COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

1
Market Value Systems
2004 National Conference

• COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
• What to buy and how to keep it working
• Marv Downey
• mdowney_at_dnai.com

2
Major hardware topics

• Desktop PCs
• Notebook PCs
• Tablet PCs
• Mini PCs
• PC-centric peripherals
• PDAs / Smartphones
• Printers
• Scanners
• Network hardware

3
Hardware Product of 2004
For a decade, "surfing" has come to mean browsing
the net rather than riding ocean waves on a
plank. But a surfboard has now been developed
that lets surfers surf while surfing. It houses a
laptop, solar panels, and video camera. Chip
makers Intel has commissioned the unusual
surfboard as part of the free sports and music
festival in North Devon to show off how
technology can be brought to the sea and sand.
4
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

5
Desktop PCs
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

6
CPUs
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

7
RAM/main memory
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

8
Hard disk drives
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

9
Hard disk drives

• New interface serial ATA rapidly becoming the
  standard slightly faster (150MB/s vs. 100MB/s
  max., 10 real) costlier, cooler running

Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

10
CD/DVD recorders
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

11
Keyboards/mouses
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

12
Displays
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

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Summary
ITEM DESC
CPU P4 3GHz
RAM 512MB 400MHz DDR2
HARD DISK 80GB SATA
CD/DVD 12X DVDR/RW w/ 2 LAYER WRITE
KB/MOUSE STD.
DISPLAY 17 LCD
LAN GIGABIT ENET
WARRANTY 1 YEAR
OS WINXP PRO
1617 1617
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

14
Summary Dell Home
ITEM DESC
CPU P4 3GHz
RAM 512MB 400MHz DDR2
HARD DISK 160GB SATA
CD/DVD 16X DVDR/RW w/ 2 LAYER WRITE
KB/MOUSE STD.
DISPLAY 17 LCD
LAN GIGABIT ENET
WARRANTY 1 YEAR
OS WINXP PRO
1642 1642
But wait....there's more!
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

Free Color Inkjet!
Free subwoofer!
Free Money!
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Compare to HP Pavilion a650y
ITEM DESC
CPU P4 3GHz
RAM 512MB 400MHz PC3200
HARD DISK 160GB UDMA
CD/DVD 8X DVDR/ RW
KB/MOUSE STD.
DISPLAY 17 LCD
LAN 10/100 ENET
WARRANTY 1 YEAR
OS WINXP PRO
1554 1554
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

16
Compare to Whitebox/Clone
ITEM DESC
CPU P4 3GHz
RAM 512MB 400MHz PC3200
HARD DISK 80GB UDMA
CD/DVD 8X DVDR/ RW
KB/MOUSE STD.
DISPLAY 17 LCD
LAN 10/100 ENET
WARRANTY 1 YEAR
OS WINXP PRO
1674 1674
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

17
And the winner is.
You!
Desktop PCs

• CPUs
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders
• Keyboards/mouses
• Displays

1554 - 1674
Price performance differences less than 10 and
system totals under 2000 - tough to make a bad
mistake!
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Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

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Form factor
Desktop Replacement HP Pavilion zd7000 17 wide
screen, 1.67 1.85 x 15.67 x 11.33, 9.3
pounds, Pentium 4 2.8 3.4 GHz, 256MB 2GB RAM,
40GB 100GB hard disk, up to 4X DVDRW/R
Standard Acer Travelmate 6000 15" screen, 13.1"
x 11.1" x 1.3" - 1.4", 6.3 lbs., Pentium M
1.60GHz, 512MB 2GB RAM, 60GB hard disk,
DVD/-R/RW
Standard Widescreen Dell Inspiron 8600 15.4
wide screen, 1.52 x 14.22 x 10.79, 6.9 lbs.,
Pentium M up to 2 GHz, 256MB 2GB RAM, 30, 40,
60 or 80 GB hard drive, up to 8x DVDRW/R
Ultra-Portable Sony X505 ultra-light nickel
carbon body, 1.85 lbs., 10.2 x .38-.83 x 8.2
inches, Pentium M Processor 1.10GHz, 20GB Hard
Drive, 10.4 XGA LCD (1024X768), 512MB RAM,
2.5-4.0 hours battery
Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

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Base
Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

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RAM/main memory
Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

22
Hard disk drives
Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

23
CD/DVD recorders
Notebook PCs

• Form factor
• Base
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• CD/DVD recorders

24
Tablet PCs

• Form factor
• CPU
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• Additional storage devices

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Form factor
Convertible Toshiba Portégé M200 12.1 display,
1.5 2GHz Pentium M, 256MB 2GB RAM, 40/60/80GB
hard disk, 11.6 x 9.8 x 1.3/1.5, 4.6 pounds
Slate Motion Computing M1400 12.1 display,
900MHz Celeron or 1.1GHz Pentium M, 256MB 1 or
2 GB, 20/40/60GB hard disk, 11.65" x 9.45" x
0.87, 3 lbs.
Semi-slate Compaq tc1100 10.4 display, 800MHz
Celeron or 1.0GHz Pentium M, 256MB 2 GB RAM,
30/40/60GB hard disk, 10.8 x 8.5 x .8, 3.1/4.0
lbs.
Tablet PCs

• Form factor
• CPU
• RAM/main memory
• Hard disk drives
• Additional storage

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Mini PCs
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PC-centric peripheralsStorage

• Mini-memory devices
• The good higher capacities, more useful designs
• The bad constant development of new standards
  (Smart Media, MMC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick,
  Secure Digital, xD Picture Card, USB memory
  devices)
• Maxi-memory devices
• LaCie 1 terabyte (1,000GB two years of
  continuous music) external HD
• Various manufacturers (Seagate, Maxtor, Western
  Digital) with one button external backup drives
  up to at least 300GB

28
PC-centric peripheralsI/O interfaces

• Serial parallel ports gradually disappearing
• USB vs. FireWire (IEEE 1394)
• USB 1.1 slow 12Mb/sec
• USB 2.0 max speed 480Mb/sec (real world
  25MB/sec) vs. FireWire max 400Mb/sec (real world
  27MB/sec) w/ external hard disks
• FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) fastest of all at up to
  800Mb/sec (real world 40MB/sec)

29
PDAs (/Smartphones)

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional features

30
Operating system

• Palm vs. RIM vs.
• Win Mobile 2003
• vs. Symbian
• PDA evolving into PC ( phone)
• Mobile e-mail evolving into PDA,
• PC ( phone)
• PC evolving into PDA ( phone)
• Phone evolving into PDA, PC
• All actively courting
• developers, corporate
• users

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

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Form factor

• Color vs. monochrome
• Screen size / resolution
• Now up to 4/ 640x480
• Gesture recognition (handwriting) vs. keyboard
  (thumbboard)
• Phone
• Headset vs. hold-to-ear
• Keypad vs. touch screen vs. keyboard

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

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CPU

• Palm ARM 126MHz to 400MHz Intel XScale
• Win Mobile 2003 devices Intel XScale ARM 200
  624MHz, TI (esp. in converged models)

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

33
Storage

• Almost all the mini-memory devices
• Smart Media, MMC, Compact Flash, Memory Stick,
  Secure Digital
• Synchronize to PC and/or other devices

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

34
Communications

• Faster data over cellular
• Bluetooth
• 802.x LAN

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

ATT Cingular T-Mobile Europe/Japan
Verizon Sprint
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Additional

• Cameras still low quality (1.3Mp, no zoom or
  flash, poor lenses)
• GPS more choices built-in
• Garman iQue3600 (Palm)
• Navman PiN (Win Mobile 2003)
• HP iPAQ 6315
• Quad-Band GSM/GPRS (850, 900,
• 1800 or 1900MHz), onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth,
  seamless roaming from cellular to WiFi (data
  only)
• Others coming soon for cellular/
• VoIP roaming

PDAs

• OS
• Form factor
• CPU
• Storage
• Communications
• Additional

36
Printers

• Monochrome lasers
• Color lasers
• Ink jets

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Monochrome lasers

• Hewlett-Packard still the leader
• 15 to 50 ppm for from 199 to 2799
• Most opt for either the 2300 (20 ppm 525) or
  the 4200 (35 ppm 850)

Printers

• Monochome lasers
• Color lasers
• Ink Jets

38
Color lasers

• One pass vs. four pass
• HP still the leader here too
• 2550L 4 pass 20/4 ppm 499
• 3500 1 pass 12 ppm both 800
• 3700 1 pass 16 ppm both 1300
• 4650 1 pass 22 ppm both 1800
• Minolta Magicolor 2300W - 16 ppm black, 4 ppm
  color, 400
• Samsung CLP-500 - 21 ppm black, 5 ppm color, 500

Printers

• Monochome lasers
• Color lasers
• Ink Jets

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Ink Jets

• Canon, HP, Epson
• most 70 - 350
• Differences
• Print speeds (check text-only also)
• Cartridge design (black color, black 3
  colors, photo black matte black 6 colors,
  etc.
• Archival ink
• Extra features
• Media sizes types

Printers

• Monochome lasers
• Color lasers
• Ink Jets

40
Scanners

• Epson, HP, Canon, Visioneer, Fujitsu, Microtek
• Flatbed
• Slide / film adapters
• Automatic document / photo feeders
• Most do legal size only through document feeder
  Microtek one of the few w/ legal-size scanner
  glass
• Sheetfed
• No bound materials, staples
• More reliable, faster automatic document feeding
• Software options
• Better basic scanning
• Limited document management
• Full document management

41
Network hardware

• Network interfaces
• Switches
• Routers
• Other network devices

42
Network interfaces

• Wired
• Built in with most new PCs wired and wireless
  on many notebooks
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) affordable (35
  adapter), works with same CAT5 (all 4 pairs 5e
  recommended) better for large volume (backup)
  data xfer
• Wireless
• 802.11b 11Mb/s 2.4GHz (4 6Mb/s) still available
• 802.11a 54Mb/s 5GHz(18 Mb/s) losing popularity
• 802.11g 54Mb/s (18 Mb/s) on the rise, esp. with
  super-g 108Mb/s (22 24Mb/s) products
• Best security (WPA - WiFi Protected Access) only
  with XP without add-ons
• next will be 802.11n at least 100Mb/s real
  throughput, better distance first products
  end-of-year, IEEE ratification late 2005

Network hardware

• Network interfaces
• Switches
• Routers
• Other network devices

43
Switches

• Wired
• 10/100/1000 (gigabit Ethernet) switches now cheap
  - 15 to 20 per connection in 5, 8, 16 port
• Wireless
• Wireless equivalent to switch is access point
  use alone for LAN or plugged into existing wired
  router for wireless internet access
• 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, super-g
• WPA only with WinXP

Network hardware

• Network interfaces
• Switches
• Routers
• Other network devices

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Routers

• The most basic form of Internet security, even
  for single PCs
• Assumes public IP address, shields PCs behind
  private IPs unseen by outside world
• Provides control over various ports, protocols
• Wired
• 10/100 still the only option - 10 to 30 per
  connection in 4, 8 port (frequent specials
  cheaper 4 port for 5!) daisy-chain w/ switch
  for more (up to 256) users
• Wireless
• Wireless routers also cheap and widely available,
  same speeds as access points
• For best luck with super-g, get same
  manufacturer or technology in router and cards
  (Broadcom Linksys or Atheros D-Link, Netgear)

Network hardware

• Network interfaces
• Switches
• Routers
• Other network devices

45
Other network devices

• Network attached storage (NAS)
• Small self-contained PC with large hard disk
• Attaches directly to network, preset for file
  sharing
• Many use Linux as OS
• Print servers
• Built-in (to printer or router) or standalone,
  wired or wireless
• Improves efficiency
• Security devices
• Usually some combination of A/V, firewall, VPN,
  intrusion prevention, spam blocking, web content
  filtering
• Designs for large corporate users filtering down
  to small business

Network hardware

• Network interfaces
• Switches
• Routers
• Other network devices

46
Make It Work Well

• Upgrade to WinXP
• Greater stability flexibility due to resource
  management
• Better compatibility with current applications
  hardware
• Better design for protecting backing up all
  data
• Better position w/ tech support
• Best approach for upgrade is clean XP install,
  migrate data settings, reinstall applications
• Rule of thumb any system with post-2000 BIOS,
  PIII or higher, 512MB

47
Keep It Working

• Common sense procedures
• If you have someone build / setup systems,
  networks, etc., have vendor explain what they are
  doing why, you or one of your staff writes it
  up, you and vendor jointly review
• As hardware and/or programs are added or removed,
  revise the system document and date revisions
• Keep copies of all patches / drivers / upgrades
  on disk/CD for each PC
• Do system maintenance regularly (before monthly
  system backup)
• Do data backups regularly (daily) full system
  backups every month

48
Maintenance tasks

• Windows updates
• Antivirus/Spyware/Adware removal
• Hard disk cleanup/defrag
• Windows cleanup/defrag
• System image backup
• Physical cleanup

49
Windows updates

• At least monthly
• Availability for Win98 to continue thru 6/06
• Visit www.windowsupdate.com or from IE (must use)
  click Tools, Windows Update
• Be wary of turning on automatic updates (d/l
  install) possible problems, esp w/ XP SP2
  imminent
• Not bad to ask around, scan newsgroups before
  applying even critical patches unless there is an
  emergency-level warning

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup

50
Antivirus/Spyware/Adware

• Have full-time, auto-update virus scanner running
  w/ email scanning enabled
• Norton, McAfee, Trend, CA eTrust
  (http//www.ca.com/smb/kahuna/ for free AV/Backup
  kit)
• Have adware/spyware cleaner (2 is better)
• Spybot 1.3 and Ad-aware 6.181
• Go to download.com search

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup

51
Hard disk cleanup/defrag

• Click Start, My Computer right-click C, click
  Properties, Disk Cleanup, check all, click OK
• Do cleanup of email store, esp. trash, sent items
• Clear Recycle bin (also Norton protected files)
• Run Disk Defrag or Norton Speedisk

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup

52
Windows cleanup / defrag

• WinDoctor from Norton SystemWorks RegistryFixer
  from VCom SystemSuite 5 RegVac WinRescue from
  Superwin Software
• Get to know how to create and restore from WinXP
  System Restore utility

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup

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System image backup

• Ghost from Norton SystemWorks Pro Drive Image 7
  (now also Symantec) Acronis True Image 7
• What to backup to and remember off-site storage
• Get to know how to create and restore from WinXP
  System Restore utility

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup

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Physical cleanup

• Every 3 6 months, remove PC cover vacuum /
  blow
• Great tool DataVac MDV-1BA (70 - 95) or
  MDV-2BA (toner filter 145)
• Focus on fans, vents, CPU, power supply

Maintenance

• Windows updates
• AV/Spy/Adware
• HD cleanup/defrag
• Win cleanup/defrag
• System image
• Physical cleanup