Here’s what you need for your personal home office

Question: I’m starting a home business and am outfitting my office with technology to get me started. First, I’m buying a computer, but what other equipment is out there that I might need?

Answer: Well, here’s a primer of the kinds of things you might consider. It will depend on what business you are going to run, but hopefully this column will be general enough to get you started. For those out there who are just keen on tech, it might be helpful (and fun) too.

1. Personal Computer: It’s hard to get buy without at least one computer in the office these days. Chances are you are going to want several machines, perhaps one for each employee.

   There are a lot to choose from and systems have never been cheaper than they are now. While it’s impossible to explain which computer to buy for your business in only a few words, here’s a quick overview. Your first choice is to decide if you need an Apple Macintosh machine or one of the computers known as an IBM-compatible. It’s best to stick with one or the other throughout your office so it’s easy to share data files.

   IBM-compatibles, or PCs as they are more commonly known, are unified by their operating system – the software that makes them run. PCs most commonly use the Microsoft Windows operating system. Business users usually opt for either Windows 2000 or Windows XP (either the “Home” or “Professional” edition). These operating systems are very stable and will not crash with the same frequency as Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME.

   When buying a computer, a good rule of thumb for small businesses is to buy second or third best. Find out what the fastest system on the market is (measured in Gigahertz) and buy a system that is 75 to 85 per cent of that speed. That will give you a price break by not buying the newest technology, but enough power to stave off obsolescence for two to three years. The other option is, if you do not have in-house technical support, buy an extended warranty and technical support option so you can get help if you run into problems.

   Recommended manufacturers: Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and, of course, Apple. You can also consider a “white box”, a non branded machine built by a local or regional computer company.
2. Printer: Despite our best efforts, paper still rules many facets of the office. One of the key devices in your office should be a printer. When shopping for a printer, you have three categories to consider.

   Inkjet printers are the most economical option. These are printers that usually run under $500. They produce near-photo-quality colour output if you use photo paper. They also generate decent monochrome prints. One tip: Avoid the lowest-priced printers. These printers are designed for occasional use and produce prints at very slow speeds. Ink cartridges, especially for color output, run perhaps $60 to $100 a month.

   If you don’t need color and you expect to do a lot of business document printing, a laser printer might be your preferred option. Their purchase price tends to be a lot higher than inkjet printers, but the toner costs per page are far less than inkjet printers. Color laser printers are also an option, but they can run into the thousands of dollars and toner replacement can cost hundreds.

   If you need cheap color output, go for inkjet technology. If you want fast monochrome output, choose a laser printer.

   A third option is a dot matrix printer. These are pretty much obsolete for general office use, but they are useful for high volume / low quality output on rolls of specialized paper.

   There are also devices called multi-function printers. These are printers that use either laser or inkjet technology, but also double as scanners, photo copiers, and even fax machines. When you build all these features into one machine, you will be forced to compromise on speed and performance. Still, they are an economical way to get a small office equipped quickly, and they also take up less space than the group of stand-alone machines they replace.

   Recommended manufacturers: Printers: Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, and Epson. Multifunction printers: Hewlett Packard, Lexmark and Brother. To shop for any of these brands, why not try TigerDirect

3. Laptop computer: If you travel a lot, or just like to carry your computer between home and office, a laptop or notebook computer is a great tool. Expect to pay about double the amount you would pay for a desktop computer for the same power and features.
   Ultra thin laptops can weigh only a few pounds and have bigger and crisper displays than ever before. They also have external CD and floppy drives that you will need to tote around if you want full functionality.

   Heavier notebooks with these drives onboard are sometimes a better option, but if you travel a lot, they may become onerous to carry through airport terminals.

   The other option to seriously consider for a notebook computer is wireless networking capability. Using this technology, you can connect to an office or home network or link to a high speed Internet connection using radio waves instead of a cable.

   Recommended manufacturers: Toshiba, IBM and Sony.

1. Handheld Computer: These devices, also known as Personal Digital Assistants (or PDAs) have come a long way since their first incarnations.

   Today’s PDAs offer a wide array of features, including color screens, greater memory storage, and fax and e-mail capability through wireless or dial-up Internet connections.
   If you’re still keeping contact lists and agendas in leather bound binders, or on small scraps of paper, you’ll find switching to a PDA will make a huge difference in your productivity.

   When shopping for these items, you’ll have two main choices. The leader of the pack is made by Palm (early on they were know as Palm Pilots). Palm has also licenced its operating system to other vendors, so you can get a Palm-like device from companies such as Handspring, Sony, and others. If the product runs the Palm operating system, it will work with the same software as the brand-name Palm devices.

   The competition is known as the Pocket PC. These are devices that use Microsoft’s Windows CE software. Makers include Casio, Hewlett Packard, and Toshiba. Compaq also makes Pocket PCs, but their fate is unknown now that HP has acquired Compaq.

   A third option is also emerging. Some new devices use the Symbian operating system for their handheld computers. The Nokia Communicator 9290, a cellular phone/PDA hybrid, uses this operating system.

   Recommended manufacturers: Palm, Handspring, Sony, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba.

1. Cell phone: A mobile phone is perhaps the most useful device you can buy if you need to stay in constant contact.

   Today’s phones are lighter and smaller, and have greater battery life and clearer reception than their ancestors. Many have built-in organizer functions and more and more have web browsing capability.

   Let’s not forget SMS messaging which allows you to send short text messages across cellular networks. There are four national providers in Canada and perhaps as many as a dozen brands of phones. Old phones use wireless network technologies called CDMA, GSM, or TDMA. They allow phones to be used as wireless dial-up modems that can move data at up to speeds of 14.4 Kbps.

   Newer phones use GPRS or 1XRTT technology. These phones offer a potential 114 Kbps always-on data connection (which in the real world is more like 56 Kbps) for faster web-browsing and messaging. When in data mode, they also bill according to the amount of data you send and receive and not minutes connected.

   Recommended manufacturers: Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and Ericsson. Also look at the Palm Treo, a PDA/phone hybrid.

2. Digital Camera: If your business requires the use of photographs, a digital camera may be of interest. These devices allow you to snap high quality pictures and store them on your computer or print them out on color printers. The key here is to look for the megapixel rating. A two megapixel camera will give you good printouts. The higher the megapixel rating, the better the printout capability. Anything lower and you’ll find the camera only useful for taking pictures that can be viewed on a computer. Look for a camera with a mini-screen on the back so you can preview a shot after you’ve taken it. Some photo stores will allow you to take the storage cards from the camera to do printouts on photo paper.

   Recommended manufacturers: Hewlett Packard, Olympus, Nikon, and Kodak.

3. Digital recorder: Need to take notes at a meeting or transcribe a document? The perfect tool is a digital recorder/transcriber. Not only do these little wonders do away with the need for clumsy micro-cassettes, they also have longer recording times and, with certain models, the capability to transfer your recorded information to your computer via special software.

   Recommended manufacturers: Sony, RCA, and Panasonic.
4. Scanner: If you’re not taking your own pictures digitally, perhaps you need to scan images or documents for use in brochures, proposals, or even your Web site. This is another category where prices have fallen while quality has increased. New models can scan in colour documents at resolutions as high as 4800 dpi. The rule of thumb is the faster the scan speed, the higher the price, but a good scanner shouldn’t cost much more than about $300. You can also get models that can scan from color negatives or transparencies.

   Recommended manufacturers: Hewlett Packard, Agfa, and Epson.

5. High-speed Internet modem: If your work requires you to spend any time online, you owe it to yourself and your staff to get a faster connection than dialup. The two most dominant technologies in the high speed arena are cable and DSL (or Digital Subscriber Line) which works across a phone line without interrupting voice calls.

   Both work on a similar principle and offer comparable speed – somewhere in the ballpark of 10 to 20 times faster than a 56 Kbps dialup modem. Most big cities have several high speed service providers with a wide range of packages and prices for both the home user and the small business operator. Your Internet service provider will rent or sell you a high-speed Internet modem that works with their service.

   Recommended manufacturers: Typically, look to you local phone or cable company for these services. There are also some independent providers that may offer more competitive pricing and better service.

6. Internet gateway: These devices allow you to share a high speed Internet connection among multiple computers. They also create a small office network so that you can move files between computers and share printers and other devices. Some routers offer wireless connectivity too, so you can use your laptop or a PC with the network (within about 300 feet) without hooking up cables. Internet gateways, which cost between $150 and $350, also have built-in firewalls to protect your network from Internet snoopers.

   Recommended manufacturers: D-Link, Linksys and 3Com. Check TigerDirect for some of these manufacturers products.