IT Consultants FAQs: Are Small, Old-fashioned Cell Phones a Dying Breed?

With the new Spring season approaching, mobile users are ditching their old-fashioned cellular devices. Because of the endless capabilities of smartphones and increasing demands of consumers, a trend is developing toward purchasing larger phones. IT consultants have noticed that bigger phones are becoming more popular due to their user-friendly interfaces and innovative features.

According to research conducted by NPD, consumers prefer to purchase larger smartphones as opposed to traditional, smaller cell phones. Phones with screens that were 4 inches or more made up 24 percent of the mobile market in the United States alone. Although the market share for iPhones and other types of smartphones with screens measuring  3.5 to 3.9 inches stayed steady, smartphones designed with the largest screens stole market share from phones with smaller displays.

The studies also revealed that more women are buying larger phones. According to NPD, 40 percent of women are purchasing larger phones. Last year, the five best-sellers for mobile phones were the HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, Samsung Fascinate, Samsung Captivate, and the Samsung Vibrant.

IT Consultants in Cleveland Pick The Top 5 World’s Best Laptops

With today’s vast selection of laptop computers, you may be confused about which model is best suited for your needs. When selecting a laptop, Cleveland shoppers can receive expert advice from local IT consulting services.

Here are the top 5 best laptops in today’s marketplace.

1. Asus U41JF-A1: Due to its superior power and long-lasting battery life, this laptop is the most well-balanced system.
2. HP Pavilion dm1z: With lightning fast speeds and an excellent battery life, this laptop is known for its performance.
3. Dell XPS 15: This laptop fills in for the traditional desktop. It has many cutting-edge features.
4. Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X: Known for its portability, this laptop is extremely light and powerful.
5. Toshiba Portege R705-P35: This laptop features a 13-inch widescreen, optical drive, and volt processing unit.

How to Determine if a Hardware Upgrade is Right for Your Business

In the information age, companies in the Cleveland area need to stay on top of technology in order to stay ahead in the industry. However, not all businesses have the funds to constantly upgrade and renew hardware components. Making the decision to upgrade or stick with old, reliable hardware can be tricky. Your local IT professional can provide consulting services to help you determine the best route for your business.

Here are a few factors to keep in mind when choosing to upgrade hardware.

• Hidden costs associated with upgrading. If your business decides that upgrading is the best choice, you will have to factor in costs for the time and energy associated with the transition. Additionally, there will be a hefty cost for transferring all information from the old hardware to new equipment.

• Adding on equipment. By adding more RAM (Random Access Memory) to your PC, your entire system will speed up significantly. Retailers such as Crucial and TigerDirect provide online calculators, allowing you to determine the best RAM for your operating system. Installation of RAM is also simple: just open the computer case and snap the hardware in place.

• Time of upgrade. The general rule is to upgrade when the cost of sticking with old hardware is greater than the cost of updating components. New hardware is essential when your company needs to perform at a faster, more efficient rate. Also, upgrading is a good idea if your business has new software that will run smoother on an updated operating system.

If your company is having troubles with a PC that constantly crashes, or you have broken hardware pieces, upgrading is the best solution. Want to learn more about hardware upgrades? Our IT consultants can help!

4 Tips For Repairing a Slow Computer

When a computer is overloaded with information, it can be extremely difficult and time-consuming for users to navigate through the system. This Valentine’s Day, save your loved ones from getting frustrated over a slow running PC. With the help of an IT consultant in Cleveland, your computer can easily be repaired from its sluggish operating speed.

Here are four simple steps to follow to enhance the speed of your operating system.

1. Create backups for your computer. Purchase an external hard drive to store information. You can also use CDs or DVDs for file storage.

2. Get rid of old programs. Removing old, unused programs can boost your PC’s performance levels. Go to “Start > Control Panel” on your desktop, and click on “Add-Remove Programs.”

3. Clear out all temporary files on your browser. Delete temporary files and cookies from your Internet browser by going to “Tools > Internet Options” and choose to clear cache and eliminate cookies.

4. Run a disk defragment on your PC. By defragging your hard drive, files and other components on your computer are re-arranged, speeding up your system processor. From the Start menu on your desktop, choose Accessories > System Tools, and then click on the Disk defragmenter.

If all else fails, try using a registry cleaner. If your computer is still running slow after all these steps, use a registry cleaner. This piece of software will go through the entire windows registry and perform repairs that may have been missed by other methods.

Use this Valentine’s Day to help your loved ones avoid the frustrations associated with super slow operating systems. Need additional help optimizing computer performance levels? We’ve got a certified PC repair tech for that!