Things to Consider When Buying a Laptop

The decision to purchase a laptop is a long one. You don’t really buy a laptop as soon as you think of buying one. This is because laptop is not a day to day commodity. Rather, it is a long term investment. It is an electronic item you will use as long as it lasts and provides you with satisfactory user experience. When you first think of buying a laptop, you think whether you really need one. Once you are sure you are in need of one, you go to various sources in order to research which laptop best suits your criteria. Then you evaluate all possible alternatives which best serve your job and at last, after evaluation, you make a purchase. However, there are a lot of things involved while evaluating, and you should be sure enough to look at the right cues. Here are the most essential things to consider while making a purchase:

1. Weight: Laptops generally weigh anywhere between one to three kilograms. This is an important consideration depending upon the type of job you have. In case you need to move around with the laptop daily, you should go for light weight ones. On the other hand, heavy laptops have a bigger screen, bigger keypad and better processing power.

2. Battery Life: Battery life is an important criterion. When you are at places with irregular electricity supply, a long lasting battery is what you will need, in order to work for longer duration without the presence of electric charge. In case you have constant and cheap electricity, you might want to consider other alternatives.

3. Ports: Your decision should be based on the fact that today, your cell phone, camera, mouse etc everything works on USB. Thus, having many USB drives will add to your advantage and make multitasking easier.

4. Hard disk space: If you need a laptop for just making simple presentations, or checking emails and surfing the internet, you won’t need much of hard disk space. Even 120 GB will suffice. However, in case you need it for work purposes, you will need much more, depending upon the kind of work you do.

5. Processor: Intel and AMD are the two leading brands for processors. AMD offers the advantage of offering similar quality of processing speed as Intel for a lesser cost. At the same cost, AMD’s processors work better than Intel’s, at the same price.

6. Warranty: Laptops are delicate electronic items. Make sure you have at least a one year warranty, so that in case it gets damaged within some days, you won’t have to bear the expense of purchasing another one. Make sure you have a good warranty.

These are just some of the major factors you need to look at. There are many more, and the list can go on such as the brand name, the memory, accessories, touch pad etc. Whichever suits you best as per your usage and requirements.

Laptop Overheating Issues

If you have a laptop (or any computer for the same matter) that is constantly restarting or rebooting for no apparent reason, the reason may well be overheating. If your computer is constantly rebooting and there are other tell-tale signs such as the fan coming on more often than you remember and sounding louder, very hot air coming out of the side vent, you almost certainly can determine that you have an overheating problem.

The good news is that it can be fixed by you, that too in under 5 minutes. No incorrectly diagnosed (and very expensive) motherboard upgrades are needed. All you need is a screwdriver and a vacuum cleaner. You might even get away without the vacuum cleaner.

Much like vacuum cleaners a laptop switches itself off if it gets too hot. This is to protect the valuable brain of the computer, its main processor or CPU, as well as our precious legs. Also similar to other things that overheat, the problem is often caused by excessive fluff build up in an important area.

On a laptop this crucial area is the fan that sucks air across the CPU to keep it cool. After about a year or two of use, many laptops build up layers of fluff in the fan area that are thick enough to stop the flow of air. This means the CPU is not being cooled properly, it overheats, and the safety mechanism kicks in and shuts the computer down. You experience it as a reboot. (Geeky fact: - There is a mini temperature sensor built onto the main chip itself that constantly monitors its temperature)

To be absolutely sure you have the problem I describe, ask yourself this question... After your computer has switched itself off for the first time in a day, and is switched back on again, does it switch itself off more quickly the second time?

If you leave the laptop to cool down, can you run it much longer before it switches off?

If the answers to these questions are yes, you absolutely positively have an overheating laptop causing your reboot problem; don't let anyone else tell you differently.

Turn your laptop over and look at its base. Somewhere there will be a panel that you can remove with a few screws, that gives you access to the main processor and fan. Most likely there will be several panels you can remove with a few screws - but don't worry - I'll help you find the right one.

Incidentally, not every laptop allows access to its main processor and fan (Apple laptops typically don't). Some use other mechanisms besides screws e.g. catch latches etc.

Top 10 laptop maintenance tips

Laptops are the hottest gadgets available today. A person is virtually handicapped without a laptop by his side, and laptop provides the greatest advantage of being mobile and portable, enabling us to complete our work regardless of where we are. Laptops are very sensitive and once damaged, can be really costly to repair. It is thus natural that we should take care of our laptops and see to it that there is no harm in any way. As compared to desktop computers, laptops are much more sensitive and easily damageable. Some simple yet effective laptop maintenance tips are as follows:

1. Dusting: Your laptop should be kept free of dust. Daily, as you keep your laptop aside and go to sleep, dust accumulates over it overnight and if dust enters inside the keypad, it becomes really troublesome. Thus, you should take a dry cloth and clean the dust from the surface, after which you should use a blower to blow out dust which has entered inside.

2. Avoid liquids and food: It is advisable to avoid having food while using the laptop, or while you are near the laptop. This is for the simple reason that if the liquid seeps inside, various forms of damages can occur such as loss of monitor display.

3. Optimum temperature conditions: Laptops get heated really fast, especially when they are being charged while in use. Thus, keeping them in direct view of the sunlight or in the kitchen near the stove should be avoided.

4. Defragment: Laptop cleaning is not only about the outside dusting, it is also dependant on how you maintain the internal functioning. Daily, when you are done with your work, at least defrag your hard drives once.

5. Protect against viruses – Make sure that you have a good antivirus installed so as to protect your PC from malicious agents such as virus, Trojan, malware etc. You should take care to run an antivirus scan from time to time.

Cleaning your laptop touch pad

In this section, we shall look at a really important concept of keeping your touch pads clean, which if damaged, can cost you heavy expenses to repair. All you need is a damp cloth and isopropyl alcohol. Use round about 50% isopropyl alcohol solution and spray it using a sprayer on the touch pad. After you are done spraying, you can use a damp cloth to wipe it. Always remember that when you are wiping, do not press too hard else the internal parts of the touch pad might be damaged. After you are done, you will see the results for yourself. The touch pad will shine as if you have just purchased it recently.

How to Wipe a Hard Drive

Hard drive is considered as the storage center of a computer. All your files, folders, programs, and even the Operating System reside in the hard drives. When the hard drive is totally erased, these programs will be erased with it too. However, some people choose to erase a hard drive because they may simply want to renew or reformat their computer or they want to get rid of a hard-headed malware. 
Step 1

Check if you already have backup copies of all the files saved in the hard drive. If not, better make backup copies of your files first before proceeding to the next step. You can do this by burning a copy of your files in CDs or DVDs or by simply making copies in flash disks or media cards.

Step 2

Does your computer have a system recovery disk? If yes, proceed to the next step. If not, proceed to Step 5.

Step 3

Place the system recovery disk in the applicable drive. This special disk will help you to easily format and reinstall the Operating System.

Step 4

Follow the on-screen instructions from the disk. This will lead you to erasing the hard drive and may also help you to re-install the necessary applications after formatting.

Step 5

Use the DOS command prompt to format or erase the hard drive. Do this by opening the command link prompt. You can do this by clicking the 'Start' button and choosing the 'Run' option. Type the 'cmd' command in the open field and press 'Enter' or click 'OK'.

Step 6

The window for Command Line will open. Type 'format c: /u' or 'format c: /q'. The 'c:' here is the drive you want to erase. Meanwhile, the '/u' means unconditional format and the '/q' means quick format. The unconditional format is considered more secured than the quick format.

Step 7

Insert the installation CD of the Operating System after formatting the hard disk. You will be guided with the on-screen instructions on installing the Operating System.

Step 8

Formatting the hard drive may not totally erase its contents. Most computers are set to store copies of files in a hard drive. These copies may not be deleted even when formatting the hard drive. If you want to totally erase the hard drive, you need to use a special program called disk wipes for that. Some free disk wipes you can use are the Disk Redactor, Free Disk Wipe, Quick Wiper, and R-Wipe & Clean.

Step 9

Some bits of data in a hard drive may still be recovered even after using a good disk wipe application. There are some IT professionals who can do this. If you do not want this to happen, the only way you can do is to physically destroy the hard drive.

Connecting your Television To Computer Problems

The world is witnessing a technological boom where by the amount of electronic gadgets being produced are endless. Today, you can convert a VHS tape to a DVD, convert audio cassettes into CDs, and convert your LP record into studio quality MP3 and much more. Today, we have a variety of gadgets at home which we can use and the best part is that we can use them in a combination. For example, you’ve downloaded a movie on your laptop, and want to watch it on your LCD TV; we’re all provisions these days. Connecting your TV to PC seems to be a general practice now-a-days, and here are some ways you can use to connect your TV to PC in order to overcome the common problems that occur while connecting.

1. S-Video: Most laptop and computers have a 7 pin port which you can use to insert the S-Video cable. S-Video cable comes in two types – 4 and 7 pin. A common problem is that your TV might not be equipped with a 7 pin, making it difficult to connect with a laptop. At such times, you can use a converter wire which is 4 pin on one side and 7 on the other.

2. VGA: In case you own a high definition television, it is advisable to connect using VGA cable. The audio and video quality of VGA is much better than that delivered by S-Video cable. Also, the VGA wire comes really cheap. But this method will work only if you have a high definition TV.

3. DVI: DVI, also commonly known as the digital visual interface. This method is better than both of the above mentioned ones since this is digital, and offers a better visual quality and a better viewing experience. The only problem here is that the DVI wire comes a little expensive, and is priced for a minimum of $40, with the high end ones coming for $80. A problem here is that you cannot use it with a normal TV. You will need a high definition TV here as well.

4. HDMI: HDMI wire is the most common wire you will find at homes of those who connect their PC with TV. Laptops these days never come without an HDMI and modern day TVs are equipped with more than one HDMI port, making it convenient to connect your PC to TV. HDMI and DVI interfaces are compatible.

One common problem encountered is that of no sound signals while using an HDMI connection. The manual provides information regarding which port of the TV will get sound signals and thus, that port should be used for connecting.

Data on Hard Drives - How is it stored

Find out how is data stored and organized on a drive:

If you’ve ever assembled a computer, you must have probably seen a hard disk. For those of you who haven’t, hard disk comes in a rectangular shaped case with a magnetic tape. All the data which is modified or written gets stored on that magnetic tape. The magnetic coating on the platter contains the data that you store, and in case on man handling the hard disk, there might be a loss of data. In case the magnetic coating is damaged in a small proportion, you might have a good chance of recovering lost data. In case the magnetic coating is lost to a large extent, data recovery becomes really difficult. One needs to know that information bits are magnetically stored on a hard drive.

When your hard disk is formatted, you will notice concentric boundaries of circles, each defining their space. It is much like your dart board, in case you need a visual example. There are millions of small sectors which divide the hard disk, and each sector has a capacity of storing 512 bytes of information, or 256 characters for that matter. The drive is fragmented into really small clusters, and each cluster has the ability to contain 64 such sectors. Thus, every single time you want to write a piece of data and store it on your PC, your OS allocates one cluster for storing that amount of data. Even if your information is worth two bytes, your operating system allocates about thirty two thousand bytes of space for it. This cluster will remain until you delete your file completely from your computer, and that includes deleting it out of recycle bin as well.

At certain times, you might have what is known in layman’s terms as ‘hard disk crash’. It basically happens due to a lot of factors, out of which some of the most common ones are:

1. Platters: Hard drive platter is rotated with the aid of an electric motor. The velocity is mentioned in RPM (rotations/minute) and higher the RPM, higher the capacity of the hard drive to write the data faster. Direct contact with the platter causes damage, since it contains a magnetic film which can get damaged.

2. Heads: At times when there are no changes being made, i.e. no data is being added, modified or deleted, the head is at a rest position. This head is similar to your audio and video cassette head. If it loses contact, data writing becomes difficult.

3. PCB: This refers to the printed circuit board. These are the parts that control and run your hard disk. Fluids and fire when in contact with the PCB, damage it.