your decision becomes easier.  Make sure that what you buy will support the applications and solutions you need to run within your business.