There are good and bad things about each.
Digital downloads and streaming have replaced optical drives (CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray) for music, movies, and games. I’m kind of an optical disc guy when it comes to movies and PC games, but I still prefer digital download and streaming for music. I also like digital purchase for movies, which I prefer, alongside DVD and Blu-Ray, over streaming. Movies and video games and PC games should be purchased, music should be streamed. For video and PC games however, I like SD cards and USB sticks for purchase media.
Disadvantages of cloud storage are as follows.
First of all, you need an Internet connection, and while that’s no a big deal, the Internet has messed up lives of innocent people. See Social Dilemma. But there are at least two more disadvantages of cloud storage: first of all performance. Higher latency and less bandwidth than with USB stick, SD card, local hard drive storage, or even portable hard drive or even network-attached storage. Then there’s security and privacy. You don’t want your account to get hacked.
Take advantage of both cloud storage and USB and SD card. Cloud storage isn’t all that cost-effective. If you do certain services for free, privacy and security issues come with it. Also, if you run out of storage space for free tier, you could store the rest on USB stick, SD card, or portable hard drive.
I do like Internet of Things, but I love laptops, and I desktop computers are great for businesses and non-profit institutions but also for home office. Desktops will never go away, certainly not for businesses and institutions but also not for home office. The desktops should be all-in-ones, and only servers should be in the form of towers, especially full form factor. Each family can have one modern desktop PC, no more, no less, all-in-one strongly preferred, maybe OptiPlex 5x.. There’s also Apple’s iMac, on which one could install Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate or Windows 10 Pro via Boot Camp so they can switch between MacOS and Windows. But at the very least one, and at the very most two modern desktops, no more or less, and if two they should be one Windows PC and one iMac. They shouldn’t be both Macs or both Windows PC’s. One or more family members could have an HP Pavilion or ProBook or Lenovo IdeaPad. If a family has any server, it should be PowerEdge T10, T20, T110, or T120 with Server 2008 R2 Foundation or T30 or T130 with Server 2016 Essentials. If any second server, it be FreeNAS Mini.
I think families should still have routers, or maybe switches, with Ethernet. There are two disadvantages to Wi-Fi: security and performance. Latency isn’t much better, but bandwidth is much worse. Always connect desktops and servers with Ethernet and laptops with Wi-Fi. Smart switches (which fill the gap between unmanaged and managed switches) would be desired. Switches have greater port density, perform better, and are cheaper. Family could also have hardware firewalls, which are beneficial not just for business but also for home. Hardware firewalls have many benefits, including but not limited to fast performance, and control over 100% of the network. Software firewalls have a few disadvantages, two of them are they need to be installed on every device and are not available for gaming consoles and smart TV. But also have two or more wireless access points, dispersed around the house (such as different floors including basement), connected by cables to the wired network.
Edit: There’s something important I forgot to mention. Bluetooth has two disadvantages vs. wired devices – same as for Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet – security and performance. Desktops should have more ports than laptops. Only smartphones and tablets should use Bluetooth and wireless networking alone. Bluetooth is a must for laptops but an option for desktops and not an option for servers.
Now for SSD and HDD.
SSD is nu-school, HDD is old-school. But SSD has much higher cost per gigabyte than HDD, and more limited write/erase cycles. HDD is preferred for desktops and servers, and portable hard drives are especially preferred over portable SSD’s. SSD’s are desired for laptops and strongly preferred for smartphones and tablets. HDD’s use more power and produce more heat, but that’s not as big deal for desktops, because desktops are plugged in and have better facility for fans and/or water cooling. For laptops and mobile computers, it’s a bigger deal because they run on battery power and don’t fit cooling systems like fans very well. So for desktops, have dual-drive SSD and SSHD or, in the case of full-form-factor workstations or gaming desktops, hybrid-flash array with an SSD or two combined with a RAID4, RAID5, or RAID10 of HDD’s.
For network attached storage or distributed storage, have a MAID (massive array of idle drives) or HDD’s plus an array of SSD’s. Perhaps nest RAID in MAID, so instead of individual drives in low-power mode, entire RAIDs in low power mode. MAID of RAID5 would probably be best. MAID is especially beneficial for HDD’s because it reduces the power used and heat produced by the HDD’s, and also lengthens their life.
However, 3D NAND is on the rise. There are also a variety of novel memory types. My personal favorites are Spin-Orbit-Torque magnetoresistive RAM (an improvement over spin transfer torque, which I linked in an edit just as I promised), compound-semiconductor memory (I will also get the link later), and racetrack memory, the first of which could replace SRAM and maybe DRAM, the second of the which could take over flash memory, and the third could replace HDD. Also hybrid memristor/CMOS, which combines the best of HP memristor and Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. Edit: I also found the article SONOS, which would seem like an upgrade from standard flash. But it’s not listed in the article universal memory, and I like compound-semiconductor memory. Edit 2: there’s also Millipede memory, which could replace HDD’s but not SSD’s or RAM. Hybrid drive of SONOS or compound-semiconductor memory with millipede or racetrack memory? Edit 3: There’s also FJG RAM, which could replace DRAM. It’s also not listed in the article Universal memory.
DVI replaced VGA, and then comes HDMI and DisplayPort. Only the last of the four supports daisy-chaining, and the former two only transmit video and not audio. I think each desktop and laptop should have at least two HDMI ports. I think each laptop should have one DisplayPort, no more, no less. Each desktop should have one DVI port, no more, no less. Also, I think desktops and servers should be more old-school than laptops and mobile.
RISC is strongly preferred for smartphones and tablets and also good for laptops, while CISC is preferred for desktops for servers. RISC uses less power and produces less heat than CISC, which again is more important for smartphones, tablets, and laptops than for desktops and servers. But multi-core superscalar RISC CPU’s are good for workstations, high-performance computing, and many-task computing, the latter of which bridges the gap between high-performance computing and high-throughput computing.
I also like hard copies of books. That allows people to avoid screen time. Reading E-books is screen time.
I don’t think in-store retail should go away. Walmart and Target are great. They are like… powerful. Shopko went out of business, but hey! Happens to every business eventually.
IT recommendations and ideas 