50 steals and splurges - Cover Story - Buyers Guide

Home Office Computing, March, 1997 by Nicola B. Godfrey

On some purchases, you can pinch pennies to save and not lose out on quality or performance. For example, your car will run just fine on gasoline that costs 50 cents less per gallon than a premium brand. At the same time, you'd never even consider buying a no-name brand for other purchases-whether they're your favorite tires or to-die-for cookies. (Remember, sacrificing quality for savings is what ultimately killed the Yugo.) For the savvy and discerning consumer, looking for bargains translates into knowing when to save as well as when to spend. The same applies when you're equipping your office with everything from paper clips to portable computers.

To guide your dollars in the right direction, we've pooled our editors' recommendations and come up with 25 products and services that we consider steals--and 25 items worth splurging on.

S T E A L S

1 Quick--buy more computer memory before prices hit another upswing after dropping 84 percent since late 1995. Double your system's RAM--from 16MB to 32MB--for as little as $85. Order from The Chip Merchant (800-426-6375, www.thechipmerchant. com), or check out Kingston's Smallbiz forum at www. kingston.com (800-337-8410).

2 Add splash to your marketing materials with a color ink-jet printer for less than $400--as inexpensive as a black-and-white laser printer. Consider the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 820 Cse (800-752-0900, www. hp.com; $399 list) or the Lexmark 2050 Color Jetprinter, shown (800-358-5835, www.lexmark. com; $249 list).

3 Save on e-mail by signing up for freemail from Juno Online Services (800-654-JUNO, www. juno.com) or Web-based HotMail Communications (408-222-7000, www.hotmail.com). They provide no-frills e-mail accounts; the only catch--you'll see ads every time you log on.

4 Enjoy unlimited access to the Web for $20 a month from any number of Internet service providers (ISPs). Find an ISP that will host your Web site in addition to providing an e-mail account. Check out www. thelist.com for pricing on more than 4,000 ISPs.

5 Purchase lots of data storage for little money. Doing so provides inexpensive insurance for your data too. For less than $200, the portable Iomega Zip external drive offers backup on the go (Iomega, 801-778-1000, 800-697-8833, www. iomega.com; Win, Mac; $199).

6 Network at local trade shows using free passes distributed online by exhibitors. Attending shows in other fields will increase your business's presence in a potentially profitable crossover industry. Check out the Web site of the show's host.

7 Turn your PC and modem into a message center with an internal fax/ modem card and good fax software, such as HotFax, shown (SmithMicro, 714-362-2345, 800-964-7674, www. smithmicro.com; Win; $79.95 list), or WinFax Pro 7.5 (800-441-7234, www.symantec.com; Win 95; $99 list).

8 Point your browser to www. shareware.com or check out our Web site (www.smalloffice.com) for small-business-specific shareware applications. For example, Winzip file compression utility is a steal at under $30.

9 Get free business, entertainment, and sports news as well as financial and weather information. Mercury Mail's editors customize daily news to your particular interests then e-mail it directly to you hourly, daily, or as often as you like (www.merc.com).

10 Advertise at no charge through post-it-yourself free online classifieds on AOL's bulletin board (keyword: classifieds).

11 Offer student gurus business experience in exchange for their services as interns. Call Jobtrak (310-474-3377) to post a help-wanted ad at six schools nationwide for $75.

12 Employ a PIM to handle your contacts with aplomb. Higher-priced databases may be overkill for your small business. We recommend Starfish Sidekick 95 (Starfish Software, 408-461-5800, 800-370-8963, www.starfishsoftware.com; Win 95; $50 list).

13 Get more prospects to visit your Web site by securing a domain name that's your company name, as in @yourbiz.com, for just $50 a year. Register online through InterNic (703-742-4777, www.internic.net).

14 Reduce your paper and mailing costs--buy prestamped postcards and envelopes from your local U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.gov) for direct-mail offers and announcements. You pay only the cost of postage.

15 Experience big-bang browsing for zero bucks with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0, downloadable from www.microsoft.com/ie/download for Win 95, Win, Mac. Free trial versions of Netscape Navigator are also available (Netscape Communications, 415-528-2555, 800-NET-SITE, www. netscape.com; Win, Mac).

16 Bring the functionality of an ATM into your home with online banking and bill paying through Microsoft Money 97 (800-426-9400, www.microsoft.com/moneyzone; Win 95; $35 street), Intuit Quicken Deluxe (415-944-6000, 800-446-8848, www.intuit.com; Win, DOS, Mac; $60 street), or Intuit BankNow (888-835-1940, www.intuit.com; free to consumers at AOL's Bank Center). Even better, check with your bank to see if it offers free online banking and what software it uses.