T
Todd Wright
(Originally posted Tue. 1/20/98)
Are we to say that "office grade" PC's are junk? Or is it impossible to find a quality unit? A PC is designed to meet certain environmental and
operational conditions. Since an office grade PC may not be designed to operate in as wide a range of conditions as an industrial unit, it will be more vulnerable to misapplication. In my experience with both industrial and office grade PC's, the component most likely to fail is the hard disk drive. The industrial PC's I have experience with utilize the same drives found in their "weaker" cousins. The difference being
anti-vibratory mounts. Since the drives are the same, so should the demonstrated reliability provided they are applied properly. Industrial
PC's are more expensive because effort has gone into designing them to be, well, industrial. To say that industrial units are more reliable
because they are industrial, or office grade are not because they are office grade is not correct. Judge each by what goes into it, and apply each by the same rule. A designer should analyze the needs of the application, and consider the total cost of ownership. For example, we have $5000 industrial units and $1600 office units. The office units offer a magnitude greater cpu speed, additional ram, and more standard options. The industrial units feature ease of maintenance and a magnitude greater resistance to environmental fluctuations. However, any environmental conditioning needed for the office grade unit must be considered to produce a fair comparison. The decision to use one type over the other should be approached with the same process as any other design decision.
Todd Wright - end user.
Are we to say that "office grade" PC's are junk? Or is it impossible to find a quality unit? A PC is designed to meet certain environmental and
operational conditions. Since an office grade PC may not be designed to operate in as wide a range of conditions as an industrial unit, it will be more vulnerable to misapplication. In my experience with both industrial and office grade PC's, the component most likely to fail is the hard disk drive. The industrial PC's I have experience with utilize the same drives found in their "weaker" cousins. The difference being
anti-vibratory mounts. Since the drives are the same, so should the demonstrated reliability provided they are applied properly. Industrial
PC's are more expensive because effort has gone into designing them to be, well, industrial. To say that industrial units are more reliable
because they are industrial, or office grade are not because they are office grade is not correct. Judge each by what goes into it, and apply each by the same rule. A designer should analyze the needs of the application, and consider the total cost of ownership. For example, we have $5000 industrial units and $1600 office units. The office units offer a magnitude greater cpu speed, additional ram, and more standard options. The industrial units feature ease of maintenance and a magnitude greater resistance to environmental fluctuations. However, any environmental conditioning needed for the office grade unit must be considered to produce a fair comparison. The decision to use one type over the other should be approached with the same process as any other design decision.
Todd Wright - end user.