Working in Style

Home Office Computing,  Oct, 1999  by Cristina Gair

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Beauty is only skin deep--but productivity and good looks can go together nicely

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING. WE'VE ALL HEARD THAT line a thousand times, but does it apply to a home-based worker like you? Well, yes. If you're meeting with a potential client to close a mega-deal, you probably shouldn't show up in jeans and a sweatshirt--or pull out a dusty 486 laptop that creaks and groans when you launch your PowerPoint presentation. Like a smart-looking suit, the right hardware and software can help you look professional, reliable, and ready for action. So we've assembled a set of this season's high-tech gear to get work done with a splash of style, whether you're working from the comfort of your home office or hitting the road.

And the Award Goes to ...

Give a Hollywood-caliber presentation with Fujitsu's LifeBook C Series notebook. Its gorgeous 14.1-inch, active-matrix screen guarantees your slide show will shine, and its 366MHz Pentium II processor, 64MB of RAM, 6.4GB hard disk, 56Kbps modem, and 24x CD-ROM drive will make it hard to believe you spent only $2,199 (If you've an extra $600 to spend, you can upgrade to a 400MHz Pentium II with a 10GB hard disk and a 4x DVDROM drive) Our only gripes are that the C Series ships with Microsoft Works instead of the more muscular Microsoft Office suite, and it weighs a hefty 7.5 pounds--but what's important is that at the end of your presentation, they'll be applauding. Fujitsu PC Corp., 877-FPCDIRECT, www.fujitsu-pc.com

Put Mike Ovitz On Hold

When you're the only one staffing the phones, you need more than one line to convey the right image. It's time to upgrade to a two-line, 900MHz cordless phone like the Sony SPP-IM977. Along with a 50-number "jog dial" directory, the clear-sounding phone's digital privacy feature keeps others from hearing your conversations, and a built-in data port lets you connect a fax, modem, or answering machine. The cordless receiver boasts up to six hours of talk time and seven days of standby, as well as three-way conference capability. $210; Sony Electronics Inc., 800-222-SONY, www.sony.com

Marketing Magic

You've got the right printer and the perfect laptop--now it's time to develop marketing materials that will close the deal. Fire up Corel PrintOffice 2000, a software suite that's designed for graphics novices who need killer flyers, newsletters, and professional-looking business documents. This new version of Corers affordable desktop publisher consists of PrintOffice 5 for creating business cards and brochures; PhotoHouse 5 for editing scanned and digital images; and Web. Designer 2 for spinning Web pages. And with the CorelCentral 9 information manager, you can keep track of your clients and meetings and perform a mail merge with style. $99; Corel Corp., 800-77-COREL, www.corel.com/printoffice

Capture Them With Color

A customer's first impression of your home-based business will stick, so make sure your printed documents leave them wowed. Skip the trip to Kinko's and print your own brochures, business cards, and marketing materials with the photo-quality images and crisp, clean text of Hewlett-Packard's DeskJet 970Cse/Cxi. Besides splashy color and double-sided printing, you'll enjoy peak productivity with speeds of 12 pages per minute (ppm) in black and white and 10ppm in color. For perfect photo prints, pair the Desk Jet's 2,400 by 1,200dpi mode with a sheaf of photo-quality paper--that'll keep your clients coming back for more. $399; Hewlett-Packard Co.. 800-752-0900. www.hp.com

Secret-Agent Style

James Bond, meet the Qualcomm pdQ smart phone. Flip open this cool 8.2-ounce wireless phone--offered in either 800MHz digital/analog or 1,900MHz digital guise--and you'll discover a fully functional 3Com Palm organizer. After you've made that crucial call, just grab your stylus to schedule your next meeting, search your address book, or log expenses; then launch the minibrowser to surf the Web and check e-mail. Even if you aren't working for Her Majesty's Secret Service, you'll make quite a statement. $500 to $800, depending on carrier; Qualcomm, 800-349-4188, www.qualcomm.com

A Pocketful of Color

Never let them see you sweat? With Casio's Cassiopeia E-105 PDA, you'll be high, dry, and cool. Although it doesn't replace your cell phone, as the Qualcomm pdQ does, this Windows CE-based palm-size PC is a colorful multimedia wonder: Its 131 MHz NEC microprocessor and 32MB of RAM team with an active-matrix, 240 by 320-pixel color screen and six hours of battery life to turn presentations from slide shows into audio and even video experiences. When you're on the road, you can check your calendar in Pocket Outlook, dictate memos into the voice recorder, or even listen to music. Back at the home office, use Windows CE's ActiveSync to share data with your desktop PC. $599; Casio Corp., 800-836-8580, www.casio.com

COPYRIGHT 1999 Line56
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