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As businesses grow, their needs can change. One year a multi-function printer/fax is sufficient, the next you may need a standalone printer, photocopier and wireless network, so keeping up to date with a computer rental may save you time and money.

Cash flow is king

Computer rental is about cash flow improvement., you don’t have that big investment going out at one time.
and computer rental also enables you to keep up with the latest technology. You’re not looking at a significant investment every time you need to upgrade your equipment.

Afford more

If equipment costs less, logically you can afford more of it.
A growing business may need a network printer for each department, rather than one for the entire organisation. Instead of borrowing money or waiting for the financial stars to align, renting additional printers puts them in the office immediately.
Further, renting leaves cash free and lines of credit open for other business expenses.

Project specific

Take the example of an architecture firm contracted to produce the working drawings for a new office building, with additional staff employed casually to help meet the tight deadline.
Buying new desktop computers and software for each new staff member, who is only to be employed for three months, would cost thousands of dollars.

Renting the equipment:

1. prevents a surplus of computing equipment sitting unused once the project is finished
2. means short-term, fixed-price equipment supply can be factored into project costs
3. means tax deductions for rental fees.
4. protects the business from a short-term cost shock.

In the rapidly evolving world of business, reacting swiftly to change can be the key to boosting income or going broke. While buying your office technology gives you certainty and builds your asset base, there are times when computer rental may be a smarter move.

Contact PCRetro Rentals today for your free quote and solutions on how we can help your business grow affordably.

PCRetro rentals has several projectors available to rent such as the Toshiba TLP-470 Portable Desktop Projector or the SONY VPL-PX40 SuperBright 3500 ANSI LUMEN LCD Data Projector for the big upcoming game! If you are not ready, then you should be. Our rentals are affordable and we can rent on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Just let us know your needs and we will be more than happy to come up with a package that suits you, and your occasion. We can help you set up, and tear down as well if needed. Don’t get stuck out in the cold on superbowl Sunday… have all your friends over and enjoy the game projected on a LARGE scale! Contact us today at marcia@pcretrorentals.com

Want to save money? want to have what you need, when you need it? want to be able to produce a smashing presentation? need to use a mac for a school project or photo editing? Want to use a high end, business class computer or laptop for a specific need? then we can help. At PCRetro Rentals we can tailor a contract to fullfill your needs within your budget. Not only will you save money! Let us help you today. Fill out your information on our contact us page for your free quote today!

Let PCRetro Rentals help you with your upcoming trade show! We can rent Projectors with as high as 4000 lumens, Projector screens, laptops to run your powerpoint slide shows, or contact us and we can help you decide what you need. Whether it’s a D610 wireless laptop for presentations or a Toshiba M200 tablet PC for mobility for your presentation. We can help you with all your needs at a price that is less than most Metro DC competetors! Contact us today to work out a rental plan that works for you!

With the introduction of Windows Vista and Windows 7, one might be concerned with simple things such as ” will this work with my printer?”, ” will it still run my software?”. Windows vista let us know that sometimes, it’s not always easy upgrading to a new operating system. At PCRetro Rentals, we can rent you a desktop or laptop that will help you with the upgrading process. I have heard that to load the Windows 7 upgrade to a computer that is running Windows Vista, Microsoft’s site ask’s that you upgrade a “clean install”, which means a hard drive that has been formatted. Microsoft is asking you to lose all your data to upgrade? Odd? I think so. If you rent a desktop or laptop from us, you can back up your important information to a working, running, windows XP system, and then later on transfer that irreplaceable data to your new system running Windows 7.
No matter what your needs. We can help you. From simple weekend presentations to months long training. Contact us today and let us tailor a rental agreement to suit your needs. http://www.pcretrorentals.com/contact-us/

Heres a few tips and tricks to upgrading or migrating to the new Windows 7 operating system that is due to hit stores, and computers on October 22, 2009.

1. The Upgrade Is Worth It
We’ve written about Windows 7’s strong points as well as the weaker points of Windows 7. On balance, we’re confident saying this is the best Microsoft operating system yet. If you’re running any earlier version of Windows, you’ll almost certainly want to upgrade — and you should feel no hesitation about buying new computers preloaded with Windows 7.

2. But It Will Cost You
Apple offers an upgrade to its latest operating system, Snow Leopard, for $30 — and you can even take advantage of it if you don’t have the previous version, Leopard. Not so with Microsoft: You’ll need to pay $120 for the upgrade — or even more, depending on which version you get (unless, of course, you’re a smart shopper and can find a discounted price. See tips 6 and 7 below for details on which version to buy and how to find discounts.) As with previous versions of Windows, Microsoft has created a bewildering array of variations.

3. Double-Check Compatibility With Your Hardware
Paranoid about losing access to some of your third-party accessories and software after upgrading? You should be, at least a little bit. Microsoft claims Windows 7 will work smoothly with most third-party gadgets and software, but to be on the safe side, you should check out the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. The tool automatically scans your system and provides a report of any potential issues that arise, as well as steps to resolve them.

4. Scout for Computers Shipping With Windows 7
If you’ve been shopping for a new computer — but waiting for Windows 7 to come out first — there’s a Microsoft tool to help search for new computers that ship with Windows 7. It’s called PC Scout, and it searches for computers based on your preferences. As of this writing, the results don’t bring up Windows 7 systems (since Windows 7 isn’t officially released yet), but the website clarifies all the computers listed in the database are eligible for a Windows 7 upgrade. That means if you purchase one of those computers today, all you have to pay is $10 for shipping, and you get the Windows 7 upgrade free. By the time Windows 7 ships, the PC Scout should be showing results for computers that include Windows 7.

Amazon customers shopping for Windows 7 computers: There’s a web page just for you. Amazon breaks down lists of netbooks, notebooks and desktops specifically shipping with Windows 7, so definitely check those out.

5. Upgrading From XP? Back up Your Data, Wipe and Migrate
Windows XP users cannot do a straight upgrade; they’ll have to back up their files, format their hard drive and perform a clean install. After your fresh copy of Windows 7 is on your computer, Microsoft offers a tool called Easy Transfer to migrate your files.

(If you’re a Vista user, you’ll be able to upgrade without doing a clean install — though fresh installations are generally recommended for optimal performance anyway whenever you switch to a new operating system.)

6. Know What You Want
Disregard the awful, intimidating Windows 7 upgrade chart when you’re picking a version to buy. Choosing the right version really isn’t as complicated as Microsoft has made it sound in the past. Consumers: The vast majority of you should go with Windows 7 Home Premium. Business users: Most of you will want to go with Windows 7 Professional. (There’s a Windows 7 Ultimate edition, but that’s aimed at a very niche audience of ultra geeks who want to do everything they could possibly imagine doing with their computers.) Again, if you want to be safe, use the Upgrade Advisor to check your hardware and software compatibility.

7. Look for Limited-Time Discounts
If you’re buying Windows 7 while it’s brand new, you shouldn’t be paying the full price. Microsoft and its partners are holding a weeklong sale called “7 Days of Windows 7.” Companies offering Windows 7 discounts with Microsoft include Best Buy, Dell and Acer. You can sign up to hear about daily offers on Windows.com. Also, you can check discount-aggregation sites such as PriceGrabber.com or Froogle.com to find the cheapest Windows 7 deals.

** Credit to www.wired.com for these helpful hints.

I think that this will make blackberry much more user friendly for Mac users and could boost blackberry sales.

BlackBerry Desktop software, currently available only for Windows, is coming to the Mac.
(Credit: RIM)
At long last, Research In Motion is bringing its BlackBerry Desktop software to Mac OS X.
In a blog post on Monday, RIM announced that a version of its smartphones’ desktop software will be released this September for Apple computers.
According to the smartphone maker, users will be able to sync their iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts, notes, and tasks from their Mac. They will also have the option of adding applications, updating the BlackBerry when new software is made available, and managing multiple handsets on their Apple computers.

BlackBerry Mac software will let you sync your BlackBerry with iTunes.
(Credit: RIM)
Although users will be excited to know BlackBerry software is finally coming to their Mac, some of those users might not be satisfied. RIM said only Mac OS X versions 10.5.5 and up will be supported, meaning that Mac users who haven’t updated Leopard or those running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger likely won’t be able to run the software.
Unlike iPhone software, which can be installed in both Windows PCs and Macs, RIM’s BlackBerry software has been available only for Windows; a third-party tool has been required to enable communication between Macs and BlackBerrys.
If you want to be notified when the software is available when it’s released in September, you’ll need to sign up on RIM’s Mac page.

I was looking into the next wave of processors for computers and found this. I cant wait to see what happens if this goes beyond the Core Duo Family.

“Waiting for a Core i7 laptop? While Intel is slated to release its first mobile “Nehalem” Core i7 processor in the coming months, the desktop counterpart has already spawned a cottage industry of benchmark-busting laptops.
“It’s completely revitalized the desktop replacement laptop,” said Kelt Reeves, president of enthusiast PC maker Falcon Northwest, referring to designs that have shoehorned a desktop Core i7 processor into a laptop enclosure.
At the very high end of Falcon Northwest’s lineup, interest has shifted to models with the Core i7 processor and away from models oriented around extreme-performance graphics cards, Reeves said.

Falcon Northwest laptop can use Core i7 processors running at speeds up to 3.33GHz
(Credit: Falcon Northwest)
For instance, the Falcon Northwest FragBook DRX Core i7-based models come with Nvidia’s lower-performance GeForce GTX 280M graphics processor instead of the higher-end Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology, which uses two graphics chips. But performance has actually improved in many cases, Reeves said.
“It’s a much better balance of a very-high-powered CPU and a very-high-powered graphics card,” he said.
Only at the highest settings in popular games like Crysis and World in Conflict did laptops using older Intel Core 2 processors with SLI graphics offer any competition to the Core i7 models, according to Reeves.

AVADirect Clevo D900F Core i7 laptop: a lot of processing power means a lot of fans (count ‘em: 4)
(Credit: CNET Reviews)
But it may be too charitable to call these laptops. Sheer size and heat dissipation requirements almost defy laptop categorization. “There’s a huge set of heat pipes and copper cooling fins and fans needed to duct out all that power,” Reeves said.
Falcon Northwest is not the only company selling large luggable, heat-spewing laptops. CNET Reviews looked at the AVADirect Clevo D900F Core i7 laptop with the same Nvidia graphics processor and said that “the D900F handily topped all of the other performance laptops we’ve tested. Its processing results were more on par with the Alienware Area-51 X58 gaming desktop (using a 3.2GHz Intel Core i7 chip).”
Smooth Creations and CyberPower, among others, also offer laptops based on the Core i7 processor.
So when will the real deal appear? The first processor designated officially as a Nehalem mobile processor from Intel is expected to emerge by October. Code-named Clarksfield, it will be a quad-core processor, like the current desktop i7, but not impose the kind of thermal stress on the laptop enclosure that the current i7 does. Clarksfield is expected to have a thermal envelope (referred to as Thermal Design Power) that is below half of the current i7, which is rated at 130 watts for the highest-end processor.
Benchmark results for the Falcon Northwest Core i7 laptop are here.”

Credits to CNET.com for this Article

Saying current operating systems were designed for a time when there was no World Wide Web, Google Inc. said Wednesday it will develop a new one based on its Chrome browser.

The new operating system puts Google more squarely in competition with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), which relies on its Windows operating system for more than half its revenue.

“Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems,” the Mountain View search giant (NASDAQ:GOOG) said on its official blog.

The new operating system is separate from Google’s Android OS that is designed for smartphones, netbooks and set-top boxes.

The company described the Chrome OS as an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks but will later be running on full-size desktop computers, too. The first of the netbook computers are projected to be available to consumers in the second half of 2010.

Google said it plans to open source the code for the operating system later this year and it is already talking to partners about the project, which is why it has gone public about it at this time.

“We hear a lot from our users, and their message is clear: computers need to get better,” the company said in its blog.

-credits to washington business journal for this article

Here are five common-sense techniques and strategies to solve common computer hardware problems.

(1) Trial-and-error

Personal computers are highly modular by design. The most powerful trouble-shooting technique is to isolate the problem to a specific component by trial-and-error. Swap compatible components and see if the system still works. Try different peripherals on different machines and see if the same problem occurs. Make one change at a time.

(2) “It’s the cable, s—–.”

More than 70% of all computer problems are related to cabling and connections. Ensure all cables are connected firmly. IDE and floppy ribbon cables and power cables can often go loose. Ensure microprocessor, memory modules, and adapters such as video card and sound card are inserted correctly and didn’t “pop-up” during transportation.

(3) Don’t be frustrated!

Don’t be afraid of computer problems. It is often the best opportunity to learn. Trouble-shooting is part of the fun of owning a computer. Imagine the satisfaction you could get by solving a problem yourself.

Of course the fun could ran out quickly once you are frustrated and have spent too much time on the same problem. If you feel frustrated, it’s time to leave it for a while and go back with some new ideas or call someone who can help. Rule of thumb: You shouldn’t spend more than three hours on the same problem at one time.

(4) Take notes!

Take notes of what you have done and all the error messages. You may need to use them later. For instance, when you see an unusual blue screen with an error message, copy the entire message onto a piece of paper. In many situations, that message may point to the right direction in getting the problem solved quickly.

(5) Take a look?

It’s OK to open a computer case and take a look inside. There is only 5V and 12V DC voltage supplied to the components outside the power supply. Those who have never seen the inside of a computer are often amazed by how simple it looks. Of course, still always power down and unplug the power cord first.