#109 - Thankful Technology

If you have been reading the blog from the beginning you know I have a whiner streak I struggle to control. This Thanksgiving week, I hope to change over to a new leaf and talk about things that make me happy!

Lets start off with a strange one, HP Support. I had a good customer this week send me an email about the good response they had with HP. Their laptop had died after about 4 months of ownership. HP picked up the laptop, replaced the motherboard, hard drive and battery and had it back to them in 4 total days. This is with their STANDARD warranty. Wow, it made me proud to sell the product. Our other laptop that we sell, Lenovo, has also gotten great reviews from customers. We still recommend you get at least a 3 year warranty on Laptop, due to their fragility.

And speaking of HP, My LaserJet 2200 printer just won't die. I would love to get a new color duplexing laser printer, but my frugality says run this sucker into the ground. As long as you keep feeding it toner, it keeps on printing. I also have a DeskJet 6122 duplexing ink jet printer that has been very long lived. Its printed out a lot of class completion certificates over the years.

I can't say enough good about my Apple Mini Mac. Its 3 years old and runs just as fast as when I purchased it. I do much of my Internet surfing with it and no viruses, spyware or malware have slowed it down. It automatically defrags the hard drive and updates happen regular, but not every 5 minutes like those other guys.

I couldn't work without a USB flash drive. My latest is a Kingston 4GB model that keeps my documents and utility programs. I just plug it in and start fixing PC's. Much faster then my CDs and less damage to the environment. I used to burn a new Utility CD every month and throw them away. Now Its quarterly and only for those customers still using Windows 98 (you know who you are!). I also couldn't get on without external hard drives. I have 3. a 160GB that I use to help transfer customer files, a 250GB drive to backup my files from my Ultra PC and a 1 Terrabye (1,000 gigabyte) network drive to backup my backup and my Apple (mainly Itunes) and my class PCs.

I'm thankful for lots of technology that makes my life easier and my job more productive. I'm also thankful for my loyal customers. Enjoy the season!