COMM 226 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Computer Hardware, Speed 3, Computer Data Storage
Document Summary
Hardware refers to the physical equipment used for the input, processing, output and storage activities of a computer system. Decisions about hardware focus on: appropriateness for the task, speed, cost. Overall trends in computer hardware: smaller, faster, cheaper, more powerful. Supercomputers: the fastest computers available at any given time. Used in large organizations to execute tasks involving very large data sets, such as military and scientific applications. Used by large enterprises for extensive computing applications that are accessed by thousands of users at one time. Ex: airline reservation systems, corporate payroll programs, website transaction processing systems (ie. amazon and ebay) and student grade calculation and reporting. Fat client: computer that has the ability to perform many functions without a network connection. Thin client: computer that does not offer the full functionality of a fat client: advantages: fast application deployment, centralized management, lower cost of ownership and easier installation, disadvantage: can do very little without network connection.