Title: COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
1Market Value Systems
2004 National Conference
- COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
- What to buy and how to keep it working
- Marv Downey
- mdowney_at_dnai.com
2Major hardware topics
- Desktop PCs
- Notebook PCs
- Tablet PCs
- Mini PCs
- PC-centric peripherals
- PDAs / Smartphones
- Printers
- Scanners
- Network hardware
3Hardware 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.
4Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
5Desktop PCs
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
6CPUs
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
7RAM/main memory
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
8Hard disk drives
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
9Hard 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
10CD/DVD recorders
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
11Keyboards/mouses
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
12Displays
Desktop PCs
- CPUs
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
- Keyboards/mouses
- Displays
13Summary
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
14Summary 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!
15Compare 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
16Compare 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
17And 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!
18Notebook PCs
- Form factor
- Base
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
19Form 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
20Base
Notebook PCs
- Form factor
- Base
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
21RAM/main memory
Notebook PCs
- Form factor
- Base
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
22Hard disk drives
Notebook PCs
- Form factor
- Base
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
23CD/DVD recorders
Notebook PCs
- Form factor
- Base
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- CD/DVD recorders
24Tablet PCs
- Form factor
- CPU
- RAM/main memory
- Hard disk drives
- Additional storage devices
25Form 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
26Mini PCs
27PC-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
28PC-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)
29PDAs (/Smartphones)
- OS
- Form factor
- CPU
- Storage
- Communications
- Additional features
30Operating 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
31Form 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
32CPU
- 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
33Storage
- 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
34Communications
- Faster data over cellular
- Bluetooth
- 802.x LAN
PDAs
- OS
- Form factor
- CPU
- Storage
- Communications
- Additional
ATT Cingular T-Mobile Europe/Japan
Verizon Sprint
35Additional
- 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
36Printers
- Monochrome lasers
- Color lasers
- Ink jets
37Monochrome 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
38Color 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
39Ink 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
40Scanners
- 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
41Network hardware
- Network interfaces
- Switches
- Routers
- Other network devices
42Network 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
43Switches
- 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
44Routers
- 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
45Other 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
46Make 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
47Keep 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
48Maintenance tasks
- Windows updates
- Antivirus/Spyware/Adware removal
- Hard disk cleanup/defrag
- Windows cleanup/defrag
- System image backup
- Physical cleanup
49Windows 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
50Antivirus/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
51Hard 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
52Windows 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
53System 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
54Physical 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