Pocket PC/PDA | Ultra personal computer (uPC) | Portable computers | Communicators and others | Tablet PC | Stationary computers | Workstations | Servers | For Home or for Small Business? | Health point of view for your choosing a computer
Computer types: There are hundreds of manufacturers and vendors offering plenty of different products. But we can basically focus on several types of computers for different uses.
Pocket PC/Personal Digital Assistant (PDA): These are very small computers with limited
functionality. The general function of such computers is organizing. Many people
find them incredibly handy and run them in different circumstances and locations.
Popular examples would be Palm Pilot, the Psion Organizer, Compaq Aero, and so on. Some
actually run a compatible version of Windows so that you can swap files with your normal
size computer. These devices
sometimes are named "handhelds" and have some basic features:
Date book to input the time of meetings, appointments, etc.
Memo Pad to place notes and write whatever.
Calculator to solve problems via calculations.
To-Do List to help accomplish some tasks.
Address Book to keeps track of all your important contacts.
OnScreen Keyboard to let typing with the touch screen and your stylus.
Grafitti (Palm)/Character Recognizer (Pocket PC) to let handwriting on the screen instead of typing on keyboard.
Email option to let composing and sending email.
Note: Graffiti is the trade name for the specialized set of characters that the Palm recognizes.
There is also a lot of entertainment value in the PDA. You can find many games to please any taste, and. use software to carry your pictures, listen to music, watch a movie, etc. Major manufacturers are Sony, Handspring, Palm, Hewlet-Packard, Casio, Compaq, Toshiba, Handera, ViewSonic.
Ultra personal computer (uPC):
The OQO issued the model 01 of uPC
as a fully-functional
Windows XP computer. The OQO has a 1GHz processor, a 20GB hard drive, 256MB
of RAM, a color transflective display, and integrated wireless, as well as
Fire Wire and USB ports. It is powerful enough to run most
complex applications at work, sending email at home, listening to
music on a train, or watching a movie on an airplane.
Portable computers (Laptops,
Notebooks): Usually these are very powerful little boxes no bigger than a small
briefcase. Now it is difficult to say what is better: a portable or a stationary computer.
Comparison of both types demonstrates that by functionality, the stationary
and the portable computers have approximately the same useful scores. So, you
may simply consider your preference on this. If you need portability , it is a notebook (laptop). If you
need a core for your advanced computer system , it is a desktop or a workstation.
New Fujitsu LifeBook® Q Series Notebook PC
- Feather-light at 2.2 lbs, and ultra-slim design making it the lightest and
slimmest notebook in its class. It easy to compare any Fujitsu Notebook with
another by side comparison. Quickly find out what your needs are here.
Pick the best, buy and enjoy!
Communicators and other combined devices:
The Treo 300 communicator (Handspring, Inc.)
integrates a color Palm OS® organizer, keyboard and mobile phone into a
versatile productivity tool. Sony's NZ90 is quite an amazing
achievement, integrating their hot 200MHz Palm OS-based PDA
with a 2.0 megapixel digital camera that can capture stills or video; it even has a flash.
Tablet
PC: Tablet PC is a new step of development of portable computers.
While tablet PCs have appeared in various forms for more than a decade ago,
they've never really caught on with consumers. But the recent introduction of a
special version of Windows XP has re-energized the concept. Several companies,
including Hewlett-Packard/Compaq, ViewSonic, Toshiba and Fujitsu, created new tablet PCs. These PCs
are
more versatile than a laptops and more powerful than a PDA. You can switch screen from a horizontal view to a vertical one,
hold the tablet PC on your lap while you write notes on the screen or peck out
words on its virtual keyboard with a digital pen.
Stationary
computers (Desktop, Tower, Mini Tower and so on): Desktop means exactly that: a machine that
is designed to sit on or under your desk. Tower, Midi, or Mini Tower are variations of these with
more room for expansion. Stationary computers can be very convenient in business or at home,
and they are by far the best selling type of PCs in the world today.
Workstations:
Generally a workstation has the same functions as the stationary computers, but the term
tends to be reserved for more powerful versions. Many components and functions that are
typically found on desktop computers today, were once technologies reserved for the high-end workstation
market or servers in the past.
Servers:
If the above mentioned types are personal computers for personal use, servers are not
personal computers. These are machines that sit on a network, and execute the special functions of
the network, for example, acting as a central storage and processing area for files, printers and
communications between computer users.
Special computers. Now we observe the beginning of the new trend . Some manufactures (for example, Gateway) issued computers for entertainment and for gaming. Some Gateway computers can be customized as the ultimate photo computer, the movie PC , and so on.
The different kind of Gateway
Media Centers allow to integrates your favorite media into a PC with a
wide-screen LCD display or Plasma TV, and surround-sound stereo for a
truly dramatic experience.
Gateway Desktop 710 series allow to
have an optimal performance for extreme gaming and video edits.
The
iPod family. The iPod came from Apple's digital hub strategy, and
designed on the base of computer technology. Devices in the iPod family are
designed around a central scroll wheel (except for the iPod shuffle) and the
full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the smaller iPod
nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods
can also serve as external data storage devices.
In September 2006, Apple computer released 3 models of the 5th generation: iPod with a video player; the aluminum iPod nano with a color screen; and the iPod shuffle 'clip and go'.
For Home or for Small Business? In the process of searching, first you have to make the decision what type of computer will suit you best - for home or small business. Sometimes, it is not so clear as home iTV , or intensive computer games can put demands on computer's performance similar to a small business. So, just tick the features you are likely to need on the score cards below, click Total and see what your needs really are:
If the Total score for the "Home" table is more then 100, you have to search your computer in the "small business" department of the computer store, for example, Dell store; otherwise -"Home" use is the one for you. If the Total score for Small Business table is less then 200, you can save some money by searching in the "Home/Home Office" department, otherwise -you need a machine for "small business". For a score between 100 and 200 , the computer price should be your main decision criterion.
Before you make the final decision about the type of computer, you need also to look on your future computer from the point of view of you health.
Health point of view for your choosing a computer:
In terms of workplace ergonomics, the general rule of use of any device with a minimal risk for health is a comfort for user. As is known, intensive and prolonged a computer usage (more than 3 hours per day) without comfort ( wrong type of monitor, bad input devices, bad chair, wrong position of monitor or posture of user, and so on) can lead to health risks such as Repetitive Stress Injury, which include Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Eyestrain, Lower back pain, Muscle fatigue and Emotional fatigue. Therefore if you ignore these ergonomic problems, you can have trouble with your new computer, especially if you select a portable computer for permanent use in the working place.
Portable computers were originally designed as a temporary solution - a short-term replacement of desktop PC for travel needs. But as they improved, laptops and notebooks became for many people the primary (and sometimes the only) computers. Portable computers are now a staple of business and educational computing. Unfortunately, in this field, most products are designed without user safety in mind. These is what you can do to protect yourself or your children. First approach, is either don't use a portable computer for permanent job , or use it with special accessories such as docking stations, external mice, external keyboard, glare filters, detachable screen, and so on. Theses accessories help you to diminish a risk of computer users diseases. For more information see HealthyComputing.com's guide.
Lets Go with the Guide. After choosing the type of computer, you may select the following options below:
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