Categories
Computers

Mini-Computers Vs Desktops – Which Ones Are Better for High-Performance Computing at Home?

By Zacharias Voulgaris

As you probably know, desktop computers have been around for a while, longer than any other kind of personal PC in fact. Over the past 35+ years they have diversified significantly, lending themselves to all sorts of use cases involving high-performance computing. These range from advanced data analytics to gaming to video rendering. The kind of desktops that are designed for this kind of computing definitely deliver what they promise and more. Nevertheless, they are plagued with the following issues:

High price. Conventional desktops are not very affordable when it comes to the models that can handle high-performance computing. Being able to accommodate multiple hard disks, RAM chips, and all kinds of specialized cards, makes their motherboards big and pricey.

High power consumption. Desktops are electricity hungry since they have to drive these cumbersome motherboards and oftentimes at least a couple of big fans too.

Noise level. As a result of the aforementioned fans, desktops tend to be quite noisy, particularly during warmer days.

Large size. Of course desktops are quite large, making them difficult to move and usually taking up a big part of a desk.

So, although desktop machines could deliver high performance, this comes at a price, making them a not-so-appealing solution for many individuals, especially those on a budget. Mini-computers, on the other hand, could address the majority of all the above disadvantages. Specifically they are:

Inexpensive. These PCs are as simple as it gets, making them efficient in every aspect. This translates to a lower cost, even with high-quality parts such as an solid-state disks. Today you could buy a mini-computer for less than $400 at certain stores.

Very eco-friendly (low power consumption). Mini-computers generally don’t consume more than 20W, with most models’ consumption being around 15W and a few of them as low as 12W. This equates to a tiny carbon footprint and a lot of savings on electricity over time.

Silent. Modern mini-computers don’t have any fans and their parts don’t have any moving components, making them as quiet as your smartphone or tablet. This is due to the state-of-the-art heat sink technology that they employ.

Compact in size. Utilizing laptop technology, mini-computers are able to deliver a lot of computing power making use of very small parts. This makes them light, compact, and easy to move.

In addition, mini-computers are:

Fast when it comes to storage memory. Mini-computers rely on solid-state disks, a technology that is the fastest available when it comes to storage (significantly faster than MMC memory). This allows for fast overall performance and high reliability.

Easy to upgrade. Mini-computers are just like desktops when it comes to upgrading. Just pop up the cover and change whatever part you want. Everything is merely a couple of screws away and doesn’t require advanced know-how to accomplish.

Secure. Oftentimes mini-computers are mounted on monitors, usually hidden from plain sight. This, along with the fact that they are easy to place on a concealed location (e.g. inside a keyboard tray) makes them quite safe from thieves.

All this makes mini-computers an excellent choice for high-performance computing and a great investment overall.

Today you can buy mini-computers from a variety of vendors. However, none of them offer the quality and support that TechnologyPoint does. Also, this e-commerce site’s prices are really hard to match, which their compact PCs come with a software bundle that will make your experience with these amazing machines even better.

Article Source: Mini-Computers Vs Desktops – Which Ones Are Better for High-Performance Computing at Home?

Categories
Backup

Why Backup Solutions Are Important for Your Business

By Peter D Drummond

With many businesses extensively using various types of technology in their respective lines of work, there is a large amount of data which needs storing in order to provide a backup in the case of a crisis. This can be something such as a fire or a flood, or even something much simpler such as a spilt cup of tea on some essential hardware.

Accidents can happen – along with downright disasters – and therefore backing up your data is absolutely essential. Here are some of the main reasons why backup solutions are extremely important for your business.

The first reason that these solutions are so important is that a huge amount of data for all types of business is stored electronically, whether this is involves accounts, client data, important legal documents and much, much more. In fact, businesses that have all their data stored entirely digitally are not at all uncommon, which shows how much the world of work has chanced in recent decades.

Whether you are self-employed with a small business or have a medium sized enterprise, chances are that your data is worth a lot and the loss of it can cause severe disruption of your business – if not closure completely if you are unable to recover from such a data disaster.

It is important therefore to look for backup solutions in order to ensure protection of the data that you do have. There are now many different solutions on the market today, including cloud backup solutions, which mean that you will have a reliable fallback for all your important information should disaster strike.

This can make all the difference in picking up your business almost from where you left off if you do experience a disaster. This could be as simple as retrieving your data from a backup service on the same day as you experience a failure, and continuing business as normal. In more complicated cases you may need to buy new equipment altogether.

Regardless of this, chances are that retrieving your data will not be too difficult, even if the data disaster is frustrating and results in temporary confusion. However, backup solutions will have saved you from permanently losing essential information that could have had severe negative repercussions for your business.

The next point to make is that backup can be important in order to lose as little time as possible. As mentioned above, retrieving data from a backup storage solution – especially cloud solutions which are very popular nowadays – can be a same day operation. This means that the running of your business can get back to normal as soon as possible.

This is very important in order to keep your customers and colleagues happy with the work you do and avoids the negative consequences of not sending out orders on time, missing deadlines for work or failing to contact clients in a timely fashion. Time is money, and having a rapid access backup solution is therefore extremely beneficial for business.

It should also be noted that backup solutions can also be beneficial for business in another way – they send out a very positive message to your clients and colleagues that you are capable and reliable. After all, they will want to be reassured that you are taking every precaution in your work, for your sake and for theirs.

Reassuring clients and associates that you have strong backup systems in place will make them feel more confident in your professionalism and will encourage them to do business with you. This is just one of many reasons why implementing reliable backup solutions for your business can have many positive repercussions for the entirety of your business.

Smile Business Group offers a superior and tailored business solutions service to help their clients’ companies succeed. With 75 years’ combined experience in the IT, business and education sectors, the group delivers a range of services through its Smile IT, Smile Tel and Smile Consulting operations. Through proactively engaging organisational executives and owners, Smile IT aligns best of breed technologies and infrastructure to provide small to medium enterprises with a dynamic and robust platform to enhance their business and technology investment. Operating in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast in Australia, Smile IT is committed to their customers remaining at the cutting edge of technology and offers lightening quick customer support with no lock in contracts. To find out more, please visit: http://www.smileit.com.au/

Article Source: Why Backup Solutions Are Important for Your Business