As business goes mobile, reliability is more important than ever

Tom Peters, the management guru, knows more about laptop reliability that most people. He takes 70-100 trips a year to give speeches. Like many business people, he uses his laptop to run PowerPoint presentations, stay in touch, write his blog and stay on top of business. Quite simply, if his laptop broke down, so would his business. (He is notorious for spilling coffee on laptops on a regular basis.) This is why he his PA always has a spare ready to FedEx at a moment’s notice.

Laptops enable a new way of working, even if you don’t make two business trips a week like Tom Peters. They let people work wherever and whenever they want. It’s not just business travel. Think of people working from home, the architect checking plans on site or an accountant visiting a client. They allow companies to respond positively to requests for flexible working. They let companies switch from traditional offices to hot desking. (HP does this and it helps to reduce costs and makes teams more flexible.)

Modern laptops can store all the files most people ever need. Intel’s new dual core processors boost performance by up to 68% compared to their predecessors. This means that they have enough power to run the most demanding applications. With add-on batteries, they can run all day without recharging. Thanks to wireless networks and new technology like 3G Mobile Broadband (from HP and Vodafone), people can stay connected to company networks, email and the internet wherever they are. This is why notebooks sales are on the up: the analyst firm Forrester reckons that, “As more enterprises mobilize over the next two years, laptops will experience the largest adoption growth across all types of PCs.”

Damage, defects and disaster

More people are using laptops. More people are working away from traditional offices with traditional IT support. This puts a huge premium on reliable design and solid construction. Gartner, another research firm, calculates that one laptop in ten is damaged each year. Dropping laptops is by far the most common cause of disaster but spilled drinks and poor packing are major contributors.

Accidents aren’t the only problem. Computers break down and wear out. Hinges break, latches fail, power supplies short out, motherboards fuse. Gartner reports that 15-20 percent of notebooks break down every year. Including lost opportunity costs, they calculate that the average incident costs a business well over £2,000. When the problem stems from a fleet-wide problem, as with last year’s exploding batteries, the cost to business can be even greater.

Clearly, reducing the risk of damage or breakdown is a business priority. Not all notebooks are created equal. There is, for example, a big difference between low-cost PCs designed for consumer use and more robust notebooks designed especially for business use. Typically, manufacturers will swap plastic cases for metal ones and beef up the substructure. There is also a difference between manufacturers. The only way to take the lead is to combine the right materials, heavy-duty engineering and rigorous testing.

What to look for in a notebook

With so much at stake, it is important to choose a manufacturer who can deliver laptops that are less likely to breakdown and which are as resilient as possible. Although they look similar on the surface, there is a big difference between makes once you get under the skin. Here are a few of the things you should look for:

• Designed to last. Isn’t it depressing when the characters on a keyboard get worn out after a year or two and cases get a bit foxed around the edges. So look for laptops that are designed to look newer for longer.
• Thoroughly tested. Find out how each new model is tested. The more rigorous the tests, the more longer the laptop is likely to last. For example, if screen hinges are testing for an average of three years’ constant use you can bet that the manufacturer isn’t staking their reputation that the hinge will last for five years.
• Damage-resistant. Since laptops are more likely to be dropped than suffer any other sort of disaster, look for laptops that can detect a fall and, like an airbag in a car, protect the hard disk. Look for a system that can do this in three dimensions, not just one or two because computers don’t always fall butter side up. Also, look for features that mitigate the risk of spills damaging a computer.
• Strongly built. What is the internal structure of the computer made from? What about the case? Flimsy plastics or strong metal or alloy? How well-built is the screen hinge. It should look and feel robust.
• Ready for Microsoft Windows Vista. Microsoft’s new operating system raises the bar on security, resilience and ease of use. For example, it has a built-in backup program which is very easy to use. Look for systems that are Windows Vista-ready.

Conclusion

Although one laptop may look much like another, differences in design, construction and testing can make a big difference on the day you have an accident. It could make the difference between continuing productivity and a complete shutdown. When you’re away from the office and away from help, this could be a critical difference. It makes sense, to look beneath the skin and make sure that the laptops you buy for your business are as reliable and robust as possible.