So it is that annual event when Adobe update their Creative Suite products. .. As ever HardSoft  Computers will be supplying the latest version of
Adobe on a three year lease. We anticipate that the RRP of the product is unlikely to change at this time (meaning you could acquire Adobe CS6 Design Premium for as little as £9.50 + VAT per week on a flexible software lease).

Why wait though? You might need Photoshop or Dreamweaver for that all important project today, the last thing you want is to wait another month (maybe longer) to get your hands on your required product, but equally you don’t want to get CS5.5 knowing CS6 is just around the corner.

Adobe have clearly given this some thought and you will be pleased to know if you lease Adobe CS5.5 on a HardSoft lease today you can register your purchase with Adobe diret to gain a Free upgrade to CS6 on its release ! Any product purchased between the 26^th of March and 6^th of May will be eligible and the only cost is that of postage to get  the dvd media.

Are you a user of Adobe CS5 or CS4 ? Then you could also get a CS5.5 upgrade which would stand to save you 80% or 45% respectively on the cost of your CS6 Design Suite. And you still get the free upgrade.

So if you are thinking of getting Adobe in your studio contact us now to get a quote and discuss how leasing Adobe CS6 from HardSoft can help you, remember unlike most of our competitors we can facilitate a lease with a higher percentage of software than hardware and in some cases could even do a 100% software lease to established businesses.

Compared to the PC arena; Server technology moves at a snail’s pace. It’s a good thing too; as whilst the transition from an old Server to a new one is a lot smoother than it used to be( its not as simple as unwrapping the sticky back plastic off a new Apple Mac)

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 a director of HardSoft I have worked behind the ‘shop counter’  since 1984 and my first Windows PC I sold was the wonderful Amstrad PC1512 with Double floppy disk drives…but oh I have learnt to hate the PC. Not as a user but as some who needs to sell and service them every day for our business customers.

But my life is becoming easier as an Apple  Mac Reseller. HardSoft became Apple Mac Authorised about 3 years ago and the business has changed to where 80% of all computers we ship are Macs. But 80% of our time is spent sorting problems on a Windows based PC.

Let’s take my week last week at HardSoft  and a few examples…. We have a team of good engineers and if you ask them what computer they have they will all say a Mac despite some working on PC’s for over 20 years.  First there was the Car dealership who simply needed a new PC.  We delivered a standard Fujitsu PC but then it needed a 32 bit Windows 7 rather than 64 bit. Then it needed a Serial port- something a PC doesn’t have any more.

We ship a few Servers on lease every week and last week was no exception except they are all unreliable compared to their Mac sisters. After a week of testing and patching a Windows 2008 Server we decided on Friday afternoon to upgrade the Ram. It never started ever again and we had to replace it . .. Graphics Card on a PC- too many choices and too many standards of VGA, DVI, Display port HDMI.  Trying to get a screen to match a graphics card is almost impossible. Apple Mac screen maybe expensive but you just plug them in to the standard sockets and they all work.  And as for Anti Virus software I can’t believe how many phone calls we get on configuring then re-configuring the AV software. Forget about that a genuine customer may have a virus but everyone’s paranoid about security in Windows world.

As I now see it the Apple Mac maybe up to 50% more expensive than the equivalent Windows PC but is faster , smoother, works all the time and saves money by just being uncomplicated. No wonder Apple customers are in love with their Mac. I am  ! as are our engineers who see constant frustration from Windows owners. Business computing was invented by Bill Gates but Steve Jobs has certainly developed it.

We have been leasing  the HP EliteBook range for a little while now and we are regularly asked the same questions as to why are they so expensive and why get one ?

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

For years it has been a Windows based product but it’s now available for the Apple Mac as well ! With more and more CAD professionals moving across to the Apple Mac; Autodesk have just announced AutoCAD LT 2013 for MAC !  This is a huge step in the 2D world, as Mac users can now install AutoCAD LT 2013 on their shiny new iMac, MacBook Pro or Mac Pro without having to fudge a solution with Windows under Bootcamp. The full 3D version has been around a while for the Mac but the vastly popular LT version is set to change things. AutoCAD LT2013 for Mac (and PC) is set to cost £13.80 + VAT per week on a flexi-lease from HardSoft Computers (the same as AutoCAD LT 2012) and is available to ship mid April 2012.

So, what is different about AutoCAD LT 2013 from 2012 ? I thought I would give you a general overview on the features you will be using and seeing in AutoCAD LT 2013, so here goes:

1. The Hatch Editor ribbon tab now allows you to select more than one hatch object at one time.
2. You can check out the object properties as you select them, including transparency, so you can get the property value right every time!
3. Point Clouds can now be easily attached from the External Reference Manager.
4. You can now Press and Pull multiple object at any one time.
5. You can import Autodesk Inventor Models!
6. It adds Detailed and Section Views. Also you can select the objects you want to include in your model.
7. You can now preview your offset results
8. Strike-through Text are now available for Mtext, Mleaders, Dimensions and Tables.

These are just a few of the new features of AutoCAD LT 2013 for Mac, so as you can see it is well worth looking at.

As I have said a few times (and the main point of this blog) is that it is available for Mac ! With the 27” iMac starting at £12.50 + VAT per week on a flexible finance lease, and the Mac Pro starting at £17.80 + VAT per week;  HardSoft Computers provide with the hardware and software to run your business ! Contact the HardSoft Leasing team on 01279 718 693 or email sales@hardsoft.co.uk.

As an alternative to Autocad  from Autodesk we can also lease software from Vectorworks which up to now has been the the only CAD/CAM software for the Apple Mac. TurboCad Mac completes the choices of CAD software available to lease for the Apple Mac.

So we’re open in Shoreditch today with a new retail store focused on Apple Mac products for the business users. …. The usual teething issues from waiting for BT to install the Broadband to the decorator wanting to paint anything that moved all happened. At one point  it was like the last five minutes of ‘Changing Rooms’…

On display is the MacBook Air, Pro, Mac Pro and iMac and Apple Product Professionals are available to explain and demonstrate the range of Apple Mac products. Both sales and leasing is available on all Macs. Accessories such as those odd Thunderbolt cables and that odd mouse are available in store to purchase as well as memory upgrades available whilst you wait. Hard drives can be changed and replaced in store and in stock are some faster-than-Apple options such as the Mercury Aura 6G drives for the Air (available up to 480GB) and the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid drive for the MacBook Pro. A 1TB option can be fitted to the Pro as well.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm though looking at opening till 7:30 on Thursdays and at weekends in the near future.If you feel you need ‘quality time’ then please make an appointment to sit and chat.

The new store is the only Apple Authorised Reseller in the Shoreditch area and sits at the heart of the Tech City area. With many creative businesses using Apple Mac then this new East London Apple store location is perfect. HardSoft specialise in the lease of computers and this finance option is available to start up and new businesses. Leasing offers the ability to keep up to data and works very much the same way as a mobile phone contract. Software is available from Adobe and Microsoft amongst others and can also be included within a three year lease package.

If your Apple Mac is broken then we offer In-Warranty (and AppleCare) repairs , and chargeable out of warranty repairs and on site consultancy

Is your business growing ? Is your data being backed up? Are your emails and data safe ? Is your network virus protected ? Can you control your users ? Can you work remotely ? What would you do if you lost your data ?……..

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 Dell UltraSharp U3011 is the new Apple iPad’s unlikely ally….. What’s this got to do with the new iPad?  Well Apple’s latest iPad (available here

The new iPad needs a hi-res partner ?

from £4.55 a week with 3 years warranty & insurance) has a Retina display which means it has a 2046×1536 resolution. This poses a problem for anyone who wants to connect their iPad to an external source and experience , the iPad has a million more pixels than even a HD TV. This is where the Dell steps in as the only display currently on the market that will support the iPads full display; making it very popular with iPad App developers. The Dell is available now starting at £8.30+VAT per week on a HardSoft Flexi Lease.

Dell and Apple are two of the world’s biggest rivals; but both have just released products that dovetail perfectly…..The Dell UltraSharp U3011 is Dell’s new goliath display ; a direct competitor to Apple’s own 27” Thunderbolt Display (available on a HardSoft flexible lease for

Apple's new friend..the Dell U3011

£7.50+VAT per week). The 30” size allows it to have 2560 x1600 resolution (something I will go into later) at a 16:10 aspect ratio. It also boasts Dell’s IPS (in-plane switching) technology for minimal colour deviation across the widest of viewing angles. With the ability to accept HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI-D it is very versatile, it also offers a 7 in 1 media reader and 4 USBs to make it extremely practical as well.  

This is the only screen compatible with the high screen resolution of the new iPad and will happily work with any Apple MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac Pro.

All options can be leased on aflexible finance scheme with HardSoft that includes three years warranty and options to renew the lease and get new equipment after two years- rather like a mobile phone contract.

HardSoft Computers have recently added some exciting new bundles  to any laptop on a flexible lease..….For just an extra £2.75 + VAT per week on the three year lease ; you can add a bundle of essential laptop extras.……. This includes an upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional 2010, up to 8GB RAM, 3 Years AVG Internet Security 2012, three years All-Risks laptop insurance against damage/theft and the exciting Seagate GoFlex WIRELESS 500GB Hard Drive.

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.

Having been established for over 25 years HardSoft appreciate the importance of Data Backup. In that time we have had two server failures that have led us to restore from back up. It is a fact that 80% of businesses who suffer a complete data loss go out of business within 6 months.

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.