On "the cloud" and laptops
I am considering buying an Ipad and using a cloud for all my business needs. I currently use quickbooks for my accounting, MS Word/pdf for my word processing and art files, and excel for my inventory management. I am looking for an efficient way to operate my business from any location and have my files readily accessible but stored securely and safely by a vendor. What is your recommendation?
I found this to be a common enough and intriguing enough set of questions (I had to put some bit of thought into the matter) that I felt it worthwhile to share my answer:
You don't need an iPad to put all your business works "in the cloud". You could just as well use a laptop. The iPad is mad insane cool, but mostly for what it's good for. I wouldn't want to write anything major on it, or spend too much time on heavy spreadsheets--the platform is too limited and typing is a giant pain. For occasional work, occasional e-mail sending (reading is OK mostly) and reading ebooks and using the nifty over-the-air apps, it's the bee's knees. But as a primary method of accessing my business data? No. For much less you can get a reasonable laptop with Windows 7 on it and a 4G wireless card and be almost-on everywhere.That having been said, as an ADJUNCT to a main computer, if you have the spare cash around, get the iPad. I certainly wouldn't say no to one.
Since I wrote this, of course, Google announced a pilot program of their Cr-48 Chrome-netbook, but that's probably not ready for prime-time yet, and I wouldn't recommend that as a primary business platform.
Anyway:
There are a number of possibilities. Quickbooks offers an over-the-web solution. Google has an enterprise service that's mostly free (you can pay extra but I'm not sure what exactly you get) and if you don't like them, there are other web-only document stores. Zoho is another service I've heard of (www.zoho.com) and they provide a HUGE suite of services, from office replacements to CRM to invoicing and ticket systems.
And we always have the obligatory mention of how things are stored.
"[S]ecurely and safely" is always the issue. Do you trust Google to not leak your data? (Is it any worse or more likely than you losing your laptop?) I have quite a client who has more than the USRDA of paranoia and simply won't allow his sensitive business data to be "stored in the cloud". Yet, his mail is on AOL's servers. (Go figure.) Your mail is likely to be on someone else's servers...
After all that, the next question is, of course:
Ok can you recommend an applicable laptop?
Now there's a loaded subjective question!
Realistically -- how much do you want to spend on it, and what else do you think you'll be doing on it, and how will you be using it? Laptops vary widely in durability and battery longevity.
Knowing what the intended use is, is key. In real life, not everything is a nail.
I think that the most important thing in the laptop is actually its physical usability: if you're using it mostly away from your favorite mouse and keyboard, can you work for periods at a time on the built-in keyboard and mouse combo? Is there enough screen real-estate to do everything you want to do simultaneously? Do you want a little IBM-nubby pointing device or can you live with the trackpad (or will you be bringing your own mouse?)
and
Most everything else in a laptop is configurable (CPU, memory, disk, operating system) but the keyboard/video/mouse are whatever they are.
These are actually pretty key. With a desktop system, you have many possibilities for customization. With a laptop, you're really locked in to a physical form. You're probably not going to want to carry along extra keyboards and mice. If you don't like they keyboard, and it's not comfortable, you're out of luck.
I know shopping this time of year is a pain, but my strong suggestion is to walk into one of those large electronics stores (Frys, Best Buy, even Staples) and try out the keyboards. Once you find a model you like, you can go online and find the best price for it. (It might be that the promotions running now at the stores match the amount of money you had wanted to spend on the laptop, and you just walk out with a model you love.)
This is about the most important part: since you're not able to upgrade the physical device much, make sure it's one you like.
The other things I'd recommend:
- Windows 7 64 bit operating system (or other 64-bit OS -- if the Mac does it for you, they make wonderful workstations, but they're pricey!)
- At least 3 GB RAM
- At least 320GB hard drive
- Everyone nowadays has built-in wireless, but having built-in 801.22n (the newest "standard") is the latest-greatest.
- A DVD+RW is almost standard in laptops costing over $300, if you're into watching blu-ray DVDs on your laptop it will cost you a bit extra.
Finally, if you don't have a backup/restoral plan, you don't have a system. You have a disaster waiting to happen:
I'd also recommend a backup device, although if you're really going whole-hog into the cloud, online backup services are available.
And, remember that these things do not live forever, and you probably don't want to keep them forever, and if you really want to be portable, remember that batteries do have a lifetime, and you can't always get batteries for older machines. This may make you shy away from smaller-brand laptops towards the HP/Lenovo/Dell axis, where there is more likelihood that parts will be available for years to come. You don't want to be buying used batteries&endash;that way lies madness.
The other thing is that laptop longevity is only about 3-4 years (much less if you shlep the thing around with you a lot) and battery life does degrade over time (so if you need to use the machine a lot away from 120 VAC, you'll want to make sure you get a spare battery.
This whole process was actually good for me, because clarifying what to buy and how to use it (and committing it to writing) helped discover some shortcomings in the way I, and many others, had been doing IT purchasing and provisioning.