Lets draw a comparison on the iMac 27” and the comparable Mac Pro of the moment comparing specs, as well as what you could expect to pay per week on a HardSoft Flexi Lease. The Top end iMac 27” at the moment boasts a Core i7 (Quad) – 3.4GHz Processor and can be expanded upto as much as 32GB RAM! It has a potential 2TB Hard Drive and room inside for an additional 256GB SSD as well as a 1GB Graphics card upgradable to 2GB Dedicated Graphics Memory, all this built into a high quality 27” HD Screen and is a snip at £23.75 + Vat per week on  a Flexible Lease from HardSoft.

Let us compare this to the Mac Pro – Quad Core Xeon “Nehalem” 3.2GHz, 32GB RAM, 2 x 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD,  Radeon 1GB Graphics and a 27” HD Cinema Display to use with it which comes in at a much more expensive £33.50 + Vat per week on Lease. The one advantage of the Mac Pro is the ability to expand and add to this base spec over time however I am sure you will agree the cost justification for that is hard to see ! While I will agree for the minority (High End Video Editors) the Mac Pro is the only option there is no real reason now why the majority of Creative Professionals shouldn’t be looking to the Apple iMac for their future needs.

Feel free to contact ryan@hardsoft.co.uk with any questions regarding spec or pricing. Also,  please come into our brand new Apple Retail Store in Cheshire Street (just off Brick Lane) E2 6EH. There we have a range of Apple iMacs, Apple Mac Pro’s a various other products on show for you to have a play with! 

So why Thunderbolt ? Not only will it allow you to transfer data 20 times faster than USB 2.0 it allows you to seamlessly chain devices together, the advantage here is running screens, and storage all from one port! As is the way with Storage you can literally never have enough so rather than constantly trying to make the device you have bigger you can just chain another device from it. This product will only get better too with Apple really pushing this in all areas of their development.

There are many solutions available at the moment all of which we are happy to provide on a Flexi Lease so I will go through a few options and give ideas on price too. At its most basic level Western Digital make a great mirrored product called the My Book Thunderbolt Duo – available in both 4TB and 6TB capacity it is small and unobtrusive and ideal example of a product you can just buy a second one of when you run out of storage and chain it off the first. These are available on lease from just £3.75 + Vat per week on a three year Lease making them a great add on to that new leased Apple iMac. Lacie have a Little Big Disk available in either 5400rpm or 7200rpm options. It comprises  2 x 500GB hard drives that can be mirrored or configured as a single 1TB volume.

The Lacie is small and portable but still needs power

A common complaint about Thunderbolt storage is that all these units are Mains Power only which makes them very inflexible in the field. A workaround is available for Seagate GoFlex portable hard drives. For these units we can provide an adapter to allow the USB 3.0 socket to plug into a Thunderbolt and provide host power. This more flexible combination is only marginally more expensive to lease than the Lacie or Western Digital mains powered hard drives.

Other options are considerably more scalable giving much larger storage capacity but in addition to this greater redundancy moving over to Raid 5. Probably the best example of this type of solution is probably the Promise Pegasus R6 Raid 5 Thunderbolt Desktop Raid. It has 6 Bays which are standardly all 1TB but can be expanded with 2TB or 3TB Drives for a massive top capacity of 18TB. This product is also time machine compatible for automatic updates. The Promise starts for the 6TB Solution at just £11.80 + Vat per week on Hardsoft’s Flexible Finance Lease and is great addition to a studio’s new or existing network (Assuming Thunderbolt capability).

Other options are available, so feel free to email our storage expert ryan@hardsoft.co.uk or phone 01278 718 693.

As an Authorised Apple Reseller with iPad status HardSoft Computers have put together a great finance deal combining Apple’s enfant terrible and the sort of options our customers have become accustomed to.

Firstly all iPads leased from HardSoft come with a full three year hardware warranty. This is above and beyond anything Apple offer;  with Applecare only going to a maximum of two years.  Should your iPad develop a fault within the three year lease period; simply call or email our technical department (technical@hardsoft.co.uk) and they will arrange collection of your iPad at your earliest convenience. Once its repaired the iPad will be shipped abck to you on a next business day basis; hopefully making your time away from the iPad as smooth and painless as possible.

Also included within all our flexible finance leases on the new iPad is a three year zero excess insurance. So far some of the more exciting claims have been an iPad that fell from a helicopter taking off; one that got run over on the school run and another one that lost a fight with a carton of Tropicana. The insurance also covers theft as long as you aren’t negligent i.e. don’t leave it on your passenger seat in full view with a steal me sticker on it (you’ve all seen the government’s adverts!). As HardSoft control the ipad insurance we can limit the time taken to replace or repair an iPad there should be no waiting for the insurance company to get multiple quotes and losing your paperwork!

Our iPads start from £4.55+Vat per week on a three year Flexible Finance Lease from HardSoft. We can also build specific packages for larger organisation or schools who went to implement 10 or more iPads.

Feel free to pop into our new Apple Retail Store too! Located in Cheshire Street (just off Brick Lane) London, E2 6EH, where you can discuss your options.

The Henge Docks are included in a lease bundle with the 13” and 15” Apple MacBook Pro and the 11″ 13” Apple MacBook Air. They allow MacBook Pro/Air users quickly and easily incorporate the MacBook Pro/Air into a desktop setup. For an additional £2.75 per week, the Henge option creates a total solution and includes the Henge Dock, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Magic Mouse and an LG 22” Flat Screen Display.

Secondly, the INSIDE of your Apple Mac. For example, and upgrade to 16GB RAM from Apple would cost you £480. From Hardsoft Computers, we can offer you 16GB RAM for an additional £0.75 per week on lease which equates to £117 ! Less than FOUR times the amount than Apple charge. We can upgrade the Apple iMac to 32GB RAM which Apple and other suppliers are completely unable to do. This is very popular on the i7-3.4GHz that comes with a three year warranty (that includes a Loan Mac).  As well as RAM, we can offer Solid State Drives, OWC Aura storage, upgrade to 2GB Graphics Memory, Apple 27” Thunderbolt Displays and much more.

A popular option for the creative professionals is the Adobe Creative Suite Software. Adobe CS6 Design & WebPremium (including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks) is an option to lease on its own through HardSoft at £9.50 + VAT per week. The Adobe Creative Suite is the perfect software for designing eye-catching print content, websites, elegant eBooks and many more. The most popular machine to run this software on is the Apple iMac 27” 2.7GHz which is £12.50 + vat per week on a three year flexible finance lease from Hardsoft Computers.

HardSoft are Authorised Apple Resellers with offices near Stansted Airport, Essex and Shoreditch, East London plus franchise branch offices around the UK and have been established for over 25 years specialising in leasing to business users. From May 2012 HardSoft are also offering personal finance on all Apple Mac Computers to home users. Financing an Apple Mac is difficult but our easy low interest rate credit schemes are easy to apply for and offer great home finance rates.  For more information on the type of ‘add-ons’ available on a Flexible Lease from HardSoft Computers or any other details, please see our website www.hardsoftcomputers.co.uk or get in contact by phone or email Head Office on 01279 718 693 or 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.

3 years warranty and a now a 'loan Mac'

payment on delivery. Plus a full three years warranty;  that we have now enhanced . It was always better than AppleCare but now it’s even better.

As well as other benefits such as the two year renewal on all Apple Mac Leases, a free upgrade to 8GB RAM on all Apple Mac computers. Plus a limited offer of Microsoft Office 2011 included on all machines FREE of charge; Hardsoft are now upgrading their warranty! For years, the standard three year warranty on all Apple Mac products has been a ‘collect a return’ warranty inclusive of parts and labour for the full 3 year term. This includes telephone technical support between 8.30-5.30 Monday-Friday and Unlimited Remote Dial-in Support. The ‘collect and return’ is in place for when something drastically goes wrong with your Mac (which is never!) whereby we will collect your Mac repair it and aim to have it back on your desk, fully working, within 3-4 working days.

However, the main question from 90% of customers was “what do I do for a machine whilst mine is away being repaired ?” Well, for that reason, HardSoft are now including a Loan Mac to you on selected Apple products whilst yours is being repaired, to minimise all downtime ! Providing we know you have a Mac down by 2pm then we can ship your Loan the same day for next morning delivery. Or you can collect from one of our various locations including our new Apple Store in East London (Shoreditch)

Our great new Pricing means Hardsoft are offering a 13” MacBook Air i5-1.7GHz with 256GB SSD and 3 year warranty plus loan Mac for only £ 12.20 + VAT per week on a three year flexible Lease. If you are after something a bit more ‘high powered’ the Apple 27” iMac i7-3.4GHz with the 3 year warranty plus Loan Mac, is £16.40 + VAT per week.

HardSoft Computers supplying small-medium business users with Flexible Finance for over 25 years; and these enhancements to our support package will give all business users the best cover and continuity of service in the marketplace. All engineers are Apple certified and repairs are carried out by an Apple Authorised Repair Centre. For more information or a quotation on leasing your computers with a three years of peace of mind , please contact sales@hardsoft.co.uk or phone 01279 718 693.

Please also feel free to visit our brand new Apple Retail Store in Cheshire Street, (just off Brick Lane) where technicians will be based in house offering you support on in-warranty  and out of warranty PC and Mac repairs!

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.

Because of the huge success of the new Hardsoft Store, as of the 28^th April 2012 Hardsoft will be open on Saturdays from 10.30am-4pm! Pop in for free Apple (the fruit, not the computer) and a friendly chat with one of our Apple Product Professional’s or Apple Certified Technical Co-ordinator’s. On display in store currently is a 15” MacBook Pro, an 11” MacBook Air, a 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display and a Mac Pro. Try before you buy – or even lease it ! All are available on a three year busioness Lease that includes 3 years warranty and support.

We have had one downfall in the great opening . This was the local council asking us politely to move our life size plastic sheep from off of the street and inside, not causing anyone any harm!

Shoreditch is a new exciting place to be after it being labelled ‘Tech City’. We are located at very much the heart of the Creative Professional industry. As we are very much ‘Apple People’ and being the ONLY Apple Authorised Reseller in the area, we have found it to be very popular. So popular, we have now located the whole of our technical team to the new store, just so we can offer a better and more efficient repair service. As well as the technical team, we now have 1 or 2 sales people down there between 9am-5.30 Monday-Friday who are there to assist you with any sales type queries. Whether you want a brand new Mac or PC or you just need a HDMI cable.

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.