The switch to HDTV and digital television station broadcasting this summer has all but killed the old 4:3 square TV and the CRT computer monitor. If you don’t believe me, just go to you tube and watch a video. The video will be in an automatic wide screen 16:9 format. The biggest benefit to having a widescreen monitor is that videos, pictures, and web content will look better, clearer, and won’t look squeezed as your monitor will be more compatible with the new aspect ratio everything is in.

Just like TV’s moving to the widescreen only, computer monitors are also following the same trend. Movies have always been in widescreen because they can show more in the ratio than a square picture size and so it is with computer information and graphics. Another big push for monitors to change size is the world of video games. Video games are now all in 16:9 format and in high definition. In order to get the same experience on your computer games, you must have a 16:9 widescreen monitor to correctly show the graphics.

Another benefit is that the new widescreen monitors are usually LCD which means they are much thinner and are considered flat screens. Newer widescreen monitors only way a couple of pounds unlike the old CRT square monitors that used to way over 20 pounds and take up most of the desk.

The last and final benefit is the time that these monitors last. LCD and plasma screens have a life of 20 years! This is way longer than the old square CRT monitors, so its totally worth the money to switch!

Widescreen monitors can really be found at any electronics store. They can even be bought at stores like walmart for as little as $99 dollars. Here are a few deals going on at amazon.com for widescreen monitors.

By: Scott Paul

About the Author:

Think plasma TV and chances are, you’re basically thinking about two things: size and price. Size is a given – plasma TVs are built to impress and they make a good show of their capabilities but if price is the main factor that keeps you away, you might be glad to know that you can, indeed, get your hands on a plasma TV at a discount – for real. Here’s how:

Check out name brands.

Before you wince and say, ‘Name brands are premium brands, so no way they’re going to offer discount plasma TVs’, read on. Even established names have created plasma TV units that make it easier for you to part with your hard-earned money. Here are some of the brands you might want to check out:

LG

LG is a top contributor to the plasma TV arena and is considered as a very reliable brand, offering high quality products for home theatre systems. You could get a 32-inch LG plasma TV with an HDMI input and 1440 x 900 resolution for just ?350. The unit with an integrated digital tuner costs about ?30 more.

Westinghouse

Granted, Westinghouse isn’t as big a name as other top contenders in plasma TVs but it’s a recognizable name on its own. It’s also a very good brand to look at if you prefer a discount-priced plasma TV. Other off-brand plasma TV manufacturers to consider: Maxent and Syntax Olevia. They offer 50 Inch plasma TVs that are perfect for budget watchers and penny pinchers.

Buy used.

If you want a name brand and don’t mind paying for something that someone previously owned, then buy your plasma TV used. Second-hand plasma TVs can be obtained at very good discount prices, depending of course on the source, the brand, the age of the unit and its condition.

If you go this route, however, be very careful especially if you’re buying from an online auction site such as eBay. A few drawbacks: if you can’t inspect the unit in person, you only have to rely on the seller’s word and the image you see on the monitor to judge how good a condition the TV is still in. Furthermore, you can’t test the TV yourself to see if you still like its performance.

Buy refurbished.

Buyers looking for discounted plasma TVs can consider looking at name brands offering refurbished units. ‘Refurbished’ refers to electronics that have been returned by buyers or distributors to their origin, which is the manufacturer. These items are then tested once again for functionality and quality checks are performed. If there are any damaged parts or defective chips, these are replaced by the manufacturer. The refurbished plasma TV is then packed once again and sold as such.

Where to find these: authorized dealers of manufacturers frequently sell these units at discounted prices so you might want to check with the manufacturers themselves. You could also go online and search for sites belonging to distributors and retailers.

Refurbished plasma TVs are offered at really great discounts, allowing you to purchase a unit for as much as 50% off the original price. To buy a product of this nature, always check if the dealer is authorized by the manufacturer and ask for the dealer/retailer’s return policy. This typically starts at about 15 days from purchase. Warranty should cover at least 45 days for parts and labour.

By: Alex Bradbury

About the Author:

When it comes to 50″ plasma televisions there is not a lot of choice in the affordable price range. But the Vizio P50HDTV 10a gives you hope because it comes with a price tag that does not make you fall to the ground in shock; but better still, the quality of the TV is so much more than you would expect to see in an apparently ‘budget’ TV.

With a native resolution of 1366 x 768, 16:9 wide screen, integrated NTSC/ATSC/QAM HDTV tuner and 10,000:1 contrast ratio, this cut price plasma packs a real punch. The brightness and color are impressive in the Vizio P50HDTV 10a with a total of 231 billion colors (24 bit color depth) and a brightness rating of 1000 CD/m2.

The TV itself is sleek looking despite its weight. It comes with a pedestal stand so it’s very easy to set up right away. Are there any 50″ plasma TVs that can compete with the P50HDTV 10a? Not at the time it was released in 2006. Vizio have since come out with a newer model however the P50HDTV 10a is still as impressive as it was three years ago.

The viewing angle is excellent at 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically. This is one major advantage that plasma televisions have over LCD TV’s and si something you must consider. The consumer reviews at Amazon have been very positive for this TV. One customer stated that it is the “best combination of price and quality for a Plasma TV in the marketplace. You will love this product.”

Another reviewer commented on the common but misunderstood issue of burning in on Plasma TV’s: “the picture is very good and after more than six months, I have seen no indication of “burning”. You would have no trouble spending much more on a 42 inch plasma TV from other manufacturers, but why do that when you can get a bigger, better television for less from Vizio? Whether you choose the Vizio P50HDTV 10a or the newer JV50P you will not be disappointed with the cost or the quality.

By: Paul Benett

About the Author:

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 is one of the first of a new generation of video cards based on Nvidia’s new 400 Series “Fermi” architecture. The GeForce 400 Series is the new flagship line of video processors from the leader in PC computer graphics technology. This line of GPU’s is designed with high performance PC enthusiasts and gamers in mind. Nvidia has developed a chip that outperforms everything that’s come before and will leave you breathless.

Using Microsoft’s new DirectX 11 platform, the GeForce GTX 480 Graphics Card can handle incredible geometric model complexity through tesselation, which it is designed to deliver optimized performance for. This means game developers can create extremely detailed and realistic game environments which the GTX 480 can render on the fly. Compelling graphic environments are something game developers have always striven to achieve but limitations in graphics card technology consistently sets the upper boundary on what is possible to do on a home computer. With the release of the GeForce GTX 480 that upper limit has now been pushed significantly higher than it has ever been.

With never before seen features on home PC graphics cards, like Nvidia’s 3D Vision Surround (for fully immersive, widescreen 3 dimensional gaming)and ray tracing in real time, the GTX 480 Graphics Card will take your home computer farther than you ever thought possible. This new paradigm heralds an era of hyper-realism in PC gaming. Traditionally PC gaming has always been a few steps ahead of console systems when it comes to graphics processing but the capabilities of this new line of cards brings the PC capabilities leaps and bounds beyond even what the next generation of consoles is expected to offer.

Stereoscopic gaming has been slowly gaining traction for a number of years now in the PC gaming community, but has always been limited by factors ranging from graphics card capabilities to LCD computer monitor technology. Now all the stars seem to be lining up for 3d gaming to really start to take off. For Nvidia’s part, their new line of GeForce cards is now able to produce stereoscopic 3 dimensional images on the fly that are more complex and real looking than ever before. For perhaps the first time, you will really be able to feel like you are IN the game.

The Nvidia GTX 480 performs more than 25% faster on average than any other GPU currently on the market when running any of the newest DirectX 11 apps. The Nvidia Polymorph Engine gives PC gamers the power of a geometry engine that scales and has been specifically designed for DX11 Tessellation. Through and through, this is a graphics card unlike any you’ve seen before and it is bringing the future of PC gaming into the homes of hardcore gamers around the world.

By: Asam Mokonyama

About the Author:

A medium performance Widescreen Monitor LCD 17″ for everyone’s pocket, this is the VA1716W monitor from View Sonic; it targets the lower and medium class buyers. All of this is possible due to the progress in technologies and the lowering of production cost.

This is a 17”/43 cm Widescreen LCD Monitor with an active SXGA Matrix that gives it a good contrast ratio of 500:1 and a great response time of 8 milliseconds. This makes the product a chose for many buyers that are looking for performance.

It has a long life time more then 30.000 operating hours and a solid case that give it durability. All of this characteristics plus the wide-angle viewing of 160 degrees and the anti glare display make’s it a very successful product. The monitor supports a high resolution of 1440×900 and compatibility with Mac and Windows operating systems.

The front control panel is very easy to use and has commands like auto just image, contrast, brightnes, ViewMatch® color adjust all on an OSD interface. The monitor is plug and play and comes with all the connection cables in the box, all you need to do is connect it to your PC and to a normal power plug. In some cases, other monitors come with separate accessories which you have to pay for.

The warranty is for 3 years but you need to know that are some tings that it does not cover like: if the monitor comes in contact with water you will get the product out of warranty and you have to pay for the repair fees.

This type of Monitor LCD 17 is mostly preferred by customers for computer works, but also for movie watching. Due to the fact that the monitor is equipped with high resistant circuits, you can have it running for days, and nothing bad will happen to it.

But be careful though, high variations of temperature or plugging it after you just took it out of the box can damage the screen due to temperature differences. For instance, on cold weather, if you bring the monitor inside from the shop, make sure you give it about an hour before connecting.

By: Noman Rajput

About the Author:

The HD LCD TV is the in thing these days. This is because it is lighter and provides better resolution than the CRT or cathode ray tube and this is expected to be in demand in the foreseeable future.

If you look online or at the store, you will notice that HD LCD TV’s come in different sizes. The smallest is 15 inches but if you want to create your own home entertainment system, go for the 40 inch screen.

You might notice that there are screens bigger than this that measures 65 inches. This is not an LCD but rather a plasma television.

The benefit of owning an HD LCD TV is that it does not take that much space so this is ideal for people who live in an apartment or a big home. This can be mounted on the wall or can be used placed on a bracket so you can use it as a computer monitor.

If you think this is hard to move around, think again because it is very lightweight so you won’t have a problem carrying this yourself and moving it from one place to the next.

Aside form screen size, you should also be aware of the contrast ratio so you can see the bright and dark values which will appear on screen. The higher the better and the best one right now is 1080p. If you can’t afford that, stick with the 720p that is just as good.

You should also pay attention to the aspect ratio as this will enable you to watch movies on a wide screen format.
There are special features which you should be looking for when you are in the market for an HD LCD TV. It must have a V-chip to block certain channels especially if these are not appropriate for children.

It should have a sleep timer so it can turn off automatically if you fall asleep. There has to be a picture to picture box which allows you to watch your current show at the same time that you are thinking of switching to another channel.

While most televisions have plugs to connect a video recorder, try to see if it comes with a USB port so data from there can be displayed on the screen.

Most importantly, the HD LCD TV must already have a tuner so you don’t have to buy this anymore and then acquire the other accessories that are required to enable you to watch shows in high definition. If you don’t see the difference, compare both shows by watching the HD in the big screen and the regular show in the small screen.

It is no joke when we say that HD LCD TV’s cost a lot of money. While there are many brands to choose from, the prices vary. But don’t let the price tag be the deciding factor when you decide to buy it. Look at the features it has to offer and let this be the basis of your decision.

Once you bring the HD LCD TV home and set it up, you will surely enjoy hours of shows and movies right in the comforts of your own home. Does this beat watching in the theatre? Not really but at least you can watch your DVD’s over and over again without other people making any noise.

By: Alex Bradbury

About the Author:

The technology behind the liquid crystal display television, also known as an LCD TV, has been around for many years. Initially this type of technology was used only for computer monitors, but it gradually found its way to the commercial television set. LCD televisions range greatly in price depending on what size, make, and model are sought. LCD televisions broadcast in high definition and wide screen format. Slim in nature and much lighter than a plasma TV, the LCD can easily be propped up on a stand or hung on the wall with very little effort.

LCD TVs differ from other television technologies. They provide a high quality picture because they incorporate an abundance of pixels. Like colors on computers, the pixels vary and mix shades of red, blue, and green. Each pixel changes the intensity of it color as electrical charges are sent to it. This allows the television to provide vivid colors and crisp clarity.

When buying one of these sets, most people want to find a high quality, cheap LCD TV. Since the birth of this television technology, the prices of LCD TVs have dropped greatly, and as new technology is invented they will continue to drop. The range of prices for these television sets start at a couple hundred dollars and rise to many thousands of dollars.

Most LCD TVs provide 1080p resolution, but many other factors make up the reasons for the differences in price. First, and the most obvious, is the size of the television screen. It only makes sense that the larger the screen size, the larger the cost of the set. Screen sizes are always measured diagonally and can be less than a foot or over sixty inches in length. Usually the smallest LCD TVs are less than $200 while the largest LCD TVs are at least over $1,000. Some of them may even be several thousand dollars, but size is not the only factor involved in cost.

Originally all LCD television sets had a 60Hz refresh rate. This speed caused the picture to often smear when fast paced sequences were shown on the television. As the technology of these machines has grown, LCD TVs have now been made with 120Hz and 240Hz refresh rates. These newer TVs have cut down the blurring of the picture during quick movements on the television. 60Hz TVs are still available on the market. Most of the cheaper large screen LCD televisions run at a 60Hz refresh rate.

Brand name also accounts for larger costs. Sony and Samsung are usually at the higher end while brands like Vizio and Panasonic are at the lower end. Different brands look different in color intensity and visual clarity even if they share the same attributes for resolution and refresh rate.

Most people want to find a cheap LCD TV, but they also want quality. Fortunately with the influx of products available by numerous companies, finding a quality LCD TV for a modest price is a reality for any prospective buyer. LCD television sets are available and accessible for anyone on any type of budget.

By: Matthew Richard Kerridge

About the Author:

The white box it comes in, is refreshingly simple, no pictures of desirable women adorned on the outside soliciting an invitation, no blaring slogans or fantastic claims how it will make the tea and cook your meals while you try to work you life off for a living!? In fact there’s so little on the box other than the ‘Webbook’ printed on it.

And that in itself draws you to discover what might be on the inside.

I opened the box and inside was a tiny little computer, remember those Toshiba Libretto’s that were made some time ago? this is about the same size, I unpacked the machine from the wrapping materials, plugged in the battery, and then plugged in the power supply (18V 2.2A). I was ready to switch on.

Well from appearances its a little cracker, it actually looks like a real laptop! and it sports a true 10″ wide screen LCD (16:9 aspect). It comes in a tasteful silver coloured palm rest, and LCD bezel, with a very dark grey top lid, a sensible choice and limits those scratches to remain unseen when in serious use.? The keyboard is a real windows keyboard and is sturdy with a nice key action, no bending or flexing.

Towards the top near the screen hinges are three buttons these are, ‘Email hot button’, ‘Power’, and ‘Sleep’. The machine sports 3 USB sockets conveniently placed on each side of the machine, a multipurpose SD card reader at the front, two audio sockets for your Skype/MSN activities, and one 10/100 LAN port. On the right hand side of the palm rest are the panel indicators for the usual functions and indicators. Inside is an Intel 2200BG 54G wireless card preconfigured and installed and of course a reasonably sized hard disk?(80GB)?being the later SATA type hard 2.5″ drive.

Pressing the power on its nice to see a machine that is quiet in operation this one really is very quiet, only the CPU fan cutting in to avert thermal runaway occasionally.

The web book comes as standard with Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS preinstalled, the machine boots fairly quickly at around 1-2 minutes, and after you have typed in your username and password you are presented with the Ubuntu desktop.

I confess that I have never used Linux before, but when presented with the desktop I was pleasantly surprised how windows like everything is in Linux. All the functions such as opening, running and copying files are virtually the same as in windows. Incidentally Elonex does offer a windows alternative on the same machine with windows XP Professional factory installed.?

The Linux installation boasts a whole host of software installed as standard, such as open office, Wine(?!), lots of games! a programming interface (you could write your own Linux programs), Firefox which is the same virtually as Internet Explorer and endless utilities and folders.

What’s so nice about this machine is how Linux virtually connects to every network device so easily, in fact when using the manual network configuration dialog box its just a click and your network device is instantly configured, much better than in windows!

My wireless connection was detected and connected in less than 20 seconds! on the first try.

The touch pad has a good relative feel and moves smoothly across the desktop without undue work to move the cursor around the extremities of the screen. Audio quality is fairly good and fine for most applications

So you might be asking is the screen usable this small, well the answer is a resounding YES! I think this is where the designers have really done their homework, the screen clarity and sharpness at this size and price point is very good. You could not fault it.

The LCD screen will dim progressively to a very dark level right up to a very bright level a nice touch, this kind of adjustment is not very common amongst laptops even on most laptops currently available.

Performance is impressive, considering this is a single core CPU, it will perform most tasks very well and I found the responsiveness from the web very good, web page loading and ‘You Tube’ did not seem to put the machine under any kind of stress.

I had no trouble with using the machine, whether for surfing the web, watching videos, typing a few emails or just mucking about!?

Conclusion

I have not come across many machines this year that have really impressed as much as this one, especially on price, the web book combines real world needs into a small package without it becoming gaudy in appearance or gimmicky beyond practicality, and as a bonus it looks like a proper wide screen laptop rather than something from woollies!

Performance was very impressive, its responsive and it will run the majority of programs that’s thrown at it. Obviously because of the category this machine falls into gaming and very heavy applications are not recommended, if you require a powerful machine i would suggest a? full sized Duo Core laptop.?I think for most people who are considering buying this I doubt whether its performance will in any way put anyone off.

Secondly it has been manufactured in a modular fashion, that means you can upgrade your RAM or your HARD DRIVE with ease and without a major rebuild or relying on service establishments to do it for you.

You can put this laptop in your car glove box its that small! or if you are a lady with a smallish handbag it would not be too much of a challenge! to fit it inside.

If your needs are for a small footprint laptop that will surf the web, run your business/EBay, Internet video conferencing or just for entertainment this one gets my vote.

Webbook Facts
VIA C7-C 1.6G CPU?
512M RAM DDR2
80GB SATA HDD?
10″ Wide screen?
3 X USB 2.O Skts?
1 X 10/100 Lan?
SD card multi reader?
2.5Hr battery Weight 1.3Kg

Optional equipment

External USB CDROM drive
Wrist Vault USB flash?drive with a Linux backup.
In Car adapter bracket to fix your web book onto it.

I hope you found?the above useful

Until next time

-Benny Holden?
This review is written by me Benny Holden, all views, opinions expressed and any endorsements given shall not carry any liability whatsoever by me or will I enter into any litigation, entertain disputes or for personal gain by any entity wishing to pursue.

By: Benny Holden

About the Author:

The Dell Inspiron 1520 is one of the most popular Notebooks at the moment. When you shop online at Dell there are a few things you need to keep in mind. The first thing to note is that the “Deals of the Week” change in offer and it sometimes is better to wait the next week. Some weeks it maybe an extra 1Gb of RAM free or an upgraded hard disk other times it could be $100 off or a free Bluetooth mouse or Targus bag. Depending on the special it maybe better to hold off for a better deal. For instance a $100 off on a separate monitor may not be as useful as more RAM on the Notebook, unfortunately it’s a bit of a gamble as you don’t know what is coming up. Dell do provide the date of when the deal ends so you may have to act by this date.

Don’t buy RAM or Hard Disks from Dell… unless they are on special. They’re more expensive than buying outside. For the same price for the upgrade of the hard disk you keep the hard disk on the standard Inspiron build and bought a new third party 160Gb 7200RPM hard disk and still have some spare change. Btw Vista eats RAM like no tomorrow so it’s worth getting at least 2Gb’s especially if you are gonna have Aero turned on.

Sometimes they offer the a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy. This is NOT hardware and just an application CD that gives the chipset extra features. Really useful stuff like Bathroom Reverb or something. The chipset still appears as a SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio and NOT a SoundBlaster Audigy.

Oh another thing. The DELLay. It’s all over the Interweb. There have been massive delays in the ordering process of the colored Inspirons. They appear to be coming through now but a few times the order specifically mentions 6-8 week delay for certain colors. Unless you order White or Black (sometimes without the webcam) then you may have to wait. Apparently this is because the spraying process is similar to that of a car and is a very slow procedure. The white ones which seem more available than say blue or green actually has more coats of paint because it’s a gloss sheen. Sadly no other color has this gloss coating. Also the colour only applies to the lid of the Notebook, everything else including the keyboard is silver and the underside is black. These delays obviously don’t deter Dell in still advertising the Inspiron creating more customer backlogs.

Choosing the Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processor? If you can afford it go for the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0Ghz and above. Obviously they are a faster clock speed with a 800mhz Front Side Bus (FSB) as opposed to the 667mhz of the T5450 1.66 Ghz. They also have 4mb of cache instead of 2mb which makes a difference.

The 15.4″ WXGA+ 1440×900 Widescreen with Truelife is worth going for. The resolution is crisp and not too small. The 1680×1050 option maybe overkill as the monitor is too small for that resolution (a lot of 20.1″ monitors are that res). Also LCD’s look the best at its native resolution so playing games and having to turn the res down ain’t gonna look pretty. The LCD is the glossy type which seems to be easier to wipe off fingerprints than the matt ones but are more prone to reflection. Think carefully before buying a 17″ version. They are heavy and sometimes you can get and 15.4″ and a separate Dell 17″ monitor for about the same price.

The Dell Inspiron 1520 as a Gaming Notebook.

We’ll it’s actually quite good (for a Notebook). The Nvidia 8600m GT works well enough it has 256mb GDDR2. You cannot use shared RAM to increase the graphics RAM either. There are some online debates saying some do come with GDDR3 but to be certain the Asus G1 and G2 do have GDDR3 but are much more expensive. If you’ve got money to burn there’s also the Toshiba X205 with the 8700M GT. Strangely the so called Dell Gaming Notebook the XPS series don’t currently have the Geforce 8 series and go up only to the Geforce Go 7950 GTX which is really baffling. There is less wait time on a XPS though. The 7950 GTX is actually more powerful than the 8600 GT but only has the DX9 code path compared to the 8 series DX10. As mentioned before the 8600M GT would struggle with more recent games at the 1680×1050 resolution and DX10 games would choke. The Inspiron gets reasonably warm when playing games hard you can feel a warm air pushed out through the side vent. Good in winter as a fan heater.

Replacing Vista with XP

This is a real world of hurt. Until Vista SP1 arrives I want to get every bit of performance out of the Inspiron and Vista just doesn’t cut the mustard. At the time I bought mine they weren’t offering XP but now they recently have started. It was either Vista Home Basic or Home Premium. The Forceware Nvidia drivers for the 8 series off the Nvidia website DO NOT work. There is only now an 8 series drivers for XP on the Dell website previous to this there was a nice hacked version here: http://www.tweakforce.com

The Creative/SigmaTel audio driver is worse. Real hard to find and SigmaTel don’t support the public so it’s up to Dell. So after trying a few that were supposed to work I finally found one on the Dell website http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R153908&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=205136 from the Dell Community site. This ain’t listed under XP drivers on the Dell Inspiron driver downloads.

When booting an XP CD up it immediately crashed with a PCI.SYS error. I then had to Slipstream a XP build with SP2. After that I had to add Dell SATA drivers to the image. Then download pretty much all the other drivers from the Dell site. Maybe they have rectified that now with the inclusion of XP.

The Good

A really cheap laptop for the components you get and one of the best gaming laptops available.
The build quality is pretty good.

Nice looking.

You get what you ordered online pretty much delivered with Dell. For me nothing was missing or the wrong hardware.

The tracking of delivery is reasonably accurate and I manage to get it a day before the expected arrival date.

The Dell Service Tag is a good feature and allows you to enter your Notebooks Service Tag into their website which will bring up the details of your hardware.

There is a fair bit of documentation, driver CD’s and DVD’s.

You get the actual DVD for the OS.

The BIOS isn’t too bad (for Dell) there are a fair bit of options. But you can’t seem to tweak the CPU or RAM in anyway. So no OCing.

The WiFi seems pretty good, it’s got three aerials built in. There’s also a slider that turns off WiFi if not needed. You also get Bluetooth.

There are some speaker and play buttons on the front panel that are pretty convenient. The Notebook sound itself is quite good.

The keyboard is pretty good though a little cramped considering the size of the laptop. Not too spongey and they look like they are clipped on pretty well compared to some of the Lenovo ThinkPads which have fiddlely little clips if the keys accidentally fall off.

The Targus bag for cheap.

The Bad

The DELLay on certain colors.

The delivery wait when ordering online on a normal day.

The initial build on the Inspiron 1520 which was Vista Home Basic is full of bloatware. Like the Google Desktop search and Norton’s Anti-Virus with a limited subscription.

Dell’s XP driver support is all over the place. Maybe they’ve fixed this now by selling it with XP, dunno.

Your 120Gb or 160Gb hard disk is divided into three partitions at the factory. A hidden recovery one and a C: and D:. The D: has some drivers and a recovery for Windows to reinstall to factory defaults. Yuck.

If you want a Track Point you will need to go to the Lattitude series (under the Business option) or shell out some serious money for a ThinkPad. With the Inspirons your stuck with a Thermal Pad. I personally don’t like em but some do.

The Dell Inspiron is pretty heavy and coupled with the large-ish power supply it’s borderline for lugging around in a backpack all day as a student.

The Ugly

The black one looks too plain. When you buy an Inspiron you gotta get a colored one (if you can endure the wait)!

By: Ed Scott

About the Author:

The 14.5 inch wide screen HP Envy is one of the latest editions of high end HP Envy Series notebooks. Together with the Envy 17, they replace the Envy 13 and 15 respectively. The premium notebook has luxurious features and is elegant looking with laser-etched aluminum finish in carbon relic. The appearance in general competes with that of the Apple MacBook Pro line of notebooks curved inside single block of aluminum alloy metal. It is ultraportable weighing just 5.25 pounds and 1.1″ thin.

The HP Envy 14 includes Intel Core i5 processor with the option to upgrade to Intel Core i7. For a notebook of this size, it is simply amazing. Powerful processors require the computer to also incorporate efficient internal cooling mechanisms. HP claims to have taken enough measures in this regard including providing for more vents underneath the base of the notebook. The system memory can be expanded up to 8 GB enabling extra speed for the laptop. It includes Genuine Windows 7 as the operating system for simplified everyday computer applications. It uses the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 discrete graphics for excellent gaming, 3D images and video viewing experience. Store as much data as possible on the 500GB Hard Drive with HP’s latest ProtectSmart technology

The HP Envy 14 has brilliant high definition BrightView Infinity LED display screen with resolution of 1,366×768 pixels. The island-style keyboard has LED backlight, a feature that enables you to type on even under low light environments. The notebook like its Envy 17 counterpart has a slot loading DVD Burner, perhaps in response to consumer demand. It also includes a high definition multimedia interface port that enables the user to connect the notebook to an external display monitors, HDTV, LCD or project for spectacular viewing of high definition videos, photos, 3D games and graphics and digital audio. Additionally, a mini-DisplayPort has been included to enable the notebook support two monitors.

Additional features on then HP Envy 14 include two accessible memory slots, Integrated Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Wireless LAN & Bluetooth, 2-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader and 1 Headphone jack, 3 USB 2.0 (3rd port shared with eSATA).

If you are looking for high performance notebook with an elegant design, then the HP Envy 14 presents itself as the best candidate.

With discount coupons from HP, you save money when you buy HP Envy 14. These coupons are available online. Apply today and save.

By: Nadav Snir

About the Author:

The strategic partnership between Pelco and Instek Digital signals the onslaught of a stronger presence in the integrated surveillance market. Instek Digital is constantly reinventing itself to promote innovations in surveillance technologies. Their strategies are focused on enhancing user experience in video monitoring and management. Pelco’s HD video security imaging integrates the best in-class analytics with OV Ready technology to deliver a powerful Enterprise Class Digital Video Surveillance System. Video security systems are used by almost all business houses and there has been significant development in their working.

IP Surveillance Cameras: Operation

IP surveillance cameras are expected to be in high demand in the near future. Banks, retail shops and several other professional organizations and individuals are opting for video surveillance protection. Advancements in digital technology have made video surveillance system cost effective, flexible and easily operable. Security systems that utilize Internet Protocol (IP) cameras are easy to fix, maintain and customize.

Initially, video surveillance was based on analog technology, meaning closed circuit television and video tape recording. However, it was not a practical solution for monitoring stores from a remote location, since it did not broadcast live information. The picture quality was poor and was dependent on human interference.

In the 1990s, digital technology revolutionized the surveillance system. Analog camera tubes came to be replaced with Charged Coupled Devices (CCDs). Digital cameras became very affordable for most. This combined development signified two things:

It became possible to upload and download camera feed online. Thus, remote surveillance came into existence. With CCDs it was possible to generate high resolution images which could be manipulated for further processing.

For law enforcement, the use of digital technology proved ideal since zooming in, tracking specific scenes and enhancing features became easier.

A digital camera first captures the scene, broadcasts the images as digitized signal over a Local Area Network or LAN, where it is transmitted to a server. The server manages all the information. Relying on the software being used to manage the images, the server can record or display the images anywhere in the world.

The software package can be customized for specific monitoring services, including analyzing data and selecting ‘flagged’ items. With this technology, it is possible to send video files as data packets over the LAN. For exhaustive security solutions, the data available through the IP surveillance technology can be encrypted to prevent malicious activities such as data tampering.

By: Rajiv Mittal

About the Author:

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Originally designed for electronic display devices, now this technology is widely used to manufacture high-resolution televisions. Liquid crystal televisions work on Thin Film Transistor (TFT) technology. Their screen consists of a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between two transparent layers. A bulb placed behind the screen illuminates the TFT panel. Upon receiving the data, the liquid crystals align themselves in various degrees. The alignment of the crystals blocks unwanted light and only required light gets transmitted. The degree of alignment decides what color and contrast will be filtered through the panel.

When LCD TVs were first introduced, their major competition was the plasma TV. LCD and plasma televisions coexist and compete even today. Each has its own merits and demerits. LCD TVs cannot produce as much color or contrast as plasma TVs, but their overall picture quality remains better than a plasma TV. They can produce better resolution per square inch of their surface than a plasma TV.

Initially LCD TVs suffered from problems related to viewing angles. They could not be viewed from extreme horizontal angles. But now, LCD TVs are so designed that even at angles as wide as 160 degrees, they can be viewed with clarity.

The brand leaders in the LCD TV market are Sharp, Sony, Philips and LG. Sharp TVs have been consistently the best and they provide the best black to white ratio. Early LCD TVs were designed in a small screen format, but today they are available in screens as wide as 52 inches or even more. However, smaller screens can provide better picture clarity than wide screens.

LCD TVs can also be used as computer monitors. In fact, the technology was originally designed to manufacture laptop monitors. High definition LCD televisions are SVGA adaptable and they can be used to enjoy extreme graphic games on monitors.

The basic advantage of LCD televisions is their flatness. Even a widescreen LCD TV will be no more than a couple of inches thick. This also makes them lightweight. LCD TVs can therefore be fixed to wall mounts with supports. Due to this reason, one finds LCD TVs in hotels, airports, hospitals, discotheques, bars and wherever TVs can be mounted.

LCD TVs are the most expensive television technologies in the market. Their problems are diminishing, as more and more companies are spending millions of dollars on researching better technology. It won’t be long before prices spiral down and they become the best value for television technologies.

By: Jimmy Sturo

About the Author:

Bar code scanners serve wherever there is a need for accurate identification and product tracking. These devices increase operational efficiency and reduce errors. However, selecting the correct kind of scanner largely depends on the kind of application it will be used for. There are about four main types of scanners, pen or wand type, semi-automatic, fixed mount and reader gates.

Factors to Consider

The common factors effecting the selection of a bar code scanner include the distance of scanning, connection to computers, speed and frequency of scans and volume of scanning required. For long range scanning (currently limited at 24 inches), you would require a laser barcode scanner, as image-based scanners operate at a maximum of 4-10 inches.

Smaller bar codes require manual handling so that they can be read correctly. Larger codes, such as those on warehouse cartons, can be read from a distance. Hence, this process can be automated and integrated with a manufacturing or assembly line. If the environment in which it is to be used is dusty or humid, or products are stored in a freezer, they might be difficult to scan.

Retail vs. Industrial Use of Bar Code Scanners

Retail stores would benefit from handheld or even wireless scanners. These are mounted on a handle and have a button for switching on the light. Pen or wand scanners are similar, except you have to move the scanner across the code. Retailers also prefer stationary, semi-automatic scanners that are usually fixed around the check-out area, such as within the countertop.

A large-scale through-put of products that need to be scanned, use fixed scanners and reader gates. These automatic scanners are for industrial use and can be combined with conveyor belts on a manufacturing or assembly line for large volume processing. No operator is required and the time taken for scanning is also less. Large scale storage operations also use fixed position readers for tracking inventory, shipping destinations and even the weight of the product.

If you intend to interface the scanner with a PC or a dedicated system, you need to check out the supporting software or hardware required to process the data generated by the bar code reader.

By: Gardner Wilkinson

About the Author:

Gaming laptops, like the Asus X77, are expected to run computer games quickly and smoothly. Most computer games today have large memory requirements but due to the Intel/Radeon combination, the Asus X77 is capable of running these programs.

The Intel Core i5-430M processor runs at 2.26 Mhz. With its Turbo Boost technology, you can increase the clock speed of the processor to 2.53 GHz. The i5 also has a Level 3 Cache with 3 MB. This allows the processor to handle four threads at one time making it faster.

Supporting the Core i5 of the Asus X77 is a 4 GB RAM. Computer games tend to eat a low of memory. But with 4 gigabytes, you will be able to play games without encountering much of a problem. Now add the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics card to that. With its DDR3 memory, you can now play games with heavy 3D graphics easily and without having to experience lagging.

The game experience is made more exciting with its 17.3″ LCD that has an output of 1600×900 resolution and 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. This type of screen is actually better than what most desktops have.

Aside from the LCD screen, it has an HDMI video output and you can also connect it to an external HD monitor.

Another issue when it comes to gaming is storage space. Computers games now have movies included in them. You therefore need a lot of space for them. The Asus X77 has no issues when it comes to storage space. The Asus X77 uses a dual hard drive system. Now each hard drive can contain 500 GB each. This means that it has an available space of 1 TB or 1,000 GB. That is a large amount of space. With it, you can store not only games but also music files or movies. With these features, the Asus X77 can be comparable to a desktop.

You also get all these for at least $1,400 — a good price for a good gaming laptop.



SPECS

Central Processing Unit

Intel Core-i5 430M 2.26 GHz processor with Turbo Boost of up to 2.55 GHz Random Access Memory

Up to 4 GB Graphics Support

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 GPU Screen Size

17.3 inch Screen Resolution

1600 x 900 Storage Space

Up to 1 TB, dual hard drive of 500 GB each Optical Drive

multi-format DVD burner
PROS

Power and speed are what makes a gaming laptop what it is and the Asus X77 has both. The Intel Core i5 processor gives it the needed power and speed for the best gaming experience. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics card plus the large 1 TB storage space provides the necessary support for it to happen.

The Asus X77 is not just a gaming laptop. It can also be used for multimedia. The resolutions and display are at high levels and it can be connected to an external HD monitor.

CONS

NONE

By: J Guelas

About the Author: