Good Things in Pretty Packages
A friend of mine has the theory that when a company does a good job, you should talk it up.
"After all," she says, "when a company fails us, we're more than willing to let everyone know!"
Well, here's a company that for this consumer, anyway, did a good job.
I needed a portable hard drive for a project I was working on. Usually, I will spend a bit of time researching the possibilities, and looking for the best price. But this time, I was in a hurry.
It's often the case that when we don't do our homework, we pay. And I'm not saying the product I bought won't let me down sometime in the future. But, so far, so good!
I went to Best Buy, and found a wide array of external hard drives. The smallest these says is around 320 GB - you can get a TB (terabyte) for about $300. That's a lot of storage. I was looking for something in the 500 GB range.
Not too long ago, I bought one that size online for $100, so I was pleasantly surprised to find them on the shelf at Best Buy for $119 - $200. The higher priced models were either very small (for excellent portability and small footprint), or came with fancy backup software that makes backup a no-brainer.
I just wanted a good, reliable portable HD - so I was looking for price.
Iomega offered a 500 GB model for $119, which was the cheapest of the lot, and Iomega has a pretty good name. I was almost going to buy it when I remembered a USB cable (I was opting for a USB model. You can also get variations, such as FireWire, or combinations, as well as SATA drives). Checking the package, I saw that the Iomega did not include a cable. Another package had caught my eye early, simply because it was a, well, ok I admit it - a nice pacakge! A pleasant little no-frills blue box with attractive graphics.
I checked that package to see if the cable was included, and found not only a cable. but a desk stand and backup software for $129!
I was in and out of Best Buy in less than 15 minutes.
The HD is from SimpleTech (by Fabrik), and it really is nicely pacakged. The drive is in one compartment, and the plug and USB cable are neatly pacakaged in another. The box not only opened easily, but could be reused for carting the drive around (to avoid jostling it - it comes supported by molded cardboard inserts - and it's very easy to put it back in the box in its original configuration). I couldn't help but think, though there is really no reason to do so, that a company that could package its products this well must have spent some time on the actual product design, as well.
At any rate, the drive plugged in, started up, gave me an option to use the software and upgrade to USB 2.0 turbo (a faster data throughput option).
I'm impressed. Is it possible that you can tell a book by its cover? Stay tuned!
"After all," she says, "when a company fails us, we're more than willing to let everyone know!"
Well, here's a company that for this consumer, anyway, did a good job.
I needed a portable hard drive for a project I was working on. Usually, I will spend a bit of time researching the possibilities, and looking for the best price. But this time, I was in a hurry.
It's often the case that when we don't do our homework, we pay. And I'm not saying the product I bought won't let me down sometime in the future. But, so far, so good!
I went to Best Buy, and found a wide array of external hard drives. The smallest these says is around 320 GB - you can get a TB (terabyte) for about $300. That's a lot of storage. I was looking for something in the 500 GB range.
Not too long ago, I bought one that size online for $100, so I was pleasantly surprised to find them on the shelf at Best Buy for $119 - $200. The higher priced models were either very small (for excellent portability and small footprint), or came with fancy backup software that makes backup a no-brainer.
I just wanted a good, reliable portable HD - so I was looking for price.
Iomega offered a 500 GB model for $119, which was the cheapest of the lot, and Iomega has a pretty good name. I was almost going to buy it when I remembered a USB cable (I was opting for a USB model. You can also get variations, such as FireWire, or combinations, as well as SATA drives). Checking the package, I saw that the Iomega did not include a cable. Another package had caught my eye early, simply because it was a, well, ok I admit it - a nice pacakge! A pleasant little no-frills blue box with attractive graphics.
I checked that package to see if the cable was included, and found not only a cable. but a desk stand and backup software for $129!
I was in and out of Best Buy in less than 15 minutes.
The HD is from SimpleTech (by Fabrik), and it really is nicely pacakged. The drive is in one compartment, and the plug and USB cable are neatly pacakaged in another. The box not only opened easily, but could be reused for carting the drive around (to avoid jostling it - it comes supported by molded cardboard inserts - and it's very easy to put it back in the box in its original configuration). I couldn't help but think, though there is really no reason to do so, that a company that could package its products this well must have spent some time on the actual product design, as well.
At any rate, the drive plugged in, started up, gave me an option to use the software and upgrade to USB 2.0 turbo (a faster data throughput option).
I'm impressed. Is it possible that you can tell a book by its cover? Stay tuned!
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