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Unit 6: Hardware

raw speed: Windows PCs have a serious edge here. Where time is money, processor speed can be notes
very important. Regardless of how hard Mac advertising attempts to claim that the slower clock
speed Macs are really just as fast as a PC. If you have the “need for speed” in gaming, software
development, 3D rendering and other applications, Windows is the clear winner here.

Colour Matching: Apple is the only OS and hardware which supports Colorsync, the industry
standard for “what you see is what you get” colour matching. If you want your advertising copy
of an egg to come out of the press with the same yellow you saw on the screen, Mac is for you.
Web Design: Now this will be a hot one. In our opinion the clear choice here is Windows. We
said this for two reasons:

• First, 95% of the people surfing the Web use Windows on PCs. If you want to be able to
design in an atmosphere where you see pretty much what that 95% sees, then Windows
just plain makes sense.
• Secondly, though many technologies are available for the Mac, Windows technology is not
and much of the Web uses this technology. If you want to take advantage of .NET technology
or ASP, it is just way easier to implement from a Windows platform.
ease to Use: It given Mac the edge here, though the difference is pretty small with the release of
Windows XP. Windows binary Plug-in-Play is no longer “Plug-n-Pray” and though technologically
superior to Mac does not get the job done as nicely. By using nearly draconian measures and
monopolistic threats, Apple has been able to maintain tight control over makers of third party
hardware. What this means to you is an easier to use system, but with much less choice in add-
ons.
software availability: Though many might argue that anything you might need is available for
Mac, and though almost all generic task software is, industry specific software is not. For example,
if you own say a lawn mower repair shop, you might want software written exclusively to run
lawn mower repair shops. You just want to find it on the shelf or by mail order for the Mac,
while you have several to choose from for Windows, maybe even for free or cheap as shareware
downloads.
6.2 Connections

Establishing a connection between two multimedia devices is very easy now using a lot of
connecting devices. There are many hardware devices which are generally used for making a
connection between two or more devices such as cables. Here, we are discussing some interfaces
and connecting devices.

6.2.1 integrated Drive electronics (iDes)
Usually storage devices connect to the computer through an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDEs)
interface. Essentially, an IDE interface is a standard way for a storage device to connect to a
computer. The IDE is actually not the true technical name for the interface standard. The original
name, AT Attachment (ATA), signified that the interface was initially developed for the IBM AT
computer.

The IDE was created as a way to standardize the use of hard drives in computers. The basic
concept behind IDE is that the hard drive and the controller should be combined. The controller
is a small circuit board with chips that provide guidance as to exactly how the hard drive stores
and accesses data. Most controllers also include some memory that acts as a buffer to enhance hard
drive performance. Before IDE, controllers and hard drives were separate and often proprietary. In
other words, a controller from one manufacturer might not work with a hard drive from another
manufacturer. The distance between the controller and the hard drive could result in poor signal
quality and affect performance. Obviously, this caused much frustration for computer users.

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