Sooner or later you are going to want to buy a new laptop. This is especially true if you are still running XP since the end of support for this great operating system is April 8, 2014. Microsoft has delayed this date several times but it looks like they are sticking to their guns this time around. When shopping for a new machine they are lots of factors you will need to look at before making your purchase. First and foremost is the operating system. Almost all computers that are sold at retail stores will ship with Windows 8.1 installed. For many folks, this will not be a comfortable option. Windows 8 is not user friendly unless you are using a touch screen computer or laptop. In addition, it is slower and more sluggish then Windows 7. I have yet to see a “snappy” Windows 8 computer. If you do want a Windows 7 system, you will need to look online at Tiger Direct or HP online. Both places have them available. The next thing you need to decide is what brand you want to purchase. The truth is, most manufacturers get their parts from primarily the same places. They are almost all made overseas and are similar in quality. I would put more emphasis on how much you can get for the money over buying a specific brand. Many folks have a pet peeve for a certain brand and that is fine. For me, I like Toshiba laptops. They have a great looking screen and the ones I have seen are all fast, as long as you get Windows 7. So brand should not be a limiting factor in buying a new laptop. All brands have certain “bugs” that might show up in certain models, as it did for us a few years back from Dell. Overall, almost all the Dells that we purchased were perfect and ran fast. Next, you need to decide how you will use the machine. If you are doing mostly browsing and a few word documents, the standard video card that comes with the laptop will be enough. If you like games and working with videos a lot, then a more powerful video...
Read MoreToday’s laptops have many benefits over traditional desktop PCs, the greatest being portability. Being able to sit with your laptop on the sofa or in a coffee shop without the need of a separate monitor and keyboard is convenient and efficient. Unfortunately, this mobility can come at a price; breakages and damages being the biggest issue. The most common type of hardware problem with laptops is broken keys. Often the laptop key itself doesn’t actually break but either becomes detached from the board or the spring mechanism underneath the key fails. A popular method of accidentally breaking your laptop keys is by either dropping the laptop or something on top of it. Laptops keys can also unintentionally be pulled off should a piece of loose clothing or mouse cable wraps around the key and then is suddenly moved. The horror of not having all of your laptop keys intact can be distressing, but if this disaster happens to you, you can take steps to repair your broken laptop keys. How to repair a broken laptop key? Depending on the model of your laptop, most manufactures build a laptop key with 3 separate parts: The Key – firstly there is the actual key itself. This is the flat part of plastic that contains the letter, number or symbol icon on the top part. The Clip Retainer – this attachment is a little plastic frame that hooks onto the key top and attaches it to the base of the laptop board. It slides away under the key so that normally you cannot see it. The Rubber Suction – this is the most important part of the laptop key. Not only is this piece of rubber responsible for registering the key as being pressed, but it also springs the key back again once released. Now that you how the laptop keys are made up, we can now go about fixing yours. First you should check that your laptop has all of the pieces above. If your keys have recently broken off then you should find most of the parts within the area that your laptop was located. If any of your parts are broken in pieces or snapped, then you will need...
Read MoreHi everybody. If you own a laptop computer you know how complicated they are by looking at how many parts that they try to place in a very small area. These tight quarters allow you to have a system that is small and lightweight but the amount of heat that is produced is almost always greater then that of a desktop counterpart. For this reason, there are some common sense things you should remember when operating your laptop. In this column, we will discuss some of the things you can do to help prolong their life. Today’s laptops are like a modern marvel. They allow you to take your work almost anywhere so you are not confined to a single location. I have often seen customers placing their laptops on the bed, on the couch and yes, as the name implies, on their lap. The thing all these places have in common is that the surfaces are soft. The soft surface of a pillow or cushion can block the bottom ports of the machine. This can lead to overheating and in some cases, damage to internal components. Whenever you need to place your laptop on a surface that is not solid, you should use a laptop cooler or a portable laptop stand. These devices ensure that the machine is not placed directly on the soft surface. Laptop coolers are fans built into a portable stand that you can place on your desk or anyplace you want to place the machine. These fans help to remove heat from under the computer so it stays cooler. In my tests, I have seen as much as a 10-degree difference in the operating temperature of the laptop we tested. As like desktops, laptops can also accumulate dust and dirt in the cooling fins of the processor. You should use some canned air from time to time and blast away any dirt that is located around the cooling ports of the laptop. You might be surprised to see how much dirt might actually come out when you spray it. Be sure the machine is off when perform this operation. You can also use the air to blast away any dust or crumbs that might...
Read More
Recent Comments