I’m probably not going to make a lot of friends among computer manufacturers with this posting.

Let’s face it: computers are as important to your business today as, say, electricity. But unlike electricity, you’re kind of on your own when it comes to keeping everything up and running.

So here’s my recommendation for your computer needs: buy used.

Before you click away, let me explain why.

I started doing this a little over a year ago for my small business, DaVero, and I can’t tell you how much it has simplified everyone’s life – especially mine!

It works well for us because our computing needs are modest (and I’m guessing yours are, too). We run a common set of software on all of our machines:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), although we’re starting to experiment with OpenOffice, a free, open-source alternative that so far looks like it meets 100% of our needs, and we’re also moving to web-based email because it’s accessible from anywhere
• a web browser (we like Firefox better than Internet Explorer, so we load both)
• Adobe Acrobat
• Anti-virus (we use NOD32 from Eset because it works well and runs much faster than Norton or MacAfee)
• Automatic backup (we use Backup for Workgroups – great product)
• Skype (for instant messaging and occasional outbound calling)

All of our computers run Windows XP Professional, a mature, stable operating system that we keep automatically patched. For us, there is absolutely no reason to run Vista.

If you’ve worked in a big company, this may be familiar to you: everyone runs the same software, and has the same machine. Generally that machine is an IBM/Lenovo or a Dell – not the consumer or ‘small business’ line, but the ‘enterprise’ line.

The key characteristic of the ‘enterprise’ machines is that they change very slowly, which means the enterprise can buy the same device for as much as a couple of years. This translates into huge savings in terms of support, because not only are the machines all the same, they’re also designed to be easily-maintained, with readily-interchangeable parts.

But eventually, the line is replaced by the next generation. And that’s where you want to be! Let me illustrate.

I’m a big believer in the value of laptops over desktops, because very few people are tied to a desk anymore. And even if they are, smaller is generally better. In particular, I’m a big fan of the ThinkPad T-series laptops from IBM/Lenovo. This is their ‘enterprise’ line, with great keyboards, top-quality components, and hard drives. They’re also lightweight and built to last.

The current ThinkPad generation is the T60 family. By the time you’re done configuring it, it runs anywhere from $1,100 to well over $2,000 – it’s tough to resist the upgrades! – plus tax and shipping.

The last generation was the T40 family (T40, T41, T42, and T43, with the best ones carrying a ‘P’ suffix – T43P, for example). You can buy reconditioned T41s and T42s on eBay for around $650, or about half of what a typical T61 costs.

The generation before was the T30 family (T30, T32), and that’s where we’ve standardized. I’ve consistently been able to buy reconditioned systems with a gigabyte of memory, a 40GB hard drive (unless you’re doing a lot of video or photo work, that’s plenty), a high-resolution screen (1440×1050, known as SXGA+), built-in WiFi a/b (faster than your DSL connection), and XP Pro for about $400, delivered, from reputable sellers on eBay. If you’re patient, sometimes you can find 5-packs for even less per machine.

The machines arrive completely cleaned – a new install of the operating system, and that’s it. So I spend an hour or so installing our standard configuration; of course, that’s time I’d spend even if I were buying a brand-new machine.

(I take some of the savings and spend it on big LCD monitors, because that’s the most important part of the computer to our users.)

Everyone in the company who uses a computer has one, plus we have two spares. So if something goes wrong we just put the hard drive into one of the spares (it takes less than a minute). On the rare occasion that a hard drive dies, we simply restore the backup onto one of the spares and the person is up and running – typically in less than an hour.

While we save a fair amount of money this way, the big win is in minimized downtime. We’re so dependent on computers for so much of what we do that productivity for that person goes to zero while they wait to get back up. I may as well send them home.

So far this has worked really well. The failure rate for the refurbished machines seems no higher than for new ones, and people don’t panic when their computer acts up.

Which leaves them free to focus on their job.

Update 2007-12-20

If you think I’m kidding about sticking with Windows XP, see this fantastic review on the Coding Sanity blog about “Upgrading from Vista to XP.” Yes, it’s funny, but it is also dead on.

Update 2008-01-30

Here’s an interesting alternative approach that holds costs down, from David Strom of Baseline magazine.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.