Benefits and Impacts of Installing and Maintaining

Hardware

BTEC Level 1/Level 2 First Extended Certificate in Information

and Creative Technology

Unit 14: Installing and Maintaining Computer Hardware

Due: 13/03/2023

Submitted by: Simon Scott Lecturer: George Wakeman

Introduction

The assignment is about writing detailed paragraphs, writing own benefits and implications, a
review of the work and strengths and weaknesses of an admin computer set-up and a CEO
computer set-up.

The benefits and implication of installing an SSD over an HDD

• Benefits
1. The Solid-State Drive is much faster than an HDD because it does not use mechanical
parts.
2. SSDs (Solid State Drive) are durable due to the lack of mechanical parts.
3. SSDs use less power; this means an SSD is more energy efficient and keeps energy
costs down.
4. Solid State Drives do not make any noise because they function using flash memory,
opposed to the mechanical parts an HDD uses.
5. Due to Solid States Drives lacking mechanical parts, it is available in smaller sizes which
will save space in a device.
6. SSDs backup data way faster than an HDD, because of this, it is ideal for businesses.

• Implications
1. Solid State Drives are usually more expensive as it is made with newer technology.
2. SSDs do not last as long as HDDs (Hard Disk Drive) because the chips inside gradually
wear each time it is used.
3. Large storage SSDs are difficult to find, while large storage HDDs could be 2.5 times
larger than the total capacity of a large storage SSD.
4. Due to SSDs being new and they lack physical machines to store data, recovery of old
data is impossible.
5. Due to the high price of SSDs, HDDs are more favored for general computers while
SSDs are for high performance use.
6. SSDs in theory are more unreliable as the data chips wear every time data is saved.

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The benefits and implications of North Wiltshire Environmental installing and
maintaining hardware themselves.

• Benefits A benefit to maintaining hardware themselves is, it is cheaper to do it since

they are a company/organization, they would need access to the internet to get the
latest news of environmental issues around Wiltshire.

Another benefit to the company/organization installing and maintaining their hardware

themselves is, it is convenient, it prevents downtime which would lead to the
company/organization to be slow to react to environmental reports and news, so having
them install and maintain their hardware themselves would mean, there will be more
uptime due to the company/organization being able to sustain themselves.

Another benefit is, once employees have completed the training, in turn the trained
employees could train new employees, which would save extra costs and time.

A benefit of self-installation and maintenance is, both preventative and corrective

maintenance could be done due to trained staff available, it will also save time and cost as the
company/organization money and time as they do not need to ship off hardware external
company where valuable data could be at risk.

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 • Implications An implication to maintaining and installing hardware internally is to
require staff to be trained regularly, which will cause downtime.

Another implication is, hardware is upgraded on a regular basis, if the

company/organization decides to upgrade hardware, it must send its staff away
to be trained in how to operate the newer hardware.

Another implication to this is, old hard drives must be destroyed since classified or
valuable information may remain on the hard drives, plus the company/organization
must ensure to dispose hardware safely and properly which takes quite a bit of time as
disposing of computer hardware is more complicated than tossing it in the bin.

Review of how installing and maintaining hardware for one technology system could
impact an individual or an organization

Both systems are good in their own right, but at the same time both systems are not fit for the
specific needs of an individual. System 1 is a better choice for personal use because it has a
better core (Core i5-4590) with a higher amount of RAM, it is better for use at home, although
4gb of RAM may not be enough, depending on the user. The Dell OptiPlex 3020 is a very good
choice for office and home use as it's compatible with various Intel cores, and it is also a
relatively cheap choice for both office and home purposes. A disadvantage about System 1 is
its slow hard drive, at only 5400 rpm, do not expect it to save data quickly and the hard drive is
unbranded, so it may not be reliable as well. A strength to system 2, is the Barracuda hard
drive as it reads data at 7200 rpm compared to system 1s 5400 rpm.

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The strengths and weaknesses of system 1

Dell OptiPlex 3020

• Strengths: Flexible range of mounting options, It has 8GB RAM, Excellent software
performance, It is a small computer, Cheap.
• Weaknesses: No Integrated Wi-Fi, Half height PCI slots, it uses DDR3 RAM, only 2
years of use left (does not meet Windows 11 requirements)

Intel Core i5-4590

• Strengths: 4,100% larger market share, More modern, hugely more powerful cores,
more popular, better value, better performance for gaming, desktop, and work
purposes, far more efficient.
• Weaknesses: 42% more expensive than the Intel core 2 duo E7500

4gb drr3 ram

• Strengths: 4 gb of ram, which is better than system 2

• Weaknesses: DRR3 Ram

500gb 5400rpm

• Strengths: More storage space than system 2

• Weaknesses: slower rpm speed and is a unbranded hard drive, so it may not be reliable

DVD burner drive

• Strengths: Faster and more reliable way of storing larger files

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 • Weaknesses:

Sceptre E205W-1600 20" LED Monitor 1600x900

• Strengths: High quality monitor, large screen, and very good screen quality
• Weaknesses: More expensive than system 2 monitor

LOGITECH MK120 Keyboard & Mouse Set

• Strengths: Good, general-purpose keyboard and mouse set, and it is cheap

• Weaknesses:

The strengths and weaknesses of system 2

Dell OptiPlex 780

• Strengths: Small, cheap, multiple ports, mouse + keyboard & monitor included, good
enough performance, multiple types of form factors
• Weaknesses: Cannot handle complex tasks, poor quality monitor, and a very outdated
graphics card

Intel core 2 duo E7500

• Strengths: 42% cheaper than the core i5

• Weaknesses: Much smaller market share, not worth the value, older, inferior
performance cores, less popular, inferior performance in gaming, desktop, and work
purposes, not very efficient compared to i5

2gb ddr2 ram

• Strengths: cheap
• Weaknesses: Very little storage, DDR2,

250gb Seagate barracuda 7200rpm

• Strengths: Branded hard drive, 7200 rpm

• Weaknesses: 250 GB of memory

CD/DVD rom drive

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 • Strengths: Good quality for video and audio files
• Weaknesses: Read only memory

17” TFT LCD monitor 1280x1024

• Strengths: Good sized monitor, good enough quality, quite cheap

• Weaknesses: May be less reliable than system 1 monitor

LOGITECH MK120 Keyboard & Mouse Set

• Strengths: Good, all-purpose keyboard, quite cheap and is favored by both systems
• Weaknesses:

References

Dell OptiPlex 3020: Dell Optiplex 3020 Review: Pros, Cons, Specs & More (ecomputertips.com)
[Viewed in 13/03/2023]

Core i5 vs Intel Core 2 Duo E7500: UserBenchmark: Intel Core i5-4590 vs Core2 Duo E7500
[Viewed in 13/03/2023]

Dell OptiPlex 780: Dell OptiPlex 780 Review: Budget Desktop for Small Businesses
(itechguides.com) [Viewed in 13/03/2023]