What do I need on my Computer to run a small business successfully for the next two years?

Message Edited by rollainm on 08-02-2005 11:02 AM

dmichlen,

As indicated, either of the available Dell Dimension 3000 systems (see this) will fill your needs, which as you describe are fairly basic. Since I assume your computer will be a stand-alone installation Windows XP Home Edition will suit your requirements. You should not need the additional security features of XP Professional. The basic Dimension 3000 has a 40GB hard drive. If you are going to be using the computer strictly for business (and not working with videos or large volumes of audio files) that will be more than sufficient. Windows XP needs 256MB of RAM to operate well and prefers 512MB but for your applications 256MB should be sufficient.

Regardless of what you buy, since you will be running a business with it the importance of regular (and frequent) backups of your data cannot be stressed too much. There is some excellent guidance on this subject here.

Thank you very much for the information that you shared. This will help me a lot.

I am asking for computer buying advise.

Hi,

I think he needs to add Microsoft Office Basic, 3yr warranty service and an antivirus program. 

Regards,

Jane

Hi - some  friendly advice I was given I'll pass along. 

A good accounting program for a business is a must, especially if the you are planning on starting it up, and in a couple years, planning to expand in the future.  For accounting, tax, and financial reasons it's best to start with a good program, and most programs can be developed by its developers to meet a growing business needs if you go through their Customer Service/Support department,  and  they provide multi-user using licenses when a company expands beyond 5-10 employees and adds their accounting departments for payables and receivables.  This is all part of your company start up costs, so, you can expense it off your gross income and the software is an asset, a depreciable one for its 'useful' life per MCRS.

If you handle inventory, make sure it has an inventory management 'module' so you can figure the cost, determine your sell prices based on those costs and the costs of doing business.  If you have personal Quicken or premier, it won't have that, but, the full package does, and there are several now to choose from based on your type of business, retail, marketing, service, etc.

If you are billing for time and services, make sure it has an appointment scheduler that can figure the cost and billing for you based on your calendar and schedule  and the amount of time assigned to each 'job' in or out of the office, can be assigned for billing purposes.   If your accounting program does not allow for time based billing and costing, try a program such as Professional Edge, or something that you can import the information into your A/R for billing and invoicing, and it will also provide you cost information.  Scheduling programs are nice such as MS Outlook but it doesn't allow for that type of cost assigning for 'time' billing or projects, it is really designed as a 'planner'.

Most good accounting programs have all  you need for invoicing and estimating etc, but for mailings and communications in general, a good word processing program is important  so you can that can import and export your customer data from the accounting program (this allows for bulk mailings and form mails).

Also it's handy to have a good fax program thaqt can communicate with your fax, so you can create your faxes and sent them online instead of having to print them and then send, also it's good for record keeping, both on sends and receives..for obvious business reasons.

Also, make sure your opsys (windows xp home vs pro, etc) allows for networking with each other, if you have a network, Windows XP Home for example, does not network well with Windows XP Pro.  If you plan on setting up a office network, consider your future networking needs, and start with one you can grow into, not one you will grow out of. 

Chances are you won't find a peripherial software bundle on a machine to meet all these needs, but you can upgrade most  DELL packaged software bundles better then many others and then purchase the rest as stand alone software purchases..

I think is what you were asking for, if not I hope it helps anyway.

 

Message Edited by Shylough on 08-03-2005 09:25 PM