An Apple iPad 2 Lease from HardSoft Computers includes a full 3 year warranty and comprehensive insurance cover, which covers you from loss, theft and accidental damage. So whether you drop it on the floor or spill a glass of water on it, you are covered. Arguably the best tablet computer on the market at this current moment in time, with its high-tech specs and features such as iCloud, FaceTime and HD video recording, could the iPad 2 be the future of portable computing?

As an Apple iPad Authorised Reseller, the Apple iPad 2 is available on a Flexi-Lease from HardSoft Computers.The iPad 2 is available on the same Flexi-Lease as all other Apple Mac equipment, with the 2 year RETURN, RETAIN, RENEW option. Just to detail the reality of our flexibility, after 24 months you can RETURN the equipment and cancel the agreement. You can also RENEW into a new lease; we will contact you and offer you the Mac at a similar rental cost. You can RETAIN the equipment at the expiry of the lease for a one off fee of £1 to pay.

HardSoft Computers can also offer the iPad 2 on a shorter lease term. For example, you can take a 1 year lease on the iPad 2, and just return it at the expiry of the lease; it’s as simple as that. With all options available and starting at only £4.55 per week (including warranty and insurance), please give us a call on 01279 718 693. Discounts start for 2 or more units.

Identifying this HardSoft have looked for ways to improve the spec  further above and beyond what else is available on the market. With the advent of 8GB Ram Chips the iMac is now capable of supporting 32GB Ram, adding just £2.95 + VAT per week to our three year flexi- lease….who is missing the Mac Pro now?  These options are not on the Apple Store.

What about an SSD coupled with your traditional hard drive. Hardsoft offer the option of a traditional 512GB SSD for just £5.95 +VAT per week on our 3 year lease. Also available is the Seagate Momentus Hybrid XT drive as a boot option with a 2TB SATA second drive. However that’s not all HardSoft also offer the superfast OWC Mercury Enterprise Pro 6G solid state drives which offer read/write speeds exceeding 500MB/s; the range starts at 50GB for £4.70 + VAT per week going up to 400GB at £15.80 + VAT at per week on  lease. At those prices they aren’t cheap but there is no other SSD or hard drive available on the market that come close to those speeds…… Basically we can offer several alternative paths to the Apple Store to get more speed on the Apple 27”- i7-3.4GHz iMac.

Also available is the Graphics upgrade on the iMac to 2GB. As an Authorized Apple Reseller , HardSoft Computers are happy to lease you an Apple Mac Pro or an i7-3.4GHz iMac, but now you know that it’s not just spec which should guide your choice….Such is the popularity of these bespoke 27” iMacs that we are keeping them as stock and can confidently quote a 3-4 day delivery.

Coming very soon to liven up the Apple Mac Pro ( it was all getting very tired) is the Radeon HD 7970 just launched and it should be available within days.  This 3GB AMD 7970 is available to lease at £4.00 plus VAT per week on a three year flexible lease . AMD  are also preparing to launch a slightly scaled-down model in the form of a Radeon HD 7950 card.

With new Xeon processors from Intel launching in the first quarter of 2012 and AMD’s new graphics card offerings lining up for a January launch, parts do appear to be coming together for a significant upgrade for the Mac Pro, which has not been updated since mid 2010;  and that was a minor CPU change. HardSoft have other products for the Mac pro not available on the Apple website including the ultra fast REVO hybrid hard drives.

What remains to be seen is whether Apple will continue to invest in its professional line of  workstations. If they don’t then we can spec up an Apple  iMac 27″ with a 2GB graphics card, 256GB SSD drive and 32GB Ram if they don’t ! That spec would be £ 24.50 on a three year business lease with FREE Microsoft Office 2010 for Mac.

Asked to select which methods they had used to raise capital over the last two years and which they expect to use over the next two, 37% of UK manufacturers identified lease and asset  finance. This funding option outstripped overdrafts, bank loans and outside venture capital investment but was surpassed by the option to use company cash reserves which 80% of manufacturing companies selected.

Mark Lee,  Head at  Barclays Corporate, said of the findings: “With close to 40% of companies utilising leasing and asset finance , it is clearly a very popular instrument for raising capital and suits the sector well. The logistics and cap-ex spend which takes place in manufacturing is appropriate for asset finance.”

HardSoft have seen a dramatic growth in the option to lease computers since the credit crunch started a few years ago. As money becomes tight and cash becomes king small business owners are looking to lease their computers and phone systems. Leasing is not just a finance solution but at HardSoft Computer leasing has options to change and upgrade equipment and enhanced support options. Hardsoft Computers combines the knowledge of an experienced credit broker as well as the training of an Authorised Apple Reseller into a ‘one stop’ shop.

The OCZ Revo Drive Hybrid is a PCI Express Hard Drive compatible with Apple Mac Pro and PC Workstations and boasts a 1TB Hard Drive and 100GB Solid State Drive on the same device, in itself that might not be too impressive but the way the Revo Drive uses these two drives together is actually quite remarkable. Thanks to its advanced Caching software this drive is capable of separating your files into “Hot and Cold Data” making decisions on where it needs to be stored based on how regularly it is accessed, allowing the work you do all the time to fire up from the SSD in no time at all and data which is less frequently used is sent to the large 1TB solution.

This process all happens behind the scenes so you will be glad to know you can maximise storage and performance with nothing by way of input yourself, just doing what you do on a daily basis lets the Revo Hybrid work out the best system on how to store your data.

Configuration of this device is the only drawback, with some work required to locate Drivers on Mac and some PC’s but with a HardSoft Flexi Lease we can do all that for you before Delivery of your Mac Pro or HP Workstation for an additional £2.90 + Vat per week… Bargain!

HardSoft offer several third party options when leasing an Apple Mac. An Approved Apple Reseller, Hardsoft offer 32gb ram for iMacs and Macbook Pro’s and the faster Aura drives for a leased MacBook Air

iDVD has been phased out of iLife which looks to be part of a move from Apple to condemn physical media in favour of Cloud based solutions (iCloud) which is strange considering it would cost nothing to continue supporting both. Couple this with the stream lining of Final Cut Pro which received a “luke warm” reaction from critics and long term users of the product alike, it appears Apple are moving toward the Home User it now enjoys the attention of, thanks in our opinion to iPad and iPhone. While doing this are they forgetting the people who helped get them where they are today? The bread and butter of their business in years gone by are the Creative Professionals, are they now getting a rough deal as Apple look to the Future?

The final step could be in the coming year with rumours abound about the fact they may be about to discontinue the Mac Pro! At HardSoft our leasing makes high end Macs affordable and people are asking where is that new Mac Pro ?  74% of Apples business is portables so they could be forgiven for making that choice and the fact that the current model doesn’t work with their latest tech (Thunderbolt) just seems to support the idea the product has taken a step back in Apple’s view. For most High End video editors the Mac Pro is the only product which can be expanded to support their needs fully, if this giant of the Apple range does go do they force those in Broadcasting back down the road to PC Workstations ? We at HardSoft hope we see a new Mac Pro for the New Year but if I was a gambling man I wouldn’t put money on it”

Author is Ryan Kelly – ryan.k@hardsoft.co.uk

Highlights of the first BVE North include seminars covering a diverse range of subjects and delivered by representatives of BBC North, ONSIGHT, AVID, ITV etc. Some BVE exhibitors have announced new products and BVE North will even host the UK debuts of some particular exciting pieces of kit ! Running alongside BVE North is The Media Festival, an industry conference and networking event for everyone working across digital media.Entry to this is free as well.

If you can’t get to BVE North then have a look at our website for JVC Professional and Apple Mac products.

• Macs and PC’s can be paid for from the revenue they earn
• Finance rates are very competitive, often better, than bank interest rates (because of the security provided by the asset)
• Longer-term options than many bank loans, typically 3 to 5 years
• Fixed rates, making budgeting easier
• It is generally non-cancellable by the lender, providing certainty to businesses
• Leasing finance offers real value to businesses with limited capital, or those that need to manage their cash flow.
• It is accessible to sole traders and limited companies.
• Available to New Start Ups
• It can be very cost effective, as the provider can often buy assets lower, and sell higher, than an individual business. Companies can choose to leave the acquisition and disposal of equipment to the experts
• In a recession, leasing is particularly well positioned to help businesses when most have low taxable profits
• Depending on the situation, companies may benefit from tax advantages . Have a look at the HMRC site on the advantages of leasing

The 13-inch model now comes with either 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 or 2.8GHz Core i7 processors (up from 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz ). The entry level model now comes with a 500GB hdd disk (up from a 320GB disk) but nothing else has altered. Prices start at £8.80 plus VAT on a three years business lease that includes ownership option at the end for just £1.

As for the  15-inch model, processors offered now as standard are the 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz Core i7 chips (up from 2.0GHz and 2.2GHz) . Hard drive capacities are the same as before, but graphics get the options from the new iMac.  Models have either an AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB ram (up from the 6490M with 256MB) or a Radeon HD 6770M GPU with 1GB  memory (up slightly from the 6750M with the same memory). A special order 2.5Ghz is also available with a 2 week delivery time.

Then, the 17-inch model simply has one entry level spec, which is boosted from a 2.2GHz Core i7 CPU to a 2.4GHz version, and gets the same AMD Radeon HD 6770M GPU graphics chip from the 6750M as the 15-inch model. A special build 2.5Ghz is also available at an extra £2 per week on a three year lease. Lease prices include three years warranty as well.   Nothing else has changed, including the price………….

Apple Macs share the same hardware platform than rival PC’s but unlike PC’s a Mac can run either Lion OS or Windows 7 or both at the same time. HardSoft installed and configured his iMac with Windows and configured Vero software on the Mac for him- all the costs and a three year warranty included in the flexible lease package. Leasing has allowed Bob and many other CAD users get the technology they need today without a drain on cash………………..WHY WAIT ? LEASE IT