But, with HP’s recent launch of its ‘Ink Advantage’ campaign – a new design philosophy that covers both the printer and the ink cartridge’s design and manufacture – the ink side of the table just got a serious boost in the value proposition stakes.

“Before, a very basic printer might have cost an end-user R700 and black and colour cartridges around R600 each,” explains Anne-Marie Warren, HP IPG business unit manager at Tarsus Technologies.

“With HP’s new Ink Advantage range users can pick a new printer for a slightly higher starting price of about R699, but can cash in on cheaper ink cartridges that are likely to cost R150 each,” she says.

And as one could imagine, the effects over the long-term are astounding.

“The deal is sweetened even further due to the fact that a set of Ink Advantage cartridges can print up to 600 pages – roughly double the number that non-Ink Advantage cartridges are likely to yield.

“Double the yield at half the cost? Sounds too good to be true right?” she asks.

Well, Warren says that right now these printers are aimed at micro-business and home users, since they aren’t yet geared up for the reliability and load requirements of most business users.

“But that doesn’t mean they’re completely inapplicable in the business space,” she says.

“More and more employees telecommute, or work from a home office for some of their work-day. There’s no reason Ink Advantage should not be a player in the business space to some extent,” she says.

Warren says that resellers should either enquire directly about which models of HP printers are designed using this new philosophy, or look out for the ‘Ink Advantage’ branding on the printers’ packaging.

“We’re excited about the potential for this new product line and believe it will fare extremely well over the coming months,” she concludes.

Shane Krog, Acer product manager at Tarsus Technologies says these new machines are some of the first to be designed expressly for Microsoft Windows 8.

“As such, they feature a 10-finger touch-screen; an ultra-speedy on- and off-cycle; and revised power saving features that allow for social networking information, e-mail and other critical information to be updated while the machine is asleep,” he says.

“They’re also available in two form factors – 13-inch and 11-inch – and make a number of features that have been hinted at by the technology industry for the past year now, a reality” he adds.

Along with the 10-finger touch-screen, features include a true HD display and a chassis that’s an astounding 1.2cm thin and 1.28kg light in the case of the 13-inch and 1.2cm thin and 1.03kg light in the case of the 11-inch.

Both models also boast Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection, which means they are able to cope perfectly with constant pressure, even when folded through 180-degrees for table-top use.

“Remarkably, despite the diminutive nature of these new Ultrabooks, there’s a ton of additional features to go around. These include a backlit keyboard, two USB 3.0 ports, a micro-HDMI output for extending visuals onto a larger screen and Dolby Home Theatre Audio for immersive sound,” Krog adds.

“Rounding things out with between five and six hours of standard battery life and between 10 and 12 hours through an optional, extended battery pack, these machines also prove that they’re great as business workhorses.

“We’re convinced they will be met with a great deal of enthusiasm when they ship later this month,” he concludes.

It’s about building the thinnest, lightest and best looking portable computer and then ensuring the price-point is attractive enough to make all competitors pale in comparison.

Doing the same in the business space is a little more challenging. Here, one needs to get the same things right as you did in the consumer space, but throw reliability, security and back-up support customers can count on, into the mix.

“And it seems that this is exactly what Lenovo was focused on when it conceived the ThinkPad X1 Carbon,” says Alexi Hume, Lenovo product manager at Tarsus Technologies.

Hume says that the X1 is equipped with everything one would expect of a machine that bears the ‘Think’ branding, such as a range of 3rd generation Intel Core processor options (meaning it includes Intel HD4000 graphics), varying RAM capacities and solid-state disks of different sizes.

“However, it’s what’s going on backstage in the X1’s design that’s exciting,” Hume says.

When Lenovo first hinted at the upcoming availability of the X1, it mentioned that it would be the world’s lightest 14-inch notebook.

“And at 1.3kg, that’s exactly what it is,” Hume enthuses.

“The great weight advantage stems directly from Lenovo’s use of a carbon-fibre roll cage instead of one made out of aluminium. It means the X1’s chassis is every bit as strong as if it was built from aluminium, but tips the scales at a third of the kilograms,” she explains.

Another major advantage with the X1 Carbon is that it features a technology Lenovo calls RapidCharge, which as its name suggests, affords users five-hours’ worth of untethered operation with nothing more than 35 minutes of charging.

A third is undoubtedly the inclusion of a glass, multi-gesture trackpad.

“The trackpad on the X1 carbon is excellent,” Hume says, “and while it might seem like the smallest thing (in light of this Ultrabook’s other attributes), I firmly believe this will be the one benefit that will push users’ buying decision over the edge.

“Lenovo paid great attention to detail with the X1, and this is something it has continued to get right since it acquired the ThinkPad brand all those years ago.

“And if it continues to produce designs like the ThinkPad X1, its success is almost certainly guaranteed well into the future,” she concludes.

What do you do if you’re a manufacturer that has spent the best part of three decades perfecting supply chain logistics and front line support only to discover that in the post-PC world your skills are no longer in such high demand? Either you ignore the problem and hope things get back to normal some day, or you start diversifying fast.

Fortunately, it’s the latter course of action that has been going on at Dell over recent months. The company has made no less than 15 acquisitions in the past two years, and while it hasn’t really spoken publicly about the grand plan behind its ongoing spending spree, a look at the businesses it has purchased leaves little to guess at.

From thin client specialist WYSE to network security vendor SonicWALL via management services developer Quest, Dell’s purchases put it on the same trajectory as other hardware rivals like IBM, Cisco and – to a lesser extent – HP.  It’s looking to move away from a core business of PC and laptop building to a future based on enterprise applications, Software-as-a-Service and cloud-based applications.

Just this week, for example, general manager and executive director Ben Roscoe told tech website The Register that Dell’s storage division was working on new services which utilise the speed of flash-based memory for server-based applications. The purpose, he suggested, was to help blue chip clients migrate to the cloud without sacrificing IT performance.

Many of the software technologies picked up by Dell have been packaged together and relaunched as Dell Active Infrastructure, which launches properly in the US next month under the tagline “Sell the future, today”. It’s a strong portfolio of offerings for resellers to pick up on, with a credible brand behind it.

And analysts like it. A recent Gartner report on the company’s activities recommended that it be shortlisted alongside the likes of Cisco for system integration, and urged corporates to “change the way you have engaged with Dell historically.

“Dell has launched a serious campaign to gain the recognition and credibility as a system vendor on a level it has not yet achieved,” – the authors comment. “It has taken a corporate manifesto, coupled with aggressive new hiring and more than a dozen targeted acquisitions that expand reach and credibility.”

Product manager for Dell at Tarsus Technologies, Othelo Vieira, thinks that the firm’s new strategy makes it one to watch over the next 12 months.

“We’re only just seeing the very start of what’s to come from Dell,” Vieira explains. “Now that the groundwork has been done, expect new products and launches that really establish Dell as a leader in cloud services.”

Lest you think all this is a far cry from the reliable and often imaginative PC line up Dell is still best known for, don’t fear. The company has revamped everything from its high-end consumer XPS Ultrabooks to the business oriented Latitude 10 with its 18-hour battery life to run on Windows 8. It’s also including tutorial videos on every new Windows 8 machine to help users adapt to Microsoft’s vastly different OS.

From touch sensitive laptop/tablet hybrids to ultra-high bandwidth WiGig wireless networking and genuine expertise with hosted and cloud services, the new look Dell is looking very versatile and highly likeable for business and consumer clients alike.