What Quality Hardware has to do With My Omelets – and Your Business

Posted by: Brett Bisbe

I have always enjoyed cooking. Though I have tried working on a variety of different culinary subsets, my specialties generally hover around the grill and the breakfast table. To the surprise of many friends, I even went through a salad phase – finding fun different ways to make them; I was never able to enjoy eating one. These days, since I don’t have a grill at home (birthday present idea!) and our three young children don’t allow me to sleep in on Saturdays, breakfast has become my main focus. It took years of testing to cook the perfect pancake; both the recipe and cooking method took time to get right. Omelets were a bit easier – the focus needs to be on using the correct cooking method and using fresh ingredients; as long as they are fresh, it is easy to find a good combination of tastes.

With both pancakes and omelets, there is one common denominator that can quickly determine the success of your culinary project: the frying pan. Both breakfast foods will be ruined immediately if the food sticks to the pan in any way. They must be able to cook evenly and cleanly, gliding effortlessly across the pan. And while I am a big fan of using bacon grease to ensure that ease of movement during cooking, with a low quality frying pan it won’t matter – you’ll either end up with scrambled eggs or ripped pancakes. When you have the right pan, you’ll know – and your taste buds will thank you for it. I go so far as to have a dedicated frying pan that I only use for pancakes and omelets; it is not allowed to be used for any other prep. It is set apart, dedicated for quality breakfast use. I was also willing to pay a little more for this frying pan, as not all frying pans are created equal. Personally, I prefer Calphalon and their non-stick line of pans. The evidence of patience, a willingness to try and learn, and good quality hardware can be seen below.

The choice between high-end or lower quality hardware is a discussion that reaches far beyond the breakfast table. This is a discussion that ranges from the garage to the salon to the office and even the sports arena, let alone everywhere else in between. You can pick almost any produced item and find a range of qualities and prices for each. Look inside a sports store and you will see jerseys for your favorite team. Cheaper knock-offs will be displayed right along with high-end replicas, actual game quality jerseys and even officially used (and sometimes autographed) merchandise. Prices will be marked accordingly. It is a uniquely personal decision to choose which level is right for you, and sometimes the decision may change depending on the situation. Out of habit, however, people tend to gravitate towards the quality level that makes them feel most comfortable.

Quality Hardware in the IT World

This range exists in the information technology world as well. A PCWorld author wrote that they “compared similarly configured consumer and business laptop offerings from several major laptop vendors, and found several good reasons for home users to consider business laptops–including more configuration options and better warranties. But it isn’t always a cut-and-dried decision.” There are definitely advantages to choosing quality over price and vice-versa. The question I am asking, though, relates to your business security.

Competing for survival in a world that shows no mercy challenges a business to make every decision count. Wasted money (whether it is spent on cheap junk or overpriced luxury) is never a good decision and will drastically effect your bottom line. So what is the right decision? I encourage you, as a business person to read the article I linked above in PCWorld. Though written more for a consumer, the principles it offers will greatly help in your ability to make smart decision when purchasing hardware; especially when the understanding the hardware is more complicated than learning a foreign language. This is one of the reasons that companies like B2 Technology Solutions exist; the choices out there are vast and ever-expanding, making it almost unreasonable for an average person to determine what is the best choice for them or their business.

B2 Recommends Using Quality Hardware

We here at B2 do take a particular side in this argument, however. The willingness to pay more upfront almost always pays dividends in a longer life-span for that machine as well as the lack of cost in repair and maintenance. In other words, while a good craftsman never blames his tools, a smart craftsman knows not to use low quality tools. I can promise that Tiger Woods doesn’t get his golf clubs from Walmart.

B2 is one of the few managed service firms that will work with any piece of equipment your company buys, we do have our recommendations. Many clients of ours have asked why we usually recommend Lenovo products. The reason is simple: their business line quality hardware is tough to beat – literally. Take a look at this quote from PCWorld. “Lenovo’s ThinkPad line of business laptops are military-spec-tested to endure heat, humidity, pressure, shock, and other extremes so that the laptops can survive anything business travelers and outdoor workers toss at them. (Seriously, Lenovo testers even throw laptops out of airplanes.)”

While you may not be throwing your laptop out of an airplane, you may work in a more humid environment. Maybe the laptop will spend a lot of time in your car, and in southwest Florida, that can be quite the oven. We don’t want you to spend money for money’s sake and have before recommended the cheaper option to clients in the right situation, but as a general rule our client statistics have shown that a company’s willingness to buy better quality hardware will pay off in the long run. B2 doesn’t require our clients to purchase what we recommend, but those that do don’t regret the decision. I was certainly nervous the first time I spent $75 dollars for a single frying pan, yet it was absolutely a good decision. What risk are you willing to take with your business hardware – with that computer that is vital to the success and life of your business?