Section 3:
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Realistic Constraints
Economic:
Would our product be worth it? How much would companies be willing to invest on our system? These questions form economic restraints on the system – that affects its price and ultimately what we can actually achieve with that certain price constraint. Our laptops have to be under the regular prices for netbooks (300$) - and much less than actual workstations (1000$). The proxy laptops as well as the powerful main terminal must be lower in price than if a company would buy workstations instead.
Environmental:
“Manufacturing computers is materials intensive; the total fossil fuels used to make one desktop computer weigh over 240 kilograms, some 10 times the weight of the computer itself.” The production of computers has a large impact on the environment. It is our responsibility to limit the amount of toxic materials used in the production of our product as well as inform our clients on how to properly dispose of our product. However, since the hardware requirements for the laptop are not extensive – it is more environmentally friendly than most of the usual workstations.
Health and Safety:
The use of a product such as the proxy laptop is just as safe as any other computer device. Minor things we have to consider are: brightness adjustment for eye health, ergonomic design on keyboards to relieve stress on the employee. Although unlikely, since employees would stare at the screen all day, we would also put countermeasures against visuals that can invoke epileptic shock to those prone to the condition.
Manufacturability:
Since it is the computer age, the technology to manufacture our product is very prominent whether it be chip fabrication or molding for the casings. The design on the laptop would have to be easily assembled through an assembly line as well as use cheap and easily accessible materials.
Sustainability:
Technology evolves rapidly – we have to make certain that our system will meet the needs of the company not only now but also in the future. This will be done through updates and fixes. However, since our system only uses the proxy laptop as a window that views computations by a more powerful computer, it is much easier to sustain technology by updating the few main terminals than if the company had to update all of its workstations.
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