Hardware Evaluation and Selection

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Hardware Evaluation and Selection

• James D. Lehman
• Educational Technology
• Purdue University

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Ideal Process

• Go through the following steps
• Assess your needs
• Select software that will meet your needs
• Purchase hardware that will operate the selected
  software
• The ideal rarely occurs anymore. Most schools
  and businesses already have an established
  hardware base, so compatibility with that base
  becomes an overriding concern.

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Major Educational Systems

• Apple Macintosh family
• Represents about 30 of computers in U.S. schools
• IBM and compatibles (Wintel) family
• Represents about 70 of computers in U.S. schools

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System Selection Criteria

• Software availability
• Screen display
• Keyboard/mouse
• External storage
• Other peripherals
• Service

• Processor
• Sound capability
• Internal memory
• Printer
• Expandability
• Cost

We will look more closely at each of these
criteria.
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Software Availability

• Educational software
• Both Wintel and Mac are widely represented in the
  educational software market.
• Tool applications
• Wintel family dominates the overall tool market,
  although Mac is popular in niches such as graphic
  design, video production, etc.
• Systems software
• Mac pioneered the user friendly OS the Wintel
  family caught up with Windows 95 and beyond.

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Processor

• Both processor type and speed of operation (MHz)
  determine overall system speed.
• Wintel family
• Based on Intel chips up through the latest
  dual-processor models
• Mac family
• Recently switched from PowerPC processors to
  Intel processors.

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Screen Display

• Screen display issues include
• type of display
• size of the display (measured in inches
  diagonally like TVs)
• resolution (number of pixels)
• color (number of available colors)
• Capabilities depend both on the actual display as
  well as the video card and available video memory

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Screen Display

• Wintel family
• Evolved through CGA, EGA, mCGA, VGA, SVGA and now
  XGA and SXGA standards.
• Mac family
• Evolved through B/W, 8 bit, 16 bit, and 24-32 bit
  (true color) systems.
• 32-128 M of video memory (VRAM) is common today.
  The more VRAM the greater the resolution and
  color display possible. Games often use part of
  the capacity for video rendering as well.

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Sound

• In today's multimedia computers, sound is often a
  very important element.
• Wintel family
• Digital sound sometimes must be added via an
  optional board (e.g., Sound Blaster).
• Mac family
• Digital sound input and output is built into all
  Macintosh computers and has been from their
  inception.

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Keyboard and Mouse

• Wintel family
• Pioneered the use of function keys, number pads,
  and other useful features on keyboard. Two button
  mouse and a scrolling wheel for added
  functionality. Optical mouse eliminates many of
  the problems with mechanical mice.
• Mac family
• Some Mac systems have a smaller keyboard with
  less functionality than typical Wintel desktop
  machines. One button mouse is used for
  simplicity.

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Internal Memory

• Memory is critically important for operating
  systems and large applications. Most computers
  now need 256-512M of main memory for minimal
  functioning. More is becoming increasingly
  necessary (1-2G is recommended for Windows
  Vista). It is a good idea to get plenty of
  memory when purchasing a system memory is
  usually relatively inexpensive at purchase time.

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External Storage

• Floppy Disks
• 3 1/2" - 1.44M (Starting to disappear. Apple no
  longer makes systems with floppy drives)
• Hard Disk
• Sizes start at about 20 G today and range on up.
• Optical Drive
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, often with burning
  capability

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External Storage

• Removable Mid-Range Storage
• Flash drives use non-volatile memory, connect to
  the USB port, and act like another disk drive.
  Capacities range from about 64M to several G.

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Printers

• Ink Jet
• Low cost, good quality text and graphics. But,
  relatively expensive to operate. Excellent color
  printing capability available at reasonable cost.
• Laser
• Best quality text and graphics, fastest printing.
  But, more expensive to buy and operate,
  especially for color.

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Other Peripherals

• USB ports allow connectivity to various
  peripherals (e.g., printer, scanner, digital
  camera)
• IEEE-1394 (Firewire) port connectivity for
  digital video camcorder, external hard drive
• Modem

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Expandability

• Expandability refers to the built-in capability
  for upgrading a particular computer.
• Most computers today allow features to be added
  through the use of add-in boards which go into
  expansion slots in the machine. Memory can
  generally be expanded through the addition of
  memory chips (e.g., DIMMs) on the computer
  motherboard. Some computers are designed to
  allow upgrades to faster processors.

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Service

• Service is an important consideration. Level of
  selected service often depends on how critical
  the system is.
• On-site service repair persons come to your
  site to fix any problems. IBM is famous for this
  type of service but it is expensive.
• Carry in service computer is dropped off at
  vendor most computer stores offer this.
• Mail repair in the worst case, the machine must
  be shipped to the manufacturer

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Cost

• Cost is always an important consideration. Costs
  for systems the "average" user might buy are now
  around 1,000 or so. Inexpensive systems can be
  purchased for under 500. Some high end systems
  may go for more than 3,000.

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The End