 Hello everyone, and welcome to How to Select the Right Computer Hardware for Your Organization. Thank you so much for joining us today. We know hardware is a big investment for most organizations, so we're here to give you some tips on choosing the right hardware to meet your organization's needs. Before we get started, we want to make sure everyone is comfortable using ReadyTalk, the webinar platform we're using today. You can chat into us at any time using the box on the lower left hand corner of your screen. You can let us know if you're having any issues with the audio or with viewing the slides, and this is also where you can ask questions. We'll be flagging your questions and queuing them up for our Q&A slots later on. We will be keeping all participant lines muted, so we have a nice clear recording for you to refer back to later. If you happen to lose your Internet connection, you can reconnect using the link emailed to you in your registration confirmation or reminder email. If you registered more than an hour ago, that reminder email also will have included a copy of the slides we're using today, and everyone will also get a follow-up email with the slides, a link to the recording, and all the links and resources we'll be sharing. That follow-up email will come out in the next day or two. If you're hearing an echo through your computer speakers or you're having other issues with the audio, you can also dial in via phone using the tool-free 800 number that was listed in your registration email. As I mentioned, today's session will be recorded. You'll be able to find the recording on TechSoup's webinar page within a day or two. This is also where we share all of our previous webinar recordings and our upcoming webinars, so we encourage you to check it out at techsoup.org slash community slash events dash webinars. You can also view recorded webinars and other videos on our YouTube channel. And if you'd like to tweet about today's event, you can use the hashtag TechSoup or just tweet us at TechSoup. My name is Ariel Gilbert-Knight, and I'm the content director here at TechSoup. Happy to be your host today. I'm also happy to be joined by Mike McKean, who's the sales manager at CDI Computers, one of TechSoup's hardware donation program partners. Mike leads a large team at CDI as well as heading up many of CDI's initiatives around certification and training. I'm also happy to introduce one of my very favorite TechSoup colleagues, Barb Shaughnessy. Barb is a Senior Relationship Manager here at TechSoup. She's been at TechSoup for 8 years and manages a wide variety of our donation programs. She's also currently serving on our hardware task force, which is an internal TechSoup team focused on improving current hardware offers and bringing on new hardware donation programs. Also, some TechSoups helping out with answering your questions in chat are Kevin Lowe and Frank Babbitt. So welcome everyone, and thank you. A quick look at our agenda today, I'm going to briefly introduce TechSoup as well as some basic terminology that you'll likely see when you're thinking about acquiring hardware. Then I'll hand it over to Mike, who will walk us through how to make hardware decisions, including understanding what different kinds of products are available, whether a desktop, laptop, or tablet is right for your organization, and some key features to look out for. Then Barb will share some information about the ever-expanding hardware donation programs available through TechSoup. I'll share some additional resources and there will be time for Q&A. So like many of the organizations you work for, TechSoup is a 501c3 nonprofit. We operate out of our headquarters here in San Francisco. Mike is actually joining us from Markham, Ontario. And while I introduce a little more about TechSoup, why don't you chat into the bottom left box, the chat box, and tell us where you're located. So we have somebody from Vermont. Hello, Vermont. The TechSoup's mission is to empower nonprofits and libraries around the world by helping them get the latest tools and resources to help them meet their missions. We serve over a half million organizations across the U.S. and in over 120 countries around the world. This slide just shows our reach, where we have various programs, and where we're serving organizations globally. A quick note about our impact. We are proud to have connected nonprofits and libraries with over $5.2 billion in technology products, resources, and grants from over 100 corporate and foundation partners. But that's enough about us. Now we want to hear from you. TechSoup is probably best known for its software donation programs, but we also, as I mentioned, have a growing catalog of hardware products thanks to partners like CDI and others. So we're going to do a quick poll to see how many of you are already using TechSoup's programs. Just click on the screen for which items you have accessed through TechSoup's donation programs. And if you've accessed multiple donations, feel free to click multiple options. Seeing the results roll in, most people are new to TechSoup's hardware programs. So be sure to stay tuned at the end when Barb shares what we have available. All right. I'm going to be closing the poll in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. So as you can see, most of the participants have not actually accessed our hardware donation programs yet. Thank you. All right. The last thing I'm going to share before passing it over to Mike is some key terminology and definitions that you'll likely hear when you're researching which computer to buy. First is the CPU, which stands for Central Processing Unit. This is really your computer's brain and it does all the hard work of processing information. A faster processor usually means a faster computer, but how do you know if you're getting a fast processor? One thing to look at is the number of cores. Your computer's processor can have one or more cores in it, so it could be a single core or a dual core or even a quad core. You'll also want to look at processor speed or how fast your CPU processes information. This is measured in gigahertz and so more cores and a higher processor speed usually translates into faster performance. Another thing you'll want to look at is the amount of RAM or random access memory. RAM is a temporary way for your computer to store information while it's turned on and working, so it's kind of like a quick temporary reference for your computer, like really fancy digital post-it notes. And generally, more RAM means you can do more things at once or multitask better without slowing down your computer. RAM is measured in gigabytes and you'll likely see RAM available in 2 to 16 gigabyte amounts. One kind of confusing thing is that RAM or memory is not the same thing as storage. The storage is how your computer keeps information long-term versus the temporary memory, which is RAM. The storage is kind of like your computer's filing cabinet where you put files and documents and photos and things you want to hold on to long-term. And the amount of storage capacity on your computer or other devices is measured in gigabytes as well, just like RAM, but the numbers are going to be much bigger. So you'll see hard drives with several hundred gigabytes of storage versus 2 to 16 for RAM. And I have to admit that I always mix up the two, storage and memory, but now that you know the difference, feel free to impress your dorkier friends and colleagues by pointing out the difference between storage and memory at your next meeting. And I promise this makes for super-sensitating dinner party conversation as well. Now the last thing to note is that storage happens on your computer's hard drive. And there are two key types of computer drives to be aware of. One is a traditional drive, which a lot of us have, especially if we don't have brand new computers. And most of us at nonprofits don't have brand new computers. Traditional drives are made up of a spinning disk that's attached to a platter. And because these traditional drives have these moving parts, they're susceptible to mechanical failure. Another kind of drive that's somewhat newer is a solid-state drive. And as you might imagine, from being called solid-state, they're solid, so they don't have any moving parts. So they're less susceptible to mechanical failure than a traditional drive. But they do tend to be more expensive than traditional drives. There's a lot more lingo and a lot more parts inside of a computer or other device. So to learn more, as well as to see the minimum standards that we here at TechSoup recommend, we have two articles on TechSoup.org that you can feel free to check out. One is investing in computers, seven questions to consider. And the other is laptop versus tablet, what to consider. And you can't click on the links on screen, but they will be included in the slides. They will be emailed to you as well as links in the follow-up mail. All right. And that's it from my side. So I'm going to hand it over to Mike to explain in more detail the kind of questions that you should ask when you're deciding what hardware is right for your organization. Take it away, Mike. Thank you very much. And thank you to all the attendees today for joining us. I hope I cover a array of different subjects and answer a lot of questions in the end of this. So my name is Mike McKean and I am the sales manager at CDI Computers. Just briefly, I've been with CDI for 10 years and we've been a proud partner with TechSoup now for just over two years. So a brief history of CDI in a short sentence would be, we're the company that allows you to get the most out of your IT budget. A vague statement, but very true. We are about improving your technology infrastructure and more importantly saving you money along the way. The unique thing about CDI is we can dramatically lower the cost of your technology into your facilities and provide the highest quality of equipment and customer service. For over 30 years now, I think close to 33, we've been helping thousands of clients across North America save on their IT budget. And we do this by providing a full access to the computer market. Instead of just buying brand new computers, we give you the option of buying the same brand new computers you've known and trusted, albeit at lower prices. And factory refurbished versions of those same computers at roughly half the price of brand new and I'll touch on that throughout the presentation. And a CDI certified version of those same computers at roughly one-third the price of brand new and backed up with a great zero cost of ownership guarantee which I will also touch on later on in the presentation. I wasn't able. So now I wanted to move over to the agenda. So firstly, I'm going to talk about the different levels of product. Second, desktop versus everything else. Third, mobile computing tablet versus laptop. And lastly, what should I look for in a unit itself? Levels of product. The first level of product I'd like to discuss is CDI certified. CDI certified products go through an extensive 16-step recertification process. It results in the highest quality and lower failure rates than brand new. You could save roughly two-thirds of the price when choosing CDI certified without compromising on quality. Additionally, your maintenance costs are reduced to zero dollars while your units are under warranty with a zero cost of ownership guarantee. Manufacturer refurbished are units that are typically returned by a client or over stock equipment. So stores like to share a couple of examples would be stores like Best Buy, other large retail chains that return brand new equipment back to the original OEM. And then they provide that equipment to companies like CDI at discounted prices. We ensure a full inspection on those units to make sure that they're in perfect condition. And that's where the name manufacturer refurbishing units come from. They're typically at half the price of brand new equivalent and you're still receiving the same coverage under the manufacturer's warranty. Lastly is brand new units. So with over 32 years in the business we have very close and long-term relationships with manufacturers and distributors and we're able to source brand new equipment including the latest generations and technologies of the brands that you've known and trusted, Dell, HP, Apple, so on and so forth. You can still realize savings while partnering with us for your brand new hardware needs and enjoy the benefits of a dedicated account manager who understands those challenges. So let me start desktop versus everything else. This is unique to me and I say that only because possibly like many of you in my years of being on the workforce I've always used a desktop. The desktop of course was paired with a monitor and the only thing that's grown with other than replacing that desktop over the years is I went from one monitor to two monitors now to three monitors and I like to think that at times that's because my boss is expecting me to do three times the work but in most cases what I have found is through usage of separate monitors and having the capability of that with the desktop it does make for an easier transition from working on Excel, moving over to a CRM system or a call log platform along those lines it makes your day a little more efficient. So I'm going to talk a little bit about desktop versus everything else. So laptops long ago surpassed desktops in sales and tablets and smartphones are taking a major market share from laptops currently. So the tendency is clearly towards smaller, lighter and more portable computing devices. There's some very good reasons to stick with a big box that sits on or below your desk and I'm going to touch on a few of those now. Price performance ratio so whether or not you're spending $300 or $3,000 you will get a more powerful computer for your money if you're willing to give up portability. Your upgrade options you will have more than with a desktop. Most laptops will let you easily add RAM and swap out the hard drive but your average desktop can take more RAM than your average laptop and with a desktop's multiple days your drive options open up considerably. For instance, you don't have to choose between a SATA state drive, an SS drive and a hard drive on a laptop. You could have both. Upgrading a CPU or a graphics card reasonably easy tasks on a desktop are a little more difficult to impossible on a laptop. Repair. It's easy to open up a desktop PC for most not for myself but for most and to check to make sure the cables are secure you can clean out dust, remove a broken part and replace it with something generic. Laptop repairs take considerable more skill and many parts are specific to that model. Desktop's also use less electricity and they also have an ergonomic advantage thanks to the big screen and full size keyboard. We live, I believe, if not currently, we're definitely pushing in the direction of we live in a society in which there's so much marketing, there's so many new devices, things change so rapidly and mobile computing has become very dominant. And what we're seeing is anywhere, anytime computing. We're seeing some powerful systems and we're seeing mobile devices taking over market share. Form factors are becoming blurred, phone, phablet, tablet, two-in-one laptops. Laptop versus a tablet. Laptops and tablets are widely popular within different groups and demographics mostly because they deliver specialized experiences to their users. The laptop versus tablet market, we have really seen a shift in our younger generation also. Tablet devices started off as the very cool, unique device to have at home. It's a friendly device to not have to get up and walk to where your PC may be in the house. You could sit on your couch. You can access the Internet. You could access if you had a Facebook account. You could check your emails. You could work through your emails all from the luxury of doing it while enjoying a morning coffee at your coffee table or laying down on the couch watching one of your favorite television episodes. Laptops are generally characterized as a mobile personal computer, a device in which you can perform all the tasks available on a desktop but in a mobile-like, compact fashion. It is what most people, of course, would travel with for work, attending a trade show, visiting clients. They've become lighter and smaller over the course of the last few years and they've really made a significant stride when it comes to power and functionality and performance. Laptops have become their preferred computing device because it allows them to complete tasks they would need on a desktop but with the convenience of mobility and flexibility. Tablets, on the other hand, are currently the pinnacle of mobile technology. They're compact, they're very lightweight, and they're extremely easy to carry. They do not possess the processing power of a laptop and their functionality as a computing device is limited, although sufficient for most people. Tablets are ideal for those who browse the web casually, such as read the news or visit popular websites and those who play lightweight games or want to watch TV or films while traveling with friends or the family or on business. Laptop versus tablet. Laptops are going to be a lot more powerful, easier for creation, most are non-touch. They're more expensive and they range in size from 11.6 inches to 17 inches. Tablets, battery life, graphics, price. And what I think is one of their biggest features is they're small, they're light, and they're very portable and consumption. So when trying to decide between a tablet and a laptop, remember that there's not necessarily a winner, only a more preferable choice for your particular needs. Both laptops and tablets offer extremely convenient and powerful features but the most evacious for you will be based upon the tasks you seek to complete by the device. I talked to hundreds of clients on a given month and we travel for trade shows and we're asked a lot of these questions. How do I know what's right for myself or how do I know what's right for my business or how do I know what's right for a classroom or a corporate event? And in a lot of cases I always circle back to it's about your environment and in some ways I draw some synergies when it's almost like shopping for a car. If you're single and you do not play a lot of sports, there's no need for golf clubs in the trunk or there's no need for really a lot of people to be in your backseat, then maybe a two-door Honda Civic would work for you. If you're family married with kids and you need room and you need storage in the back, then a different line of vehicle would fit your exact needs. And what we try to do here is get a real understanding of your environment and what that environment looks like and then we're able to do a cost versus feature benefit analysis and suggest the right device for what environment you're going to be using it in. Tablet, tool not toy. So 235.7 million tablets were sold in 2014 and by 2016 30% of all enterprise and user mobile computing devices will be tablets. For businesses tablets deliver a significant productivity boost and not just because employees who use them feel more valued than those forced to lug ancient laptops around like smartphones are always on and wake instantly from sleep so there's no waiting for the computer to catch up. They can go places that normal computers can't because they're as portable and accessible as a clipboard with integrated wireless networking and in some models high-speed mobile broadband too. They're almost as light as clipboards. They can run apps that are designed to speed up common tasks such as data entry, note taking and reporting from site visits. That's a particular boon for any organization that currently relies on paperwork and form filling. Tablets and business. So the cloud is making the business world mobile. Access apps or document anywhere, anytime. Multiple devices can be used. All new apps are being designed for mobility. Tablets are just another edge device that can be used for things such as web activity, email, productivity tools, e-readers, online or internet accessible apps and meet online features. What should you consider if thinking about buying a tablet? There's so many choices. What do I buy? It depends. You have to ask yourself, what are you going to do with it? What is the environment it will be in? How long would you like it to last? Screen size and quality? What sort of internet connectivity do you want? How many gigabytes? What apps am I going to run? What ecosystem am I working in now? And what accessories would you need and what are the cost of those accessories? Which ecosystem? Now we live in a generation of a few different ecosystems. So I've always grown and been in a workforce that uses an ecosystem based off of Windows. I think most people have. So they're familiar. It's compatible. There's lots of apps, Office 365, Cloud Services, Cross Device and a Windows Store. iOS for iPads, Familiar, Intuitive, Consumer Driven, Cross Device, iTunes. We have Android, inexpensive, popular in phones, lots of apps, Google Play Store. And we have Chrome, inexpensive, controlled, easy to manage, not touch and a Google Play Store. Windows is a platform that almost everyone is comfortable with. It's solid and there are some intriguing improvements with Windows 10. The ability to install full programs on Windows tablets makes it an ideal laptop replacement. The true meaning of a portable computer. iOS offers an accessible, uniform experience. It's a great official library of apps, a huge range of interesting peripherals. And Apple focuses on making processes extremely easy for the users. Apple offers the best, of course, in multimedia. Android is a great all-arounder which offers by far the greatest choice. There are more handsets at different price points, a much wider variety of customization options and greater freedom to tweak your device if you choose to do so. If you already use Google Services, it will sync over to your tablet once you log in to Google. Some of the other features to think about is screen size. Size, type, sorry, touch, resolution, glass, Wi-Fi capability, single versus dual band, AC, 2x2, Mimeo, 3G, 4G, LTE, Bluetooth, ports, USB, TF slot, HDMI. And things like accessories, keyboard, stylus, protective cases, pens, and so forth. Other considerations. What kind of coverage are you looking for? Is this a device in which you know the refresh cycle may be from 12 months from now? Or is it a device in which you will have to be using for anywhere from three to five years? Price, like most things in life, the more expensive a device, typically the more you are receiving in performance, in storage, in screen resolution, and or in accessories that will come with the device. Serviceability, what are you looking for from a service standpoint of you? This is really important, I believe, when it comes to technology. And the reason I key in on this one particular consideration is we normally know as individuals what we're good at, where our strengths and where our weaknesses are. I will always need a good mechanic. And then when I think of someone like my brother, he will never need a mechanic because it's something that he's very strong at. He has a strong suit in being able to lift the engine, or sorry, take a look at a car engine, be able to diagnose a problem, and probably be able to fix it on his own with one quick shopping trip to somewhere to pick up the parts. When it comes to technology and a lot of these mobile devices, you want to make sure that you are being offered the service to look after them, especially if you're not qualified on your own to do any sort of diagnostics, or be able to troubleshoot what may be causing your device to freeze, or crash, or not load a certain app, you want to be able to make sure that you have the support behind that purchase to really free up any of your time and just have it looked after. And then, of course, last but not least is the length of ownership of how long you'd like that device. Although there are lots of devices that are portable and consumer devices on the market, a lot of those devices aren't meant to last much longer than 12 months to 24 months. The reason for that is because they're just not built for being able to travel with them, dropping them on the ground. Some of the batteries inside some of these devices won't last much longer than a year or two years, and in some of these portable devices you'll find that there is no interchangeable battery. So it's not like a laptop where when your laptop is starting to not perform at the same standards of battery life, you can go out and purchase a new laptop battery, put it in there, and now you have that battery power to last a long time again. So all things to think about when looking to make or acquire your next technology device, whether or not it's for work, business, pleasure, these are all things to think about. That's it for me today. I want to thank everybody once again for joining us this afternoon. And I will stay tuned for questions. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you, Mike. People in the audience, if you have additional questions, please feel free to chat them into the chat box on the left. We had one question come in which is what is the life expectancy of a desktop versus a laptop versus a tablet? Like how long do these devices actually last or how long should we expect them to last? It's a great question. If I may, I'm going to use an example. I've been with CDI for 10 years, and my actual desktop underneath the office in which I'm in now was just replaced three years ago, and I had had the one prior for, I believe, six years or close to five or six years, and it was working fine. Desktops, as I believe I touched on in the beginning, desktops and any type of PC in that range, they're really workhorses. And outside of the memory and storage capabilities and being able to upgrade them, they never really lead that general area. The fans inside of them are good at removing dust and filtering out any kind of dirt and particles. And because they're stationary, you don't have to worry about damaging them, and you can always upgrade the parts inside of the PC to make it more efficient. Outside of that, it's relatively easy to be able to save data through one of the drives and then free up storage space inside your PC. When we're talking about tablet devices and more of your traditional handheld devices, what we tend to find in the marketplace is they tend to go through long hours of internet browsing and long hours of downloading, whether or not that's particular programs or whether or not it's particular things such as programs or Facebook or those types of things. The battery is constantly running on those devices, and we find that there's a lot more downloading on your mobile devices. Everybody wants to have a device that they can walk around in. If they want to show their colleagues or their friends something cool or unique that they saw, it's very easy to pull up the browser and start to download. Constant downloading, of course, can wear and tear on your battery. And when that starts to happen, and I don't know about the audience, but I'm terrible at this too. Think of your telephone device. I own a BlackBerry and I own an iPhone. My BlackBerry is meant only for work purposes. My iPhone is meant for my – I check my sports score or I have an Instagram account. All those things where I'm constantly refreshing and I'm constantly moving to different pages. My battery on my iPhone now – it's almost non-existent. You know, in four hours' time, I'm plugging in my iPhone so we can have a full charge again. My BlackBerry on the other hand, I'm using it predominantly just for emails. I'm responding when I'm out of the office to an email or the odd email if I'm out having lunch or I'm out of an appointment. And I can actually go close to three days without charging my BlackBerry battery. So that's your biggest concern when it comes to handheld and portable devices. One key note – and I don't mean this in any disregards to any of the manufacturers out there that build these devices, but they're lower end on the affordability scale, and you're not going to pay a lot of money for a lot of your smaller tablet and mobile devices. And there is kind of a catch-22 to that, and that is that the likelihood of you replacing that in the next 24 months is high. And what do I mean by that? Well, in portable devices, even with some of the most rigorous screens, they get broken. You travel with them. Your colleague or your friend or family member drops them. The replacement costs on screen devices like that, you'll find that you're better off just purchasing a brand new unit. They also design them so that the batteries aren't replaceable. So it kind of puts you in a bit of a catch because if you can't replace the battery, eventually the battery will soak down to where, you know, unless it's constantly plugged into the wall, you're not able to have it perform or do the things you'd like to. And there's nothing more unsettling than sitting with your portable tablet device, but, you know, you're within three and a half feet of the closest outlet because it has to be plugged in in order for you to perform what you want. It takes the whole idea of it being portable out of the equation. I'm not sure if I completely answered the question correctly. If I didn't, then feel free to ask me anything else. Yeah, I think you did. And so it's interesting to hear that how long your devices last really depends on how you use them and what you use them for. That there maybe isn't a hard and fast rule necessarily for how long does a device last. A couple of other questions that have come in. What do you think of the different kind of hybrid options? So, for example, the all-in-one desktop compared to a standard desktop with a tower, as well as the hybrid tablet devices that are kind of somewhere in between a tablet and a laptop. I love them. And I'm not so sure. I've had the opportunity to use all devices. So the first one, which one was that that you mentioned, the first device? The all-in-one desktop and monitor devices. Yeah, so the all-in-one desktop and monitor devices, a really unique device. I think that from building those devices with a lot of applications on there which are great for marketing, PowerPoint presentations, drag and drop, downloading of pictures, building albums, all that kind of stuff. And then it also gives you great capabilities like working off of a desktop in which I have underneath my desk now. So everything from emails to Excel to doing your day-to-day kind of, if it's a corporate environment that you're in, you can conduct kind of the best of both worlds. There isn't really a downside to those devices other than typically they tend to be a little bit higher on the price range. And that's because they're kind of giving you the best of both worlds, so to speak. The two-in-one, I think the next one was the two-in-one tablet devices, kind of like a laptop and a tablet all-in-one. Is that correct? Yes. So really cool devices. I can tell you that I've traveled for business with them. Terrific. So I have an iPad at home, and the second I started to travel with the two-in-one tablet device, I left the iPad back at home. I had a lot more space. I didn't have to worry about a secondary device because while I was away traveling for business, you want a tablet device to be able to kind of just, if you're in the hotel room or you're in a meeting or you want to be able to find a cool place to go for lunch or dinner or greet some guests or some customers, you have the accessibility of the tablet device, and you don't need the keyboard. You could use it just like, I'm using Apple as an example, but you could use it just like an iPad device. What's super cool about that is that with two clicks of a keyboard, you can be in a boardroom or at a trade show or talking to any type of clients or engaged in conversations, and you have all the familiars of being at your desk, whether or not at work or at home, because you had the keyboard right there, and it's just like working off of a laptop. So super cool devices, kind of trendy, but I think trendy in the right direction for somebody that, you know, I'm not your typical very trendy when you've got to have the newest and the coolest device, and I've worked for a technology company for 10 years, so they're kind of a device that's right in my alley. I'm a majority of the time I'm 85% business, and I need a machine that is going to be very efficient and allow me to complete my work, but I like to be able to, you know, maybe, you know, buy some sporting tickets online, check out a few restaurants, access my LinkedIn account, and that device actually gives you both right there. It's terrific. Great. Thank you. We'll have another Q&A session a little bit later, so I'm going to switch over to Barb now. Thank you, Mike, for answering those questions. No problem. Okay. Well, thank you very much, Mike, for that excellent presentation. I learned a lot, and I'm sure our webinar attendees did as well. As Ariel introduced me, my name is Barbara Shaughnessy. I've been with TechSoup eight years now, and I'm going to talk a little bit about the hardware offers that we have available to you. And the first thing I'd like to share is that within TechSoup we categorize and think about some of these hardware programs as donated and discounted. And what that means to you is really what the admin fee is going to be on TechSoup. If one of our donor partners is able to fully donate a product to us, we're able to offer those at a much lower admin fee than when a particular product is discounted, meaning that we are receiving that product at an attractive discount for our nonprofit membership, but the admin fee is going to be a little bit higher. Talking first now about some of the discounted hardware programs, starting off with the TechSoup Refurbish Computer Initiative, which we also call RCI. Mike is a big part of our RCI program representing CDI. We also have two other refurbishers who provide us with product for that program. They have the names of Interconnection and PCRR. You can actually search on TechSoup by those refurbisher names to see the various products that are available. These would be products such as tablets, laptops, and desktops as Mike described them to us. We also from time to time get new product within the RCI program and the catalog is always changing. We have at least one major catalog refresh, if not more, each quarter. So definitely keep an eye on that program. New to TechSoup is Infocus. Infocus is probably a brand you are most familiar with as it relates to projectors connecting your desktop or laptop to a projector to display a presentation. Currently we have some tablets available from Infocus. And for those of you attending our webinars, I always like to give an early scoop, and that scoop is going to be that Infocus projectors will be coming soon. We also have recently partnered with JourneyEd. If you have been in college anytime recently, you may know of JourneyEd as one of the main academic resellers available to that particular education vertical. Happily many of the participating vendors on JourneyEd have offered academic pricing to TechSoup members. Literally it's thousands of products and over 200 different vendors. It does include both hardware and software to give you a sense of what's available on hardware that is really an extra discount at the moment. We have recently added some Lenovo refurbished tablets that are $49. If you're with a library and looking to set up a lending program that might be something that you'd want to check out. We've seen a lot of TechSoup member interests with refurbished iPad 2s through JourneyEd. And we also recently added some RICO projectors. In terms of some of our donated hardware programs, the largest and really the oldest hardware program that we have on TechSoup is Cisco. And they've been a partner of ours since 2002. This is Enterprise Networking Product. Enterprise, I know that came up earlier in the chat. What does that mean? And that means that you're a larger org. So you need sophisticated networking equipment whether it be to support Wi-Fi or a virtual private network which would be used for remote desktop support. One of the unique characteristics of the Cisco program is the length of the maintenance that it includes up to five years of maintenance. This is a global donation program. So if any of you work and partner with NGOs outside of the U.S., it might be worthwhile for them to know about the Cisco program as well. I should also share that with Cisco, although it's one of our oldest and largest hardware programs, it is limited in terms of the amount of product that we're able to donate. So sometimes if you come to TechSoup, you'll find that those products are out of stock. They are also pretty strict in terms of their eligibility. For those of you who have not ordered any product, whether it be software or hardware on TechSoup, all of the various programs are subject to what we call rules, eligibility, and restrictions. And you will find those detailed in every product description which identifies based on your mission type, whether or not you're eligible to receive the discount or donation based on budget, and also the quantity of product that you can order during a certain timeframe. I also want to give you an early scoop on another huge donation partner that's headed our way, Western Digital, which is a maker of hard drives. I'm sure you've heard that brand. These are going to be refurbished internal hard drives for the initial products. And the best way to keep up to date with anything and everything that's going on on TechSoup is to subscribe to our product alert newsletter. Personally, I subscribe to the newsletter because it's the only way I can keep up with what's happening at TechSoup. There are so many changes all the time, but the product alert is the best way to find out about new hardware and software coming to our platform. And then finally, two more examples of hardware programs that we offer on TechSoup. These would be discounted versus donated. Headsets.com. I'm using a headset right now for this webinar. We offer headsets and several flavors, some that connect the phone, some that connect to computers. And headsets are also new or can be open box. So open box means that they were used as demos. They were returned, they were checked, and they're available to you at a very attractive price point. One of our smaller hardware programs that's been with us also for many years is Pitney Bowes. You probably remember those from the postage meter days. Well, as they say, it's not your father's postage meter anymore because these things have gone very high tech and they're now referred to as desktop mailing systems. But we are able to offer remanufactured systems through Pitney Bowes and also discounts on monthly service. We would love to hear more from you in terms of what type of hardware or really any types of products or services you're interested in on TechSoup. I would encourage you not only to participate in future webinars but also to participate in our discussion forums. And we happen to have a forum topic that's called TechSoup Technology Wishlist. And this is reviewed by TechSoup staff, really around the world, to stay in touch with what is of interest and in demand by our member nonprofits and libraries. So with you Arielle, I'll pass it on. Great, thank you Barb. And as Barb mentioned, we are always expanding and improving the selection of hardware programs available through TechSoup. And I want to reiterate her suggestion that if there's a kind of hardware or even software that you're interested in TechSoup carrying that we currently don't carry, please do weigh in on that Technology Wishlist. It's one of our greatest sources for finding out what people need so we can best meet those needs. I did want to add before we switch over to another round of Q&A, we have a relatively new program at TechSoup that is called Boost. It's an annual subscription for TechSoup members. And among other things, it provides access to deals on new and refurbished hardware. So for example, right now there's Boost subscribers have access to in-focus Q tablets that are $40 off the regular price. So in addition to the other benefits that we have listed here for Boost, they're consistently updated, new, and shiny offers on hardware as well. You can check that out at techsoup.org slash boost. All right, and we have a couple of minutes for some additional questions. One question that came in I'm going to address to Mike, which is around the difference between refurbished and new products. Sometimes people are a little bit leery about refurbished products. So is there a way? So at TechSoup we know that the partners that offer refurbished products through the TechSoup programs have extremely high standards for quality and ensuring that the products that we're offering through TechSoup are in perfect condition. But is there a general way that people can know that refurbished product is the same quality as new product, as well as is there any difference between the life expectancy of a refurbished product versus a new one? Sure, so great, fantastic questions. A refurbished product, you know, the name scared me when I first joined the organization 10 years ago. And the word refurbished is also used as in recertified. And we tend to think that the word refurbished has negative in the market. It's kind of viewed as negative. So a couple of key things that you should really focus on if you are looking for a refurbished device. One, and I think one of the most important ones is where are you purchasing the device from? So make sure that you're purchasing a refurbished device from a reputable vendor, whether or not it be TechSoup, whether or not it be CDI computers. Shops like Best Buy and other big retail chains offer refurbished equipment in there. So you want to make sure at first that you're buying it from somewhere where you know service is going to be key afterwards. Let me touch on that though because there is a lot of thoughts out there that when you're buying refurbished, you're buying an old piece of equipment that's not going to last you long. Our test and audit reports actually show us completely different results. What do I mean by that? Most of the equipment that comes in through CDI can range from anywhere from one to four or five years old as far as when it originally stepped place out in the marketplace. What's unique about what we do and other refurbishers do is if they have the right test and audit facility to be able to essentially that machine or that device is getting not only an oil change, but everything is going to be cleaned and or replaced and or updated. So think of it as in everybody knows they have to take their vehicle in for an oil change every so many kilometers depending on the manufacturer. It's not just an oil change that these devices go through. It's everything from a complete hard drive light to a replacement of the hard drive if needed. It's a full dust clean and the inside of these machines smell like you would just buy it brand new from a retail store. Outside of that everything is inspected which means we put these machines through very stringent tests that would be it's almost like they're imaging what it would be like for that machine to be back out onto the workforce. So we test the batteries. We test the cores in a processor to make sure that there's no interruptions in how they're performing. And there are times in which throughout all this testing that gets conducted where we find ourselves where we have to change the processors because they're not up to speed and we know that that particular device wouldn't last the length of the warranty that we're offering on it. So we know that in the end that would again cost us money shipping in, shipping out. So we replace those parts inside until it reaches the point of what we would consider to be perfection. Some of our longest clients work off of a seven year refresh. So if that should give you a bit of an idea if they're purchasing from us devices of refurbished PCs notebooks so that they can save money, be offered tremendous service and then they're not refreshing that equipment for anywhere for five to seven years a lot of the time you're looking at devices that are still working at the end of that five or seven years and those devices in itself are eight to ten years old. You know I'd like to look at it in a lot of ways of in a sense a television for a lot of people anyway you know will last a long time and it gets used in a lot of cases sometimes even more than a PC and a notebook but never has a chance to go in and get a full clean or get updated or make sure that everything's running properly. The PCs and the notebooks that most of your refurbished suppliers will offer should be completely tested and audited. You'd like to look for things like ISO registration and a reporting structure that knows that they take that kind of stuff very seriously. And I know that we do and those are some of the key things that you can look for when buying a refurbished device. Great, thank you so much. All right, as we're getting on towards the top of the hour wrapping up we'd like it if you could chat in one thing that you learned in today's webinar that you found most helpful. And of course if you learned something new and interesting feel free to share this information with your colleagues and within your network. We are going to include some additional resources. This content on TechSoup includes a buying guide for computers including the minimum specifications for each kind of part inside your computer that we recommend. And so we did get a number of questions through chat of how do I know what a good basic computer is and that article will help you with it. We also have as I mentioned before a laptop versus tablet buying guide. And if you want to dive a little more into the considerations for tablet purchases we also have a quick guide to buying a tablet. And just kind of general resources in terms of how you think about and procure technology. We have a tech planning tips post that could be relevant and interesting. And for those libraries on the line we actually have a post for about one library's recommendations for how to do loaner laptop programs. We'll also include links to all of the donation programs that Barb mentioned. Finally I wanted to encourage you to check out our upcoming events including on the 19th we have a webinar on getting technology donations through TechSoup. So that's a great opportunity to learn more about the various donation programs both hardware and software available through TechSoup. We encourage you to take a minute or two after the event to answer the post event survey that will pop up. That feedback is really helpful for us to understand and improve our programming. So thank you to all of our presenters for today and thank you to our audience for joining us. And thanks also to our webinar sponsor ReadyTalk who provided this platform for us to be able to host these webinars and share them with you. Have a good afternoon. Thanks everyone. Bye.