Upgrading vs. Buying New

I have started to see more and more upgrading of desktops and laptops over the last few months. Additional memory and hard drive space seem to be the norm right now. The great thing is that memory prices for older machines using DDR 667 or 800 Mhz are at an all time low. I have seen 1gb modules going for as low as $15 per chip. You could add 2gb of memory for as little as $30!!!
Adding additional hard drive space is just as inexpensive. The Western Digital 80gb SATA drive (WD800AAJS) is being shown advertised on several sites for $39.99.
New sales on laptops and desktops appear to be lagging and manufacturers have reduced the pricing on several models. Even Apple has been in the discount mood lately. There are some very good deals for these machines. You just need to know where to look.

Happy Monday!

IBM looking into the Sun

IBM has made a $6.5 billion offer to acquire Sun Microsystems.
This is pocket change for IBM and makes sense. The services arm of IBM can only increase the value of Sun Microsystems. This also fits in with IBM server line and provides another option. Sun has had some tough times getting their product exposure. IBM will be able to market the heck out of it.
Enjoy the day!

Windows 7: The Versions

The latest version of Windows from Microsoft will have two main flavors.
Windows 7 Home Premium for the consumer and Windows 7 Professional for the business customers. There will be one upgrade sku from Home to Professional. This should make things easy to upgrade.
There will be a Windows Starter 7 and Windows 7 Home Basic but these are only going to be offered to OEM partners.
Windows 7 Enterprise will be for the largest enterprise customers and will only be available through Volume Licensing Agreements.
More information can be found here: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/02/04/a-closer-look-at-the-windows-7-skus.aspx

Have a great week!

HP Drivers for XP and Vista

There has been a lot of problems lateley with people being able to find drivers for their XP and Vista operating systems. These links should help for the HP user.

Here is a link to the drivers for the HP DC7900 desktop.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=3785038&taskId=135&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=3785403&submit.y=4&submit.x=5&lang=en&cc=us

Here is a link to type in any HP product to download drivers.
http://www.hp.com/sbso/bussupport.html

Have a happy Friday Eve!

Ruckus Wireless...what is it?

Not very often does a product come along that makes me say, "It's about time!"
Ruckus Wireless has a wireless access point that actually pinpoints the user. Instead of a broadcast signal over an area, the access point looks for the users and aims the wireless signal at them. This is perfect for "hotspots," hotels, schools, airports and medium-sized business with little or no IT staff. They are claiming plug and play capability with little intervention.
Here is a link for more information.
http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex/7942/

Advertised pricing starts at $799 but a reseller could get you a better deal.
Let me know if you have any questions or need a quote.

Happy Wednesday!