Apple has just dropped the news that new iMacs are shipping. Here are the new specs:
20 INCH
2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB
250GB hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB
20 INCH
2.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB
320GB hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB
24 INCH
2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB
320GB hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB
We should have one of these in the retail store soon so stop by when you get a chance.
After nearly 20 years of managing an extensive warehouse-based inventory to support our distribution business we are happy to report that we’ve recently completed a carefully planned strategic conversion to a largely stockless system. We’ve been looking at making this change for a number of years and have spent more than six months making the conversion.
Q: How does it work?
A: The “stockless” model works like this: We have negotiated agreements with our key suppliers to ship products directly from their distribution centers to our commercial customers – both locally and across the country. This arrangement includes utilizing air freight to ensure timely deliveries. In fact, we expect to be able to deliver orders faster using the direct ship model then the “old fashioned” way where we ordered products, received them into our local stock and then delivered them to our clients.
Additionally, the stockless approach is greener – as oil prices continue to rise we have successfully taken our delivery vehicles off the road, allowing the delivery companies (who are already on the road) to move goods more efficiently from point A to point B. For local deliveries, we have signed an agreement with Red Dog Courier, a Bellingham-based delivery company to facilitate the fast, free local delivery that we’ve always offered, including the “desktop” delivery service that is so important to many customers.
Q: What about emergencies? What if we need something NOW?
A: We are maintaining a “Crisis Management” stock (hence the “almost” stockless description) so that we can respond instantly to failed hard drives, dead RAM, toner cartridges, etc. In most cases emergency parts or supplies can be picked up at our Technology Solutions Center in downtown Bellingham with 10 minutes notice. We also of course maintain stock in the retail store and have a wide variety of parts and supplies on hand there at all times.
Q: Why change?
A: Over the years it has become obvious that the old model of a mid-size locally-based distributor was becoming something of an oxymoron in the world of global distribution and broadband automation. To put it simply; the large suppliers that we partner with have a distribution capability far beyond our own and economies of scale dictate that these large suppliers can offer superior deliverables more economically. Additionally as our business has changed in the last few years the opportunity to concentrate on service considerations and new products is welcome. We’ve experienced phenomenal growth in the network management space (especially remote management) and other professional services and our retail focus has really shifted as we’ve begun to really explore the relatively new partnership with Apple. With these divisions of Northwest Computer doing so well, we wanted to be able to bring more focus to them by discontinuing our warehouse with it’s attendant inventory, resource management requirements and infrastructure challenges.
Q: How does this change affect your customers?
A: Customers who have historically ordered products from us for delivery should see little, if any, change in lead times. In some cases, orders may take an extra day or two to be delivered, in other cases they will arrive more quickly than before. Documentation accompanying deliveries may look different. As always, if there are questions regarding shipments contact us and we will address them.
Q: Are you still recycling toner cartridges and e-waste?
A: Yes! We continue to partner with ReLectronics, a division of ReSources to recycle empty toner cartridges and computer gear. These items should be dropped off at our retail store at 1211 Cornwall. There are fees associated with the recycling of e-Waste. We are also exploring a relationship with Computers for Kidz, a local non-profit that rebuilds used computers and donates them to economically disadvantaged children in Whatcom County.
Now you can receive daily blog updates straight to your e-mail inbox. Just put your email into the new widget on the right panel and start enjoying technology news from the comfort of your inbox.
Read More......You may have noticed a new link on the right hand side of the page. Senior account manager, Dennis Brounstein, has decided to switch his popular monthly e-mail newsletter over to a blog format so that everyone can enjoy it. Make sure to take a minute to check it out: dennisfromnwcomputer.blogspot.com
Read More......
Discarded circuit boards in the town of Guiyu, China, where scientists found environmental contamination from crude recycling practices.Here are a few more demo videos from Apple. These are great videos to watch if you are in the market for an Apple computer, thinking about the big switch from PC's or just curious about Apples new line of laptops.
There have been some interesting moves on the part of Microsoft in the last week or two regarding Windows XP. According to Microsoft, large computer makers will no longer be selling machines with XP after June 30, 2008. Sales of XP will be discontinued after January 31, 2009. I get lots of calls asking if I can still get Windows XP-Professional and as of this point the answer is definitely yes. I am still getting requests for about 80% of my sales with XP. There is still a great deal of fear over Vista. Some people report having conflicts with existing hardware or software but most have not really even tried Vista. Before going any further, Microsoft has said that it will support XP at least through 2014.
Microsoft stated this past week that it will continue to sell Windows XP-Home for lower end systems primarily for use in emerging markets. Machines will need less hardware requirements to run adequately helping to reduce the cost of these computers. This is not going to be a factor for most schools and businesses which require XP-Professional to run on their domains.
Bill Gates also announced last week that Vista's replacement should be available in a year or so. This is referring to 2010 not 2009 like some media has been reporting. Vista's replacement is being called Windows 7. One of the advantages of this version is a less hardware intensive approach. A minimalistic variation of the Windows kernal known as MinWin, is being developed for use in Windows 7. The MinWin development efforts are aimed towards componentizing the Windows kernel and reducing the dependencies with a view to carving out the minimal set of components required to build a self-contained kernel as well as reducing the disk footprint and memory usage according to Mark Russinovich.
Microsoft is suffering from bad publicity over Vista and is still having trouble with it gaining acceptance. 100 million copies of Vista have been sold. Most have been bundled with new machines mostly for the retail market. Most businesses have been happy with Windows XP and have not had the need to upgrade yet. This will change over the next year when Vista is the only product readily available.
Order either Windows XP or Vista machines today. Both operating systems are in stock and ready to ship. Use the configurators on the right side of this page for desktops or notebooks to make your choices. If you prefer to go with Ubuntu or some other OS, please leave a comment on the form.
