Alternative Devices and disadvantages
My alternate devices that I could possibly have used would have been; a device such as a microphone with voice recognition which inputs the words which are being said.
However the disadvantages of it are that the voice recognition is very inaccurate and a lot of typos occur due to the false reading. This means spending too much money when the same data could just be typed in. and a scanner could have been used to input some data.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Device
The CPU that my company will be using will be Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor.
The RAM is 1024 Mega Bytes and the ROM is 80 Giga Bytes. The CPU’s speed is 2.00 Giga Hertz.
The ROM is “Read Only Memory”, this is the permanent memory where all the data entered is stored. 80 Giga Bytes is more than enough ROM needed to store the company’s data on.
The RAM “Random Access Memory” is the working memory; it is what the computer uses when it is on. As soon as it is switched off it loses this memory, in order to keep your work one needs to save it to the ROM.
Alternatives and disadvantages
You could use laptops instead of a control tower, the advantage of this is that is portable and can be moved around the workplace.
The only disadvantage is that when our system eventually gets a lot bigger, more memory will be needed (more ROM) and it may slow down so more speed will be needed e.g. 3.00 Giga Hertz.
Backing Store
Devices
My entire staff will be privileged with a, ‘log in, log out’ system which will allow them to save all their files on the internal hard-drive in the computer system that will be situated on each employees desk along with all the output hardware. I will also be giving all my staff a personal 2 gigabyte memory stick, so they can take some documents with them home and finish off their projects etc.
Alternative
If I hadn’t chosen the devices above, my alternative devices would be; an external hard-drive, which acts very similar to a memory stick but has a much higher data capacity, nevertheless this would be irrelevant for my company’s needs as we do not need that much memory due to the fact that we only store documents and such in them. My other alternative would be a floppy disk, which again stores data like the other two, however it can easily be broken and all data can be lost!
The problem with memory sticks is that they don’t hold that much information and can get lost, whereas with an external hard-drive holds a lot of information and it is very big and chunky therefore it is less likely for it to get lost. The disadvantage of the ‘log in, log out’ system is that the ownership of the network is up to me and I would have to accept full responsibility of my staff’s work, whereas otherwise it would be all up to them.
Output Devices
Devices
The output devices I used include the monitor, the speakers and the printer. In the process of making a letter for my customers, the monitor would show me the final letter as a preview of the finished thing. Then, the printer will make the letter by copying the data to a piece of paper. Speakers may be used in my system as part of a head set.
Alternatives
Different output devices I could have used include different types of monitors, i.e. touch screen monitors. This is both an input and output device and saves space because a keyboard and mouse aren’t needed. I could have used a different type of printer, for example an inkjet instead of a laser, they have different properties.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of the output devices I used in my company are that the monitor I used took up a lot of room because it was single purpose; it meant that a keyboard and mouse were also needed. If I wanted to print out something in colour than the printer I chose wasn’t the best because it was black and white and not high quality.