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Beatrice: At this stage, I'm not asking you to give me a detailed breakdown of all the IT
equipment we’re going to need. It would just be useful to have a rough idea of what's most
urgent.
Dan: Sure. Well, one of the biggest problems is the screens at the CAD stations. A lot of those
need replacing with bigger ones. Roughly speaking, I'd say well over half of them are too small.
A good two thirds of them, actually. So, we're talking about 15 to 18 screens, something like that.
Beatrice: OK. How urgent is that?
Dan: Well, I mean they all work, they all function properly. The trouble is, the engineers spend
the vast majority of their time working with these screens. And because the detail on them is so
small, it's pretty hard work on the eyes, to the point that it affects productivity so ...
Beatrice: OK. And what about the big printer in here? I’ve heard it’s a bit of a dinosaur.
Dan: Well, it is, but it works perfectly well, and we print next to nothing with it, anyway. Most of
the drawings are printed at the factory.
Beatrice: Oh.

b Find words and phrases in audioscript 8.9 on page 93 to match the following definitions
(1-5).
1 approximately/
2 much more than /
3 at least / (two thirds)
4 most /
5 almost zero /

c Complete the following replies to express the figures in approximate terms using the
words in Exercises 11 d and 12b. Sometimes more than one answer is possible.
1 How old is this equipment? A good five years old. (at least 5 years)
2 What percentage of the PCs need changing? all of them. (95%)
3 How many of the computers are up to spec? all of them. (70%)
4 How many of the staff use the CAD system? half of them. (55%)
5 How much would the new printers cost? $2,000. ($3,120)
6 How much does an adapter like this cost? . ($2)
7 How long would a full system take to install? 5 days. (4-6 days)
8 Can most of our clients read these files? Yes, of them. (95%)

13 You are setting up a small company of consulting engineers employing seven members
of staff - five engineers and two assistants. You need to rent an office, equip it with a
computer network with CAD system and admin software, and buy other basic office
equipment. In pairs, discuss some ballpark figures relating to the following questions.
• What computer equipment will be required and how much will it cost to buy?
• What other items of furniture/equipment will be needed, and how much will this cost?
• How much floor space will be required in the open-plan office?
• How long will it take to set up the office - install the furniture and equipment?

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