Processor

The processor in the Toshiba Satellite C655D is an AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Mobile Processor P340. This dual core processor was introduced in September of 2010, and it is also being used in two version of the Dell Inspiron M5030 notebook. Other laptops that use this chip are the HP Pavilion dv6 notebook, the Dell Inspiron M501R, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge, and the HP ProBook 6455b and 6555b notebooks.

Operating System

The Toshiba C655D-S5136 notebook computer comes with the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.

Graphics

The Satellite C655D-S5136 laptop has 256 to 1405 MB of shared dynamically allocated graphics memory. The graphics engine is an ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 chip, which has the capability of decoding HD videos such as Blu-ray. This chip is much faster than many older graphics chips, but is still not well-suited for the newest high-resolution video games. You may be able to play newer games in low resolution mode, and most older games will run fine.

Memory

This laptop has a generous amount of memory. With 3 GB of DDR3 memory, you shouldn’t have any problems in this area.

Hard Drive

The hard drive on the Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5136 laptop is only 320 GB. If you download a lot of music or videos, you will definitely need some additional storage space. You can often find a 1 TB USB hard drive for around $100, so that is an option if you decide to go with this laptop but need more space to store your media files.

Optical Drive

The Toshiba C655D-S5136 has a DVD SuperMulti optical drive, which can play both audio and video. Most DVD SuperMulti drives can play DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+R DL, DVD-RAM, CD-R, and CD-RW discs.

Display

The 15.6″ widescreen display on this Toshiba laptop computer is an HD TruBrite® LCD display that can support 720p content. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and can display up to 1366 pixels by 768.

Audio

In this laptop computer, Toshiba offers standard laptop stereo speakers, and there is a microphone incorporated into the design of the LCD bezel. There is also an audio jack for a mono microphone and a jack for stereo headphones.

Connectivity

The C655D Toshiba 15.6 laptop is equipped with Wi-Fi® for wireless networking and a 10/100 Ethernet LAN. It does not offer Bluetooth, and there is no modem port.

Power

The C655D Satellite Toshiba laptop PC comes with a 65-watt auto-sensing AC adaptor and a 48Wh, 6-cell lithium ion battery. The battery can provide up to 3.4 hours of use, depending on what programs you are running and whether you are using the Wi-Fi® connection.

Media

There is a memory card reader included in the Toshiba 15.6 notebook, so you can easily transfer photos from your digital camera’s memory card.

USB Ports

One of the drawbacks of the Toshiba Satellite widescreen laptop computer is the lack of USB ports. Given that so many devices run on USB today, you would expect more than two USB ports. If you have a wireless mouse and a flash drive, you have already used them up. You should definitely plan on buying a USB hub if you buy the C655D Toshiba AMD Athlon II laptop.

Security Features

The Toshiba Satellite C655D AMD laptop computer features password security, a cable lock slot, HDD recovery software, and the Toshiba Supervisor password utility program. These features will help protect your data if your laptop should fall into the wrong hands.

Software

The Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5136 laptop comes with Microsoft® Office Starter 2010, which contains reduced-functionality versions of Word® and Excel® that are designed to make you want to buy the full version. Other software includes Toshiba Face Recognition, Google Chrome, WildTangent Game Console, Microsoft® Silverlight™, Toshiba App Place, Toshiba Service Station, Toshiba Bulletin Board, Toshiba Recovery Disk Creator, Toshiba BookPlace™, Toshiba Disc Creator, Toshiba Media Controller, Toshiba ReelTime™, Microsoft® Windows Media Player 12, Microsoft® Windows Live Essential, and a trial version of Norton Internet Security™ 2011.

I am not a fan of the software that comes with most laptops. I wish there was a button to delete all the junk.

Other Features

This Toshiba laptop is Energy Star qualified, RoHS Compliant, and rated EPEAT™ Gold. It comes with a 1-year warranty on the battery, parts, and labor. Its standard US keyboard has a 10-key numeric keypad, and there is a touch pad pointing device. It weighs around 5 1/2 pounds. The color is black.

The Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5136 laptop is a good general-use laptop. The price is reasonable, and unless you are playing some graphics-intensive games or downloading a lot of music and videos, it probably has everything you really need, except maybe some more USB ports. You can add on more USB ports by purchasing a hub for under $20, though, so that’s not a big deal. All in all, the 15.6″ Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5136 Athlon II laptop is a pretty good value for the price.

Note: I bought this laptop last winter and I’ve found that it is a good value for the money.  I prefer Toshiba laptops and I bought this one as a backup machine.

I recently sold my old Toshiba laptop and my HP netbook.  I find myself using my Samsung Infuse and rooted Nook Color tablet much more than I use the laptop.

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader makes a great gift for all the readers in your life, but some people will really love getting one. Why? Because the Kindle experience makes catching up on literature a snap, with a convenient and easy delivery of all your favorite authors. So who needs a Kindle? Any of the following folks would love to get one.

1. Travelers can take a collection of Kindle edition books anywhere in the world with easy access with the push of a button. Ten hour flights will fly by at breakneck speed if you get absorb in a good book from your personal library.
2. Students can access their books on the go. They will love the electronic delivery for speed and instant access to all their favorite reading material. Plus they will have instant access to a dictionary and Wikipedia. It’s also a great place to store PDF files.
3. Military personnel have limited space to store their gear so a Kindle would save both space and time and keep them current with the arts, literature, science and more. What a great way to say you care when you send a Kindle to your much missed loved one in the military.
4. Large print readers won’t have to struggle with the frustration of fine print any more. The Kindle edition book opens up their world with large, clear and easy to read graphics.
5. Business people work hard and have a busy work schedules. They don’t want carry around a stack of books, and they don’t have much time to shop for them either. But Kindle downloads books, magazine, and newspapers in seconds for easy access and the device lets them to indulge in a good read on their downtime throughout the day. Put the train travel and lunch hour to constructive use, and catch up with a Kindle.
6. Hospital patients soon get bored with daytime TV and might enjoy being able to read their favorite authors. In addition, the personal storage space in a medical facility can be scant, so you may opt for the Kindle editions to keep the patient’s library well-stocked.
7. Any book lover on a budget can build a substantial personal library with a Kindle. The device is a bit expensive but the books are only a fraction of the cost of traditional hard copy books. Save money and build your library at lightning-fast speed with economical electronic books.
8. Environmentalists can appreciate the Kindle for its Earth-friendly approach to eliminating the consumption of paper products. With today’s technology, it seems a shame to have to cut down a tree to get your hands on the latest best seller or classic novel.
9. Techie gadget enthusiasts like the convenient immediate access to the latest information and books. Sometimes we can be so wrapped up in our virtual lives, whether for business or pleasure, that its difficult to shut the computer down in order to read. For those who prefer to remain up and running, a Kindle book keeps them connected and offers the opportunity to multi-task online while devouring a good book.
10. Folks with limited space might want to build a book collection, but just don’t have the room for it. A Kindle solves the storage problem and allow them their dream of building a robust library of their own.

Why not take a look at the Kindle Wireless Reading Device now?

Halloween’s popularity has guaranteed that there are certain images associated with this annual festival that have become permanently ingrained in our minds. Bats, black-cats, witches and ghosts, pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, all of these images are so popular that they are instantly recognizable as belonging to Halloween.

And it is that popularity that has ensured a great supply of clip-art available on the internet for you to download and use on your own decorations. Knowing that great clip-art is out there and being able to find it when you need it is not always as easy as it might sound. While you could certainly go to your local computer store and buy a CD of clip-art, there are other options out there where you can find the same art for free, all it will cost is a little bit of your time.

So, with that in mind, we have assembled a list of a few sites and tips that will help you to quickly and efficiently track down just the right image that you need for that Halloween card or to decorate the side of a cauldron full of candy.

My all-time favorite Halloween site is Hershey’s TrickorTreat.com. It’s got everything: clip art, DIY projects, costume ideas, party plans, recipes and much more.

www.kaboose.com is a really great site for those who are looking for clip-art. They have their own section dedicated to Halloween themed art that will most definitely have most of what you want. They also have other sections on kid’s Halloween costumes too.

www.andynortnik.com is also another great site for you to take a look at. They have some very stylized, almost 50’s era type clip art that will add a unique and wonderful effect to anything you are looking to decorate.

Another great source for Halloween clip-art is ClassRoomClipArt.com. This website has masses of kid friendly clip art (along with art for other projects too, so you might like to bookmark it for later use).

If you can’t find what you are looking for at either of these websites then a simple search of the internet using your favorite browser is sure to find something you can use. Just use “free Halloween clip-art” as your search term.

Remember, that all of this clip-art is free but it is only for use on your art projects at home and you can’t use it (except with permission from the website owner) on your own website.

The laptop you choose must fit your needs. Some of you may only be doing school work on it, but for all of you gamers out there, you need to make sure you get one that is top of the line. When the weekend has finally arrived and you open up World of Warcraft or some other game, you do not want it to crash your computer.

What are some of the things you need to consider as you are searching for a college laptop? You need to think about the size and weight, memory and drive space, processor or CPU, graphics, operating system, USB ports, screen size, laptop role, aesthetics, CD/DVD drive and saving money.

Memory and storage: For the laptop, you will need the hard drive to be a minimum of 80 GB and the ram should be at least 2 GB. Just about every current version of applications, operating systems and games are larger than those previous versions and will require more disk space. Today, having a hard drive that is 40 gb simply is not enough. If you are into photography, video, music, or gaming 80 GB probably won’t be enough.

Processor or CPU: Over the past years, the processors have changed a lot. Companies today seem to be adding more processor cores. At present, the laptop you choose should be a dual core processor or above. If you have the money to spend, then you may want to look into some of those quad core laptops that are available today.

Operating System: Do you want a laptop that has Windows XP on it, but found a laptop that has Windows Vista (which is more common)? If so, then you should not assume that you can just wipe off Vista and replace it with XP. Why? Because a lot of the new computers available today may not have the necessary XP drivers developed for them. When trying to change over to Windows XP, this can be a real headache. If you are used to Windows, you may not want to buy a Linux machine.

Graphic Cards: Generally, it is not possible to upgrade or replace the video capabilities on a laptop, so usually whatever video card that is installed is what you will be stuck with for the duration. Generally speaking, the better the graphic card, the more expensive the computer. If you are into gaming, then you need a graphic card that has dedicated memory. Ask other gamers about the laptops they use, so you won’t end up with the wrong kind.

USB Ports: When it comes to USB ports, you can never have enough of them. On average, you will come across 4 USB ports on a laptop and that may sound like enough. However, once you plug in your peripherals such as the mouse, printer, keyboard and pen drive, It will not seem like so many. Of course, you could always purchase an external hub, but you may want to try buying one that has more than 4.

USB ports are handy but wireless is where it’s at today. Bluetooth is a form of wireless networking. Try to find a laptop with built-in bluetooth if you can. Make sure it support simultaneous connections to multiple devices, so you can have a wireless mouse, keyboard, headset, and printer. After all what’s the point of getting a laptop that has to be plugged into a bunch of cables.

Networking: If your laptop can’t go online, you might just as well drop out of school now. Most laptops come with ethernet connections and Wifi. Fewer and fewer come with a dial-up modem. Odds are that you will be using WiFi most of the time to connect to the campus-wide network.

DVD Player/Recorder: Nice for loading new software and watching movie, and handy for backing up projects.

Screen size: The most common screen size of a laptop is around thirteen to fifteen inches and they are generally the ones that have the lowest price tag on them, which is great if you are looking to save some money. However, if you are studying art, architecture, or engineering you should consider buying a machine with a larger screen. You could get a digital television that can double at a monitor and use the remote to switch from PC to TV and back again.

Weight: If you travel a lot or plan to lug your computer from class to class, then a small laptop is definitely a blessing as you will not have to carry a heavy one around. By the time you add in the main adapter, padded case and anything else you need to carry, it will start to get pretty heavy and a seventeen inch laptop will be even heavier. Look for a laptop that is around 5 or 6 pounds if you want to lighten your load.

The Netbook Alternative

A netbook is a small laptop that weighs just a pound or two. Until recently the smaller the computer, the more expensive. With the introduction of netbook the game changed. Consumer netbooks run around $300 to $500, business ones from $700 to $1000.

If you already own a desktop pc or a laptop, you might want to consider adding netbook. You can stick in your backpack and take everywhere and not notice the weight.

The first netbook was the EEE PC, and the screen was a miserable 7 inches. I bought one shortly after they came out, and I loved it in spite of the too small screen and cramped keyboard. Much as I liked it, I didn’t hesitate to upgrade 10 months later to an HP Mini 1000 with it’s 10 inch screen and larger keyboard.

For some college students a small laptop like the HP Mini would probably work nicely. The Mini comes with a 160 GB hard drive and 1 GB of ram that can easily be upgraded. You can get a Window or Linux operating system. If you are used to Windows, I would recommend sticking it because you won’t have to learn a lot of new commands and programs.

In the long run the best college laptop is the one that comes closest to matching your needs. Only you can decide.

I was pretty sure that the problem was with the software and not hardware. Why? Because I could make the blue screen appear by just logging into my Amazon affiliate account. Odd or what? Of course, the BsoD also appeared when I didn’t expect it way too often.

I tried several things to fix my laptop:

• System Restore – didn’t work
• Norton Anti-Virus full system scan – half way though the blue screen appeared
• Searched the internet for help
• Sent a error report to Microsoft

Microsoft sent me to a very helpful page entitled Microsoft Windows Error Reporting: Blue screen error caused by device or driver which suggested taking the following steps (in order) to fix the problem.

1. Download and install the latest updates and drivers
2. Remove any new hardware or software to isolate the cause of the blue screen
3. Scan your computer for viruses
4. Check your hard disk for errors
5. Restore your computer to an earlier state

I proceeded to work my way through the steps.

1. No problem getting windows updates
2. Didn’t have any new hardware so I started removing programs and files installed in the last month. I suspected then and still do that the problem was an out-of-date graphics program. I couldn’t prove that it was the culprit and removing it didn’t fix the problem, but I won’t be installing it again.
3. As I said above, blue screen appeared about half way through the virus scan.
4. No significant hard disk errors were found.
5. System restore couldn’t restore the system to any of the 5 or so dates I tried.

I was beginning to think I would have to buy a new laptop. I found myself running my HP Mini netbook along side or instead of my Toshiba laptop. BTW the HP Mini has a great keyboard!

I did want to lose my files or programs, so I went looking for a portable hard drive an Amazon. I find the reviews very helpful and I settled on the Seagate Free Agent Go Portable Hard Drive 250GB model. Since the Laptop drive was only 80GB, I figured 250GB would be plenty and it was. The drive weighed less than 6 ounces and came with a USB travel cable but no power supply.

I would have ordered the drive from Amazon but I needed it immediately. I was able to pick one up at a local Walmart for $69.82.

I proceeded to back up my files using the built-in software.

As a temporary solution I picked up a refurbished HP Slimline Vista Desktop. It was a machine from hell! It worked fine for about 10 days and then all of a sudden it couldn’t get Windows Updates because it wasn’t recognized as a “genuine windows machine.”

The factory refurbished desktop came with a faulty hard drive. One of the HP alerts described how I was supposed to fix it. No thanks. I returned the machine to MicroCenter with no problems.

So I’m back to my Toshiba BsoD machine and my netbook.

On June 30th I backed up my laptop again, ran the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, and proceeded to restore the laptop to an earlier state. Although I hadn’t seen any suggestion online to restore to factory settings, that’s exactly what I did.

First I had to locate the original manual and disks so I would have the necessary registration information and keys.

I went online to see what was involved in resetting the laptop and I found it was incredibly easy to do.

It took about an hour to restore the original factory settings. The process also erased the hard drive.

Once the system was restored I had to spend a bit of time downloading all the Windows updates and removing the software I didn’t want. After that was done, I installed Windows XP Pro and Office 2003. Then I started moving files from the Free Agent drive back to the laptop.

My Toshiba laptop is now slim and trim and works better than ever. I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen blue screen since June 30.

Disclaimer: I am not giving advice about what to do with your laptop, I’m just sharing my personal experience. If you are getting repeated blue screens, seek professional help before you resort to restoring the original factory settings.