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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.
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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.
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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
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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.