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Not long ago, everybody wanted to have the most current computer on their desks. The focus was on more memory and faster speed.

Today, the focus shifts from gigabytes and mhz, although still important, to how well our computers communicate with others and other computers. In fact many organizations still have old hardware in operation such as 486s and Pentiums. For them, opening multiple programs at once can be difficult, and connecting to the Internet can be slow and frustrating. For those who have made the shift to upgraded hardware recently, the emphasis is less on hardware and more on what can be done with the network technology.

When evaluating a computer that is used for basic word processing and simple software applications users may find that computers as old as 133 MHZ machines still have enough power to get by if RAM (Random Access Memory) is 64 MB or more. The change in thought however is in how fast one can access information outside of their PC including, networks, external devices & storage.

DVD and read write technology are becoming more commonplace as an alternative storage method. When looking at the cost of a zip cartridge discounted may be $10 for 100 MB while a CD falls in the range of $1.50 with 650 MB. In addition, the disc can last 75 years without fault. Internal HDs are also dirt cheap ($230 gets you 9GB) and once the average user gets over 18GB it will take an exceptionally long time to fill up the space except for loading the now larger and larger applications. If one was just to fill up storage with text based documents a 100 MB storage disk may hold 55,000 documents. Granted artwork, engineering and individuals who spend a lot of time scanning documents may find these numbers to be limiting it’s not the norm for a traditional workstation on a network to be storing all its files on the local drive. In today’s work environment central servers are the storage devices of ...

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