3 Ways to Improve Hardware Longevity in Medical Computers

Medical-grade computers often come with features that address the need for constant operation.

If you work in a hospital or similar medical care facility, you rarely have time to slow down. Health and medical issues can arise anytime for any reason, which means that healthcare organizations often need to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That can be tough on important hardware like medical computers, which usually need to run constantly, and can thus wear out far sooner than administrators might like.

The good news is that medical-grade computers often come with features that address the need for constant operation: improving their longevity and ensuring that medical organizations get the most out of the investment. Specifics vary slightly, but there are certain qualities that every canny administrator should look for in a quality medical computer.

Solid State Drives are Built to Last

Traditional computer hard drives rely on rotating discs as well as fans to keep cool. All those moving parts can create quite a bit of friction, which in turn increase the wear and tear on the system. Solid state drives, on the other hand, don’t rely on moving parts and instead use heat sinks and similar methods to keep cool. Not only does that extend the system’s longevity by lowering friction, but it usually provides higher performance than older hard drives.

Keep the Heat Off for Longer Life

Medical computers often need a lot of processing power, which in turn can generate a great deal of heat. Most out-of-the-box computer systems use fans to keep their components cool, which uses more power (as well as spreading dust and contaminants through the air). Ideally, any medical computer in your building will take steps to reduce the amount of heat generated. That can include fanless technology such a heat sink, as well as computers with components that run at lower power ratings to reduce the temperature. In addition to reducing the wear and tear generated by the heat, such technology will help curtail the spread of dust and other contaminants by eliminating those blowing fans.

Check the Mean Time Between Failures

There’s another, very easy way, to determine how reliable a given computer will be when put to constant use. The Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) charts how long a given system will run, on average, before suffering a breakdown. The longer the time, the more reliable the system and the better it will perform in the crunch.

Consumer-grade computers often have a mean time between failures of approximately 1.5-2 years… which usually doesn’t take 24/7 use into account. (Even if a home computer is left on all of the time, it will “sleep” when its owner is away or in bed and thus reduce its power usage considerably.) Medical-grade computers should offer a longer lifespan – ideally 3-5 years – which stems from higher grade components and a much stronger MTBF.

Cybernet Manufacturing produces a line of quality medical computers that can stand up to the rigorous use demanded by healthcare facilities. Contact us today to learn more!