Hardware obsolescence has become so much a
part of the IS managers daily routine that no one talks of it again! In fact many
companies resort to quarterly purchases not only to smoothen out fund flows, but also to
try and keep up with technological change.
Adding more confusion is the myriad
offerings from various vendors. While one offers a machine with a monitor and another does
not, a third one gives the price of a slower CPU and a fourth gives you DOS as the
operating system!
What specs should you look for if you are
ordering your machines today?
Here are our recommended minimum specs for
various types of applications.
face="Arial">Entry level Business PC | face="Arial">High end Business PC | face="Arial">Workstation Class PC | face="Arial">Entry level Home PC | face="Arial">Full featured Home PC | |
Usage | Word processing, presentations, Email, medium sized spreadsheets |
Databases, large spreadsheets, big presentations, entry level graphics, DTP |
Heavy graphics, animation, CAD / CAM |
Multimedia, Games, TV/ Video CD |
Multimedia, Games, TV/ Video CD |
CPU | P 200 MMX or equivalent |
P II 266 / 333 |
Dual PII 333 |
P 200 MMX or equivalent |
PII 333 |
Cache | 256 KB |
512 KB |
512 KB |
512 KB |
512 KB |
RAM | 32 MB | 64 MB | 256 MB |
32 MB | 64 MB |
Hard Disk |
1.2GB | 2 GB + |
SCSI 4 GB + |
2 GB + |
4 GB + |
Monitor | 15 " SVGA Color |
15 " SVGA Color |
17 " SVGA Color |
15 " SVGA Color |
15 " SVGA Color |
Display card |
2 D Accelerator |
2D Accelerator |
2D / Professional 3D Accelerator |
2 D Accelerator |
3D Accelerator for gaming |
V RAM |
2 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 2 MB | 4 MB |
Network card |
10 / 100 Mbps |
10 / 100 Mbps |
100 Mbps |
||
CD- ROM Drive |
Optional | 24 X / DVD ROM drive |
24 X / DVD ROM drive |
24 X / DVD ROM drive |
DVD ROM drive |
Sound card |
Optional | AWE 64 |
Sound Blaster Pro compatible |
Sound Blaster AWE 64 |
|
Pointing device |
Mouse | Mouse / track pad |
Mouse / tablet |
Mouse / Joystick |
Mouse & Joystick |
Modem | 33.6 Kbps |
33.6 Kbps |
|||
Operating System |
Windows 95 |
Windows 95 / Windows NT 4 |
Windows NT / UNIX |
Windows 95 |
Windows 95 |
Others | SCSI card |
AGP video card |