Smartphone development is a tough market to break into. Microsoft tried with its Windows Phone, but that was a fruitless venture. This year, Google plans to have a go in the same market with the Google Pixel, a smartphone that looks every bit as promising as the latest iteration of the iPhone.

Unlike getting a new pair of sweatpants, the process of buying new hardware isn’t as straightforward. Because there are so many choices out there, it’s hard to go with what your friend has to say or which ones are selling at 50% off. If you want hardware that doesn’t only fit but also compliments your computer, go through these five things every buyer should consider if new hardware is on the top of your shopping list.

If your last business presentation was dim, faded, or encumbered by bulky equipment, it’s probably time for a new office projector. And like any hardware purchase, that means a host of new specifications and measurements need to be learned to avoid sinking money into a useless lemon.

Hardware maintenance and upgrades can consume a big sum of your business’ time and money. But with Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), a solution in which you pay a Managed Services Provider a subscription fee and let them take care of all your hardware-related issues, including upgrades, maintenance, and management, you can be sure of your hardware functionality and performance.

Server-hosted delivery of client applications is hardly new. Whether it was Microsoft Windows Terminal Services back in 1996 or the Remote Desktop Services of today, it has been around for a while now. With client virtualization, boundaries of traditional networks are done away with to allow rich client applications and environments to endpoints.

Software developers make a profit by selling us the best product they can create. When selling pieces of their software in bulk they offer licensing packages to businesses so you don’t have to buy 100 copies of the same CD. Simple enough, right? Well, now that an increasing amount of services and tools are moving into the cloud it’s a lot harder to track how many licenses you’ll need and how much they’ll cost.

The good ol’ two button mouse just won’t cut it anymore. They’re unresponsive, uncomfortable and the cord somehow ties itself up every time you put it in your bag. However, buying a new mouse can be a pain, especially when you don’t know what to look for.

Before you start purchasing any new hardware, consider virtualizing your IT infrastructure. Virtualization means to abstract the software from the hardware. Basically, as processors have increased in power and memory capacity, one physical server can now act as five virtual servers.

There comes a point in the life of every laptop where its hard drive slows and it begins to function at a snail’s pace. At this point, many people either toss it or retire it to the back of a closet. If you’re one of the latter, then this Spring you may be able infuse life into it.