Let’s take the new HP Z Series workstations. These are the Z420, Z620 and Z820. The HP Z420 is the ‘entry level’ workstation but still offs a whopping 8 Cores, 2^nd Generation Xeon Processor and a 64GB RAM maximum! As the ‘entry level’ HP Z Series workstation this is still an incredible piece of machinery that is ideal for Design and CAD work. Available from HardSoft Computers at £11.80 + vat per week on lease. The HP Z820 is the best and most exciting of the new Z Series range. The Z820 boasts 16 Cores, up to 14TB of storage and up to an AMAZING 512GB of RAM! This is also available on business leasing from HardSoft and priced at £25.80 + vat per week.

For my second example I am going to stay on the new HP Z Series range, and this time HP have taken the Graphics Workstation to a whole new level !  The have release the HP Z1 ALL-IN-ONE Graphics Workstation. The Z1 is a stylish 27” All-in-One Graphics workstation, with a sleek 27” Display and much different to the dull and boring chassis on the Z420, Z620 and Z820; and set to rival the famous Apple iMac. Available with either an Core i3 Processor or the new 2^nd Generation Xeon Processors, the Z1 starts at £15.70 + vat per week on lease from HardSoft Computers.

Right, so that is Graphics Workstations out of the way. However if you are after a more basic PC, HardSoft have and exciting option for those too! The new ASUS V6 Tower PC is perfect for the ‘admin type’ machine and also perfect for small-medium networks! With specs available from a Dual Core 2.6GHz 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive – all the way up to a Core i7-2600, 8GB RAM and 1TB Hard Drive. These are a fantastic new option for low-end PC users who are trying to cut costs. So, what are the costs you ask ? Well, the new ASUS V6 Tower PC starts at just £2.80 + vat per week on a Flexible Lease basis. The standard PC in our 5-user and 10-user networks has been upgrade to an i3 CPU at no extra weekly lease cost.

Leasing includes three years warranty and support and the option to upgrade and renew during the contract – much like a mobile phone contract. Leasing PC’s is increasingly popular as it offers an alternative purchase method to just buying that has tax advantages and is great for cash flow. Insurance is available as well. For more information or for a quote, please contact our sales team on 01279 718 693 or email sales@hardsoft.co.uk.

As I blogged about the HP Z1 recently ; this blog is going to focus on the revolutionary product that is the ULTRABOOK.  An Ultrabook is different from your standard laptop and has to have a certain specification to fall into the Ultrabook category. For example, it has to be less than 20mm in thickness, less than 1.4KG, long battery life (5-8hrs) and a Solid State Drive. An SSD is highly robust and far faster than traditional hard drives. So, the Ultrabook is perfect for people of the business world that travel a lot and like portable machine, but don’t want to lose much in specification. AND how they have gone DOWN in price!

HardSoft Computers can offer all of these lightweight laptops on their Flexible Finance Lease.Very much the ‘entry level’ Ultrabook is the Asus Zenbook. I say entry level, however, it is still packed with a Core i5-2467M Processor, 4GB RAM, a 128GB Solid State Drive and Windows 7 Professional. Available on a Flexible Finance Lease from HardSoft Computers (as are all of the Ultrabooks) the Asus Zenbook is now £7.45 + VAT per week over 3 years. The ‘Gadget Show’ voted this as their favourite PC Ultrabook based on looks.

If you want a ‘high-specced’ Ultrabook, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300S is definitely the Ultrabook of choice! With an extremely fast Core i7-2677M Processor, 4GB RAM and a 256GB Solid State Drive, this is the ‘cream of the crop’ of the Ultrabook wrld. AND it is just £10.90 + VAT per week on lease. This is currently the only i7 based Ultrabook available.

Our computer leasing packages include three years warranty and support with ownership at the end of the lease  for just £1. Your Ultrabook or MacBook Air is highly desirable and we also offer computer insurance against theft or accidental damage.  For more information on Ultrabooks and if you wish to request a quotation, please call any of our sales team on 01279 718693 or email sales@hardsoft.co.uk.

The portable Wacom Cintiq 12WX allows users to neatly fit this on their desk and use almost as a sketchbook. Available on a Flexi-Lease from Hardsoft Computers, it’s cost is £7.80 + VAT per week on a 3 Year Flexible Lease. The larger Wacom Cintiq 21UX is impressively easy to use. The new Grip Pen and Expresskeys function enables you to work quickly and accurately. The Cintiq 21UX has a large 21.3” Anti Glare TFT display which reclines for 65 to 10 degress and rotates 180 degrees for either portrait or landscape orientation. Slightly more expensive than its smaller sister, it is £14.80 + VAT per week on lease.

The latest addition being the Wacom Cintiq 24HD uses the same technology as The new Apple iPad giving you a massive 24-inch 1920 x 1200 widescreen IPS panel. The Cintiq 24HD floats in any position from above your lap to a stand up position depending how creative you feel. The Wacom Cintiq 24HD has excellent performance with no lag or delay between drawing and calibration. Its smooth and fast and may even be better than drawing on paper.

All three of the Wacom Cintiq range interact perfectly with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and many other paint programs. Hardsoft Computers continue to offer all the best peripherals and software for your Apple Mac or PC on a unique Flexible Lease Finance Scheme that allows you to pay just one month upfront and change the equipment every 2 years. Coupling this with a full telephone and remote technical support desk based in the UK you will never have any costly repair bills.  For Graphics Professionals the Wacom Cintiq is not an option it’s a MUST. For a quote or more information, please email sales@hardsoft.co.uk or phone 01279 718 693. With a Retail Store now OPEN in Cheshire Street (just off Brick Lane) feel free to pop in and have a chat with one of our Flexi-Lease Sales People!

A recent install was for Hutton Cranswick Primary School in Yorkshire. The head teacher had taken the bold decision to replace his entire PC solution with twenty  Apple iMacs built around a Mac mini Server. They were fed up with the reliability issues he was having with his PCs. HardSoft installed the entire solution with engineers on site for 3 days.

In order for the school to be able to use some legacy software that was Windows based only we loaded each Apple iMac with Parallels 7 and a Windows 7 licence. This allowed both students and teachers the best of both worlds. We also loaded each machine with Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac and office 2010 for PC giving the school a comprehensive Apple Mac and Windows environment.

In the ICT suite HardSoft  installed LanSchool, this piece of software gives the teacher ultimate control over the entire class’ screens; allowing them to lock them whilst they are talking; check what the students are doing; and to help them without leaving the head of the class.

The whole solution and installation was put onto an Operating lease paid annually in advance, meaning that the school adhered to the rules laid out by the Local Authority and Department of Education; but still got the most up to date system by using their budgets wisely.

We offer everything from Apple iMac to PCs to interactive whiteboards to schools so if this is something of interest please contact our schools finance and leasing expert Steve Hill steve@hardsoft.co.uk so he can look at sorting a package for your school. Leasing that is available to schools is becoming harder to find but Hardsoft with twenty five years history can provide the right hardware, installed and supported by certified engineers with a finance and operating lease solution that suits a School and its budget.

Anyway, enough about the amazing design of the Z1, and now onto what it’s like on performance. The entry level HP Z1 comes with a Dual-Core i3-2120 Processor, a maximum of 32GB RAM and Intel HD 2000 Graphics. As already explained, this machine would be £15.70 + VAT on a Flexi-Lease.

However, by far the most exciting specifications of the Z1 are the brand new 2^nd Generation Xeon Processors. (not yet available on any Apple Mac) Firstly is the E3-1245 2^nd Generation Xeon Processor running 3.3GHz, with 8GB RAM and a 1TB Hard Drive as standard. Also as standard is a NVIDIA Quadro 1000M 2GB Graphics Card. This fantastic machine will boost your performance massively, yet, you won’t lose any of the design! However, you do pay for the performance with this machine costing £26.20 + vat on a three year lease from HardSoft Computers. Although both of the specs of Z1 I have mentioned are brilliant, however, the ‘top spec’ is the 2nd Generation E3-1280 Processor running at 3.5GHz (faster than the E3-1245 3.3GHz) and will come with a NVIDIA Quadro 3000M 2GB Graphics Card as Standard. The ‘top spec’ HP Z1 is available from £28.80 + VAT per week on lease. These are Apple Mac beating specs. Why wait for a new imac or wait for the Mac Pro to get faster when HP have it all.

As well as ultra-fast processors, mega amounts of maximum RAM and NVIDIA 2GB Graphics, the HP Z1’s also have on-board speakers, an LED Backlight 2560 x 1440 27” Display and and wireless keyboard and mouse. Its modular style means its easy to upgrade – unlike the Apple iMac.

As a HP Preferred Partner, HardSoft Computers can offer all of the HP Graphics Workstations on a flexible lease. Please feel free to contact us 01279 718 693 or email sales@hardsoft.co.uk. If you still want an Apple Mac then we lease and finance them as well. Or pop along to our East London store.

However whilst the need to change your Server is less; the importance of the warranty and eventual up-time is very high. A lease for a Server with HardSoft includes three years warranty but at the end of this you need to consider the three options available:…..

 Option 1 for £468+VAT you can renew your warranty into a fourth year with HardSoft. This is a next business day onsite warranty and covers both parts and labour. HardSoft will also extend your telephone and remote support for the further year as well. This post warranty is only available for a fourth year however, due to a lack of availability of parts for four year old servers we cant offer a fifth year warranty.

 Option 2 is to renew your server. Depending on your spec.  a new HP Proliant ML330 Server is available on a three year flexible lease from just
£19+VAT per week. By upgrading to Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2011 you will get the latest Microsoft Server software within the lease finance which includes a dedicated anti spam feature; built in backup software and the greatly improved Outlook Web Access and Remote Web Workplace for all your remote working needs. Furthermore we will also replace your backup from a traditional tape system to an up to date Seagate NAS based hard drive back up.  With less moving parts and a more universal interface this form of backup is easier to administer and, also crucially easier to retrieve data when the unexpected happens.

 Option 3 is to let your server run out of warranty and take a gamble on business continuity…. This is definitely not a recommended option. It can take over 48 hours to get parts for an out of warranty server; not ideal for the most important part of your business. Additionally as a Server gets older so does the cost of parts. A motherboard for a HP Server which is 4 years old is in excess of £500.

Anyway if you wish to discuss any part of your network or you want to know when your warranty expires speak to Steve Hill who will be able to go through your options with you or drop him an email at steve@hardsoft.co.uk

As high end Laptops go there are few to match the specs of the Elitebook 8560W and 8760W for unbeatable value in terms of spec against price, Both machines being identical with the exception of the screen size and graphics card.. Both sport the latest quad core  i7 processors as well as a more than adequate 500GB HDD (7200rpm) and a NVIDIA Quadro Graphics card with 2GB memory suitable for most professional tasks and for those of you using CAD they are fully certified cards. Options for up to 16GB Ram and SSD and hybrid hard drives are available. You can also have multiple screen outputs and multiple hard drives.

 The 8560W is the 15” model, which is the standard screen for most people who use a laptop. It has 8GB of RAM and Quadro 1000M Graphics as mentioned above making it ideal for a powerful yet portable PC Laptop. On a HardSoft flexible finance lease this come in at just £14.90 + VAT per week so won’t break the bank for great performance. Leasing from an established name like HardSoft can make these mobile workstations very affordable. Options include Wide Viewing Angle and Matt finish screens  as well as a colour accurate IPS screen – exclusive to HP.

The 8760W is much the same but a larger 17” Screen, larger screen real estate being ideal for graphics professionals but you do lose out a little on the portability. Other than the Screen change it also has massive 16GB RAM (or more)  and a Quadro 3000M Graphics Card which can all be yours on lease for just £17.50 + Vat per week on a three year lease.

 The Quadro 3000M Graphics often leads to some confusion as it is clearly a different model to the 1000M and given the higher number it is wrongly assumed it is more powerful than it’s smaller partner. The truth is the chip set is identical just the board they are placed onto is changed to accommodate the differing screen sizes so fear not if you need a super powerful portable you don’t lose performance just for losing a couple of inches on the screen.   If you would like to lease one of these machines or any other Graphics Laptop please contact Ryan@hardsoft.co.uk

If you answer NO to any of these then now’s the time to get a dedicated Network Server. Usually cost is the normal barrier to a SME getting a Server but at HardSoft we offer the range of HP Proliant Servers on a  Lease meaning you can pay just one monthly payment to get a Server fully installed with 3 years support. Our most popular Server is the HP Proliant ML330 which can be fully installed for less than £18.80 per week, this comes complete with automatic “cloud” backup facility, Anti Virus , UPS battery backup and Draytek 2830n Firewall plus three years comprehensive support.

Our Microsoft trained engineers will install your Server and move any data across from your exisinting machines. The Server then will store all you data and as the emails will be configured to run through the server so they again will be backed up on the HP Proliant ML330 server, all this on a flexible lease finance package for only £18.80 a week.

Additionally by using a central server we will configure company wide calenders and contact lists using Microsoft Exchange 2010 software which is included in our package. The HP Proliant ML330 Server is available to your business on a finance lease for only £ 43 per week and includes a full 3 year warranty and support package and Five PC’s !

Finally when you have a HP Proliant ML330 Server using Microsoft Small Business Server  2011 you can give users full remote working either from home or another office and email to remote devices like Apple iPhones. Plus you have complete control of your users and what they surf by using black lists to block them from certain websites and control their data access.

Call us to find out more about these benefits of our leasing and finance options for small businesses. For Apple Users we can lease the Mac mini Server and the Apple Mac Pro Server

The Seagate Wireless GoFlex

The Seagate GoFlex is different from your standard external hard drive as it is wireless ! Backing up data is easy or take your data with you, wherever you go and it also allows you to stream to the new Apple iPad. For 17” Laptops the same laptop essentials bundle are available but with 16GB Ram at an extra  £ 3.85

Popular options at the moment to add this great bundle  are the HP ProBook range is popular and starts at only £4.75 + VAT per week on a three year lease.  With a Core i3 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hdd and a 15.6” LED Display; this is your standard ‘office type’ laptop and it come free with Office 2010 Home & Business at the moment. If you need to lease a higher end laptop then as a HP Preferred Partner we offer the HP Mobile Workstation range. The HP EliteBook 8560W is only £14.90 + VAT on a Flexi-Lease and boast a the new Quad Core i7-2670QM Processor, 8GB RAM, 15.6” Full HD Display AND Quadro 1000M 2GB Graphics. The 14” and 17” siblings can also be financed on a lease. Options for SSD and the Seagate Momentus Hybrid drive are available.

The latest laptop sensation is the Ultrabooks! What is an Ultrabook I hear you ask…? An Ultrabook is a PC equivalent to the Apple MacBook Air.

Many choices of PC laptops available to lease !

Essentially, they are slim and lightweight (under 1.4KGs) with a long battery life. The also include Solid State storage as standard which is faster and more robust – though often smaller capacity.. The Lenovo IdeaPad U300S is a the fastest option available to lease with a Core i7-2677M Processor, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD and Intel HD 3000 Graphics, this machine oozes design and performance AND is  £10.90 + VAT per week on lease. Including three years warranty and support.

For more information on any of these new laptop bundles or just need to understand how leasing and financing laptops can work for your business then please do not hesitate to contact our Sales team on 01279 718693. HardSoft have been trading  for over 25 years and are that ‘one stop’ solution you need.

Whether you have a standalone Apple Mac or PC or a network of machines you must have your data backed up regularly. Data loss amongst home users is very common- 66% in fact. Obviously you cannot afford to lose data in your business. Our lease scheme offers an inexpensive way to obtain a robust data storage and backup solution quickly and with only 1 months outlay. High end storage can be expensive but leasing with HardSoft makes the unaffordable now very affordable.

For standalone users or small networks we can offer the Lacie 2big 4TB Thunderbolt Drive for £ 5.45 + vat per week. With new fast Thunderbolt technology and being Apple Time Capsule compatible you can rely on this for regular daily automated backups. The Promise Pegasus R4 4TB desktop Raid drive is only £ 7.50 + vat per week and offers connections by both Thunderbolt or a normal network connection. So this is ideal for a small business network and long term has interchangeable hard drives so is easy to upgrade if you need more space. Best value for large data storage is the G-Tech G-Raid 6TB storage solution at only £ 4.70 + vat per week, lots of space but slightly limited as only has USB connectivity and is a sealed unit so cannot be upgraded in the future.

We also accommodate solutions on a low cost flexible lease for larger network users with heavy duty Backup solutions such as the Drobo Pro 8TB on lease at £ 15.80 per week. The Drobo Pro has 8 bays and can go upto 24GB of storage and with fast Ethernet connection links into your network easily. The cheaper Drobo FS 5TB device is only £ 7.50 per week on lease from HardSoft and has the features of the Drobo Pro but without the exapandability.  As Drobo Certified Partners we have the expertises and trained technicians to implement either solution into your business. Hardsoft have certified Apple technicians that can install.

HardSoft flexible lease solutions offer a low cost way to get a Backup or Storage solution that is correct for your business and your environment whether PC or Apple Mac. Our leases are 100% tax deductible and allow you to upgrade every 2 years; so as your storage needs grow then we can adapt the lease and the monthly rental costs to suit.

With a wide choice of storage solutions available we can design the perfect storage solution. Ask us.