Case No.

Team Task. The chief financial officer of KrisJam, Inc. has asked her MIS office
to look into replacing the company’s desktop computers with laptop computers. The
director of the MIS office has hired your team as consultants to examine the advantages
and disadvantages of laptop computers. Form a three-member team and assign each team
one of the following companies – Acer, HP, and Asus. Have each member of your team
use the web and/or print media to find the laptop computer and a desktop computer with
comparable middle-of-the road system units sold by company assigned to them.

What is the price of each computer? How are the processors and RAM similar?
How are they different? Is the notebook computer the better buy? If so, Why? Write a
summary report.

Advantages

Laptop computers are portable and can be used in many locations.

Portability is usually the first feature mentioned in any comparison of laptops versus
desktop PCs. Portability means that a laptop can be used in many places—not only at
home and at the office, but also during commuting and flights, in coffee shops, in lecture
halls and libraries, at clients' location or at a meeting room, etc. The portability feature
offers several distinct advantages:

Productivity – Using a laptop in places where a desktop PC can't be used, and at times
that would otherwise be wasted.
Immediacy – Carrying a laptop means having instant access to various information,
personal and work files.

Up-to-date information – If a person has more than one desktop PC, a problem of
synchronization arises: changes made on one computer are not automatically propagated
to the others.

Connectivity – A proliferation of Wi-Fi wireless networks and cellular broadband data

services (HSDPA, EVDO and others) combined with a near-ubiquitous support by
laptops means that a laptop can have easy Internet and local network connectivity while
remaining mobile
Other advantages of laptops include:

Size – Laptops are smaller than desktop PCs

Low power consumption – Laptops are several times more power-efficient than desktops.
A typical laptop uses 20–90 W, compared to 100–800 W for desktops. This could be
particularly beneficial for businesses (which run hundreds of personal computers,
multiplying the potential savings) and homes where there is a computer running 24/7
(such as a home media server, print server, etc.)

Quiet – Laptops are often quieter than desktops, due both to the components (quieter,
slower 2.5-inch hard drives) and to less heat production leading to use of fewer and
slower cooling fans.

Battery – a charged laptop can continue to be used in case of a power outage and is not
affected by short power interruptions and blackouts.
All-in-One – designed to be portable, laptops have everything integrated in to the
chassis.

Disadvantages
Compared to desktop PCs, laptops have disadvantages in the following fields:
Performance
While the performance of mainstream desktops and laptops is comparable, and the cost of
laptops has fallen more rapidly than desktops, laptops remain more expensive than
desktop PCs at the same or even lower performance level. The upper limits of
performance of laptops remain much lower than the highest-end desktops (especially
"workstation class" machines with two processor sockets), and "bleeding-edge" features
usually appear first in desktops and only then, as the underlying technology matures, are
adapted to laptops.
Some manufacturers work around this performance problem by using desktop CPUs for
laptops.
Upgradeability
Upgradeability of laptops is very limited compared to desktops, which are thoroughly
standardized. In general, hard drives and memory can be upgraded easily. Optical drives
and internal expansion cards may be upgraded if they follow an industry standard, but all
other internal components, including the motherboard, CPU and graphics, are not always
intended to be upgradeable.
Ergonomics and health

Laptop cooler preventing heating of lap and improving laptop airflow.

Because of their small and flat keyboard and trackpad pointing devices, prolonged use of
laptops can cause repetitive strain injury. Usage of separate, external ergonomic
keyboards and pointing devices is recommended to prevent injury when working for long
periods of time; they can be connected to a laptop easily by USB or via a docking station.
Some health standards require ergonomic keyboards at workplaces.
The integrated screen often causes users to hunch over for a better view, which can cause
neck or spinal injuries
Durability
A clogged heatsink on a 2.5 year old laptop.
Due to their portability, laptops are subject to more wear and physical damage than
desktops. Components such as screen hinges, latches, power jacks and power cords
deteriorate gradually due to ordinary use. A liquid spill onto the keyboard, a rather minor
mishap with a desktop system, can damage the internals of a laptop and result in a costly
repair. One study found that a laptop is 3 times more likely to break during the first year
of use than a desktop.
Security and privacy
Because they are valuable, common, and portable, laptops are prized targets for theft. The
cost of stolen business or personal data, and of the resulting problems (identity theft,
credit card fraud, breach of privacy), can be many times the value of the stolen laptop
itself. Consequently, physical protection of laptops and the safeguarding of data
contained on them are both of great importance.

.
ACER

Acer is a Taiwan based company which was set up in the year 1976 by the name
Multitech, and later renamed to Acer in 1987. It has its headquarters located inHsichih
City, Taipei County, Taiwan. By 2005 Acer Laptop was ranked as the world's No. 4
branded PC vendor. It offers a range of products like desktop and mobile PCs, servers
and storages, LCD monitors and high-definition TVs, projectors, and
handheld/navigational devices. In 2000, Acer spun-off its fabricating business to focus on
developing technologically advanced and user-friendly computing.

: Acer Aspire AS5742-7120 Notebook

: $498.00

: LXR4F02002 - 2.40GHz Intel Core i3-370M, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, DVD Super
Multi-Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, 15.6” LCD
The Aspire 5742 meets your daily computing needs with an Intel processor

HP

HP offers a broad family of laptops, notebook computers, netbooks and tablet PCs for a
variety of uses. This includes high performance laptops for watching movies, playing
music, and sharing photos. HP's powerful notebook computers can handle your extreme
gaming needs as well. HP also offers a full range of laptop computers for your business
office needs. HP's ultra-portable laptops, notebook computers, netbooks and tablet PCs
are lightweight and can be used almost anywhere. For any kind of lifestyle, at home or
the office, HP delivers an outstanding choice of laptops and notebook computers to suit
your needs.
: Compaq 1 x 512MB PC2700 200

: $19.85

ASUS

Asus is one of few notebook manufacturers that make their own laptops top to bottom.
While other brands rely on ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers) to supply barebones -
casings, LCD, motherboard etc., Asus actually is an ODM that supply barebones to other
major brands. You will also find ASUS products such as graphics cards and
motherboards in desktop computers. Of course, ASUS also produce their own line of
laptops, which ranges from the tiny eee PC to large and powerful desktop replacements,
with countless other models in between.

: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter, 10.1" LCD -
MPN: 1001PXEU17BK

: As low as $244.10

: 512MB 214pin PC2-4200 microDIMM DDR2 Notebook RAM Memory Upgrade

Notebook computers generally allow you to attach, via cable, a CD ROM drive. Since
the drive is not built into the unit, notebooks are smaller and lighter than laptops. These
units are commonly known as "Ultra Portables".

So this company needs to have a laptop not a notebook. Laptop is more space than
notebook.
Case No. 3

Based on the positions cited in the peopleware, write a brief report on the career
that appeal to you most. Do the same for the other two careers that interest you.

• CIOs and CTOs will be both visionary and pragmatic - It is not enough to
plan for innovation, they nees to be perceptive and realistic. As an insightful
manager they promots a broad technology agenda to help the business profit from
leading-edge initiatives. At the same time as a pragmatist, they deal with the
realities of the business. The pragmatist also facilitates the productivity of current
IT solutions. The CIO and CTO focuses on minimizing cost and maximizing
results, in addition they help to increase the customer and product/service base of
the enterprise.

• A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer

science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation
and their application in computersystems.

Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computer systems, as

opposed to the hardware side that computer engineers mainly focus on (although there is
overlap). Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on specific
areas (such as algorithm development and design, software engineering, information
theory, database theory, computational complexity theory, human-computer
interaction, computer programming, programming language theory, computer graphics,
and computer vision), their foundation is the theoretical study of computing from which
these other fields derive. Computer scientists typically have some kind of degree in
computer science.

• A database administrator (DBA) is a person responsible for the design,

implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are
also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and is
closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeler, Programmer Analyst,
and Systems Manager. The role includes the development and design of database
strategies, monitoring and improving database performance and capacity, and
planning for future expansion requirements. They may also plan, co-ordinate and
implement security measures to safeguard the database. Employing organizations
may require that a database administrator have a certification or degree for
database systems (for example, the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator).
Case No. 5

Your manager at White Office Supply Outlet intends to choose a spreadsheet

program that the entire company will use. He prefers to learn about software using
tradebooks – written text that explain features of a program and how to use it – rather
than online Help or tutorials. He asked you to evaluate spreadsheats tradebooks available
in the bookstore on the Web.

Visit a bookstore web site and other web sites that sell books to survey the
spreadsheat trade books available for Microsoft Excel, Lotus, Quattro Pro, and Staroffice
Calc. Which spreadsheat program has the most books available? How difficult would it to
learn each program using the trade book at the hand? Which trade book do you think is
the best? Why? If you were going to purchase software solely on the basis of the related
trade books, which program would you buy? Why?

MICROSOFT EXCEL

is a spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows

and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro
programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely
applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993. Excel forms
part of Microsoft Office. The current versions are 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac.

LOTUS 1-2-3

is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (now part of IBM). It was the IBM PC's
first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to
the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.

QUATTRO PRO

is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part
of Corel's WordPerfect Office.

Historically, Quattro Pro used keyboard commands similar to Lotus 1-2-3. It is

commonly said to have been the first program to use the "tabbed notebook" metaphor.
However, this is not true, as Boeing Calc had already used tabbed pages.
 STAROFFICE CALC

application offers more functions than a standard spreadsheet program, enabling you to
analyze figures,create lists, and handle Euro conversions with ease and accuracy. A
scenario manager helps analyze and filter your data according to various factors, and
several advanced layout functions simplify the task of presenting your data.

• As you can see, Microsoft excel is the best for my maneger at Whitney Office
Supply Outlet.
• And it is easy to operate with this softwares.
• If I were to buy solely a software I would choose the best, and the for me is the
Microsoft excel is the one that will help you to learn.

Case No. 7

The owner of the motorcycle repair shop where you are employed as a part-time
office manager is tired of continually upgrading the company’s computer system. After
attending a seminar on how small business can make use of the Internet, she asked you to
look into the feasibility of using online storage, rather than purchasing additional storage
for the company’s computer.

Write a brief report outlining the advantages and disadvantages of using online
storage. Compare Yahoo! Briefcase and Google’s Gmail online storage offerings Which
company offers the best arrangement? Why?

As I have surf the net, I have encountered these 3 internet storage:

YAHOO! MAIL

• Yahoo! Mail offers 25 megabytes of e-mail storage

• 10 megabyte message size limit
• Ability to send up to 10 attachments per e-mail
• POP Access and Forwarding
• Archiving of e-mail messages to a hard drive for offline access
• Ability to send messages from Yahoo! Mail using other e-mail domains
• 200 blocked addresses and 50 filters to help screen unsolicited e-mails
• No promotional taglines in messages
• No account expiration.
GOOGLE GMAIL

• 7500 MB of free storage.

• additional storage from 20 GB to 16 TB

YAHOO! BRIEFCASE

• an online storage service offer by Yahoo!, providing 30MB of online storage of

files, including photo files, etc. up to 5MB. In 2001 up to 50 megs of photo
storage/sharing alone was offered - this was in addition to the just "files" facility
that remained available in its final years after photos moved to Flickr.

Advantages of Email

The benefits of e-mail are huge in number.

• Easy to use: E-mail frees us from the tedious task of managing data of daily use.
It helps us to manage our contacts, send mails quickly, maintain our mail history,
store the required information, etc.
• Speed: The e-mail is delivered instantly, anywhere across the globe. No other
service matches the e-mail in terms of speed.
• Easy to prioritize: Since the mails have subject lines, it is easy to prioritize them
and ignore unwanted mails.
• Reliable and secure: Constant efforts are being taken to improve the security in
electronic mails. Thus making it one of the secured ways of communication.
• Informal and conversational: The language used in e-mails is generally simple
and thus makes the communication informal. Sending and receiving e-mails takes
less time, so it can be used as a tool for interaction.
• Easier for reference: When one needs to reply to a mail, there is a provision in the
mailing system to attach the previous mails as references. This refreshes the
recipient's knowledge, on what he is reading.
• Automated e-mails: It is possible to send automated e-mails using special
programs like the autoresponders. The autoresponders reply back to the sender
with generalized pre-written text messages.
• Environment friendly: Postal mails use paper as a medium to send letters.
Electronic mail thus, saves a lot of trees from being axed. It also saves fuel
needed in transportation.
• Use of graphics: Colorful greeting cards and interesting pictures can be sent
through e-mails. This adds value to the e-mail service.
• Advertising tool: Many individuals and companies are using e-mails to advertise
their products, services, etc.
Disadvantages of Email

The e-mails, though beneficial in our day-to-day life, has got its own drawbacks that are
off late coming to the fore.

• Viruses: These are computer programs having the potential to harm a computer
system. These programs copy themselves and further infect the computer. The
recipient needs to scan the mails, as viruses are transmitted through them and
have the potential to harm computer systems.
• Spam: E-mails when used to send unsolicited messages and unwanted
advertisements create nuisance and is termed as Spam. Checking and deleting
these unwanted mails can unnecessarily consume a lot of time, and it has become
necessary to block or filter the unwanted e-mails by means of spam filters.
Spamming includes, sending hoax e-mails. E-mail spoofing is another common
practice, used for spamming. Spoofing involves deceiving the recipient by
altering the e-mail headers or the addresses from which the mail is sent.
• Hacking: The act of breaking into computer security is termed as hacking. After
the e-mail is sent and before it is received by the desired recipient, it "bounces"
between servers located in different parts of the world. Hence, the e-mail can be
hacked by a professional hacker.
• Misinterpretation: One has to be careful while posting any kind of content through
an e-mail. If typed in a hurry, the matter could be misinterpreted.
• Lengthy mails: If the mail is too long and not properly presented the reader may
lose interest in reading it.
• Not suitable for business: Since the content posted via e-mails is considered
informal, there is a chance of business documents going unnoticed. Thus, urgent
transactions and especially those requiring signatures are not managed through e-
mails.
• Crowded inbox: Over a period of time, the e-mail inbox may get crowded with
mails. It becomes difficult for the user to manage such a huge chunk of mails.
• Need to check the inbox regularly: In order to be updated, one has to check his e-
mail account regularly.

So as you can see, yahoo! Briefcase is the most efficient and the best for all to store your
important stuffs.
Team Challenge

ISP (Internet Service Provider) - connects to its customers using a data transmission
technology appropriate for delivering Internet Protocol packets or frames
These are the examples of ISP:

• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of technologies that provides digital

data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally
stood for digital subscriber loop.
• Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the
public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a dialed connection to an
Internet service provider (ISP) via telephone lines.
• Wireless Communication may be used to transfer information over short
distances. The term is often shortened to "wireless". It encompasses various types
of fixed, mobile, and portable two-way radios, cellular telephones, personal
digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless networking.

DSL Advantages:

• Security: Unlike cable modems, each subscriber can be configured so that

it will not be on the same network. In some cable modem networks, other
computers on the cable modem network are left visibly vulnerable and are
easily susceptible to break ins as well as data destruction.
• Integration: DSL will easily interface with ATM, Nx64, and WAN
technology. Telecommuting may get even easier.
• High bandwidth
• Cheap line charges from the phone company.
• Good for "bursty" traffic patterns

Disadvantages:

• No current standardization: A person moving from one area to another

might find that their DSL modem is just another paperweight.
• Distance dependence: The farther you live from the DSLAM (DSL
Access Multiplexer), the lower the data rate. The longest run lengths
are 18,000 feet, or a little over 3 miles.

• Access: Once again, rural areas get shorted.

• Limited availability
• Very new technology
Dial-Up Advantages:

• Low Cost: Dial up method has always been and will remain the cheapest
method of connecting to the Internet.
• Safety: A dial up connection is much safer than any other technology
because of the rotation of the IP addresses, assigned to a user.
• Availability: This is probably the best feature of dial up internet access. It
provides the user with the convenience of using his account wherever the
service is available.

Disadvantages:

• Speed: Speed is one of the biggest disadvantages of a dial up

connection. The maximum speed a dial up connection can achieve
is 56,000 bytes per second, which is way too less compared to all
the other technologies available, these days.
• Requires Phone Line: A dial up connection requires a permanent
phone line, that can be dialed to connect to the Internet.
• Route Busy: Everyone of us born in the 80s and the 90s very well
know, what it means. Newer generations might not be familiar
with it because of the absence of land lines in most places, these
days.

Wireless Communication Advantages:

• Mobility - user device can be moved easily within the wireless range
• Neat and easy Installation - since no cable running here and there, just
start up the wireless device and you're ready to rumble
• Less cost for cabling infrastructure and device
• More user supported - cable device have limited slot

Disadvantages:

• Relatively lower bandwidth speed - example: although currently 802.11/n

could reach 128 Mbps, UTP cable can reach 1 Gbps. And more user mean
each bandwidth get smaller. That is why currently wired backbone
network is still preferred.
• Ease of access means more security also necessary to protect data and/or
bandwidth, since people can connect anywhere within range without
seeking network plug.
 INTRODUCTION
TO COMPUTERS

Submitted to: Regina C. Chico Submitted by: Klifford Joy T. Kalaw

Computer Teacher BA-1B