Hardware
Device Considerations for Specific Users
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Surface Pro X Features Overview | Microsoft
When you watch the above the video, think about the features that are highlighted and how that appeals to a specific targeted user. Note, the above video has been featured for educational purposes and has not been sponsored by Microsoft to publish this video.
Device Considerations for Mobile Employees
The wide accessibility of the internet has seen a rise in employees working away from business premises, working at home or at a client location. Employees working away from business require specific hardware requirements including: - Wireless internet capabilities - including WiFi and Mobile Data access - Battery life of around 8-10 hours, sufficient to meet the daily needs of mobile users - Weight - light and portable, less than 1kg is ideal - Trackpad or Touch inputs - difficult to use external peripherals of keyboard and mouse when not at a desk. Mobile employees can forgo some specifications including: - Powerful Processor: Mobile employees often perform light work in mobile situations, powerful applications are often used on desktop computers at the business premises. Powerful CPUs will also impact heavily on battery life. - A lot of RAM: Mobile employees only require a satisfactory amount of RAM (around 4-8GB) to perform basic multi-tasking functions. A high amount of RAM will reduce battery life - Large screen size: A large screen size will reduce portability and usability of a device. Unless folded screens become a reality, large screens can be avoided for mobile users. Examples of Ideal Devices include: - Microsoft Surface Pro - Apple Macbook Air - Apple iPad Pro - Lenovo Yoga Series In the above video, think about how the Microsoft Surface Pro X's highlighted features appeal to the remote business user.
Device Considerations for Designers and Gamers
Gamers and high performance designers, require computers with high processing power but little mobility in their devices. Hardware requirements would include: - Powerful multi-core processors: Processors such as Intel Xeon can have between 6 - 8 core processors to adequately meet user performance needs. - Lots of RAM: Around 10Gb or more RAM - the more the merrier but try to be realistic. - High performance networking: Gigabit ethernet ports, Wireless 802.11 AC and thunderbolt capabilities should be standard for high performance users. - Large screen size: External high quality monitors of around 27 inch should give users enough screen real estate to display their needs. - High performance graphic cards: Around 2-4GB in VRAM, AMD Fire Pros are a great graphics card as they offer 2GB in VRAM and dual GPUs - also offers multiple video outputs of HDMI. Designers/gamers can forgo some features including: - Battery life: The device will be stationary in one location for the majority of its use. - Weight: The device will be stationary in one location and won't be moved a lot. Examples of ideal devices include: - Apple Mac Pro - Dell Alienware AURORA Gaming Desktop
Client business users would have desktops connected to a main high performance server. As most of the information is processed by the server, the client desktops would not require a high level of performance. Hardware requirements would include: - High performance networking: Gigabit ethernet or 802.11 AC wireless. - Adequate screen size: As it is a desktop, a small laptop display would be inadequate, around 18-20 inches would be an appropriate sized monitor. - Affordable: Not really a hardware feature as such, but be mind large businesses would be purchasing a large set of these devices, from 10 to 1000 units. Client business users can forgo some features including: - Mobility: The device would be stationary for a majority of its use. - Fast processor: Only requires an adequate processing speed to process transmissions from the client server to the desktop. - Weight: Ideally it should be small as possible but weight wouldn't be a large issue. Examples of ideal devices include: - Apple Mac Mini - Dell Inspiron Mini However, in the age of remote working and more affordable laptop/tablet options, client machines are becoming less common in the workplace.