Used Laptop Computer: Your Quick Purchase Inspection Guide ? Part 4

Used laptop computers are everywhere these days. How can you sift through the mass of available used laptop computers to narrow your search down to the right laptop for you? This fourth and final article strives to give you a few suggestions for your next laptop purchase. Wireless Connectivity Built-in wireless used to be a luxury. More and more now though, it really should be seen as a necessity. If the laptop you're considering doesn't have built-in wireless, you should at least have an external wireless card thrown in. Connecting to the internet and your local home network is something you'll find yourself doing a lot of in the future. If you have a choice between 802.1b and 802.1g, make sure you choose the 802.1g as it has more range and greater speed. USB Ports How many USB ports come with the laptop? Older laptops may not have any. Some have only one. The more USB ports you can get, the more convenient it is. You should also ask if the laptop comes with USB 2.0 or the older original version 1. Hard Drive: Choose a large one In this day and age, anything less than 20GB is way too small. In fact, you should always choose a laptop with as large a hard drive as possible. Storage space fills up fast especially when you consider all the songs and movies people store on their laptops these days. Go as large as your budget allows. User Computer Laptop Warranty If you have followed my advice and are looking to buy from a reputable dealer, what kind of warranty do they offer? Don't buy a used laptop from someone that offers you no warranty of any kind. At the very least, you want to get a 30 day warranty. The more the better. You never know if the hard drive is near failure or some other catastrophic problem in near. Reputable dealers offer warranties. Stay away from anyone that doesn't offer one. While I haven't gone over every possible thing you need to look for when purchasing a laptop, I have covered the main things that should make sure you make a used computer laptop purchase you're happy with. Joe Duchesne is the President of <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Gotocompare.com</a> a site that specializes in <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Computer Hardware</a> related information. Gotocompare helps owners find the device drivers, manuals and tech support they need to keep their equipment in tip top shape. Reprint freely as long as the links in this resource box are live and point back to Gotocompare.

TiVo: An Introduction for the Few Who Dont Know Yet

TiVo will change your life... for the better. Plain and simple: record shows by telling TiVo to record them (not when, what channel, how long, etc.), record all new episodes of X, record all movies w/ so-and-so in them, etc. High Points: Most people know the basics of the concept. Here's the low-down on the things I'm asked most... 1. You can record one thing and watch something else already recorded. 2. You can get a dual tuner TiVo, but you'll need two SEPARATE feeds to the TiVo (i.e., two lines from your satellite dish). Then you can record 2 things at once or watch one/record another. These are more expensive, but you can get a DirecTiVo w/ dual tuner cheaper and then the monthly TiVo fee is about half normal. 3. Pause live TV - if you don't realize the value of this, I can't explain it. :) TiVo has many different versions which all some slight variations. If you want to go beyond 'average guy' level, check out this forum. Comparison to ReplayTV: TiVo seems to have a better interface from what I've seen and what others have said. It's easier to use. However, ReplayTV is more easily hackable - you can access it from the web and the PC easier to convert/archive shows, etc. I have a DVD recorder for this which is another post for another time. Both can be made to do mostly the same things, but you get the idea. My Suggestion I recommend the DirecTiVo Hughes HDVR2 (dual tuner) w/ the Triple LNB dish (this is the oval dish w/ 4 lines from it and it's HDTV ready). It's got the satellite converter box built in so it's only one box to deal w/, the TiVo monthly fee is less and it's dual tuner. This model isn't as hackable as some TiVo's, but it can do some and if you want to go beyond the basics than you probably haven't read this far. Sites: <a target="_new" href="http://www.dvrinfospot.com">http://www.dvrinfospot.com</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.TiVo.com">http://www.TiVo.com</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.TiVoCommunity.com">http://www.TiVoCommunity.com</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.WeaKnees.com">http://www.WeaKnees.com</a> ...and, of course, The Armchair Geek (see below). Bear Cahill is a software engineer in the Dallas, TX area and runs a few websites: The Armchair Geek (<a target="_new" href="http://www.thearmchairgeek.com">thearmchairgeek.com</a>), Webpage Hosting Info (<a target="_new" href="http://www.webpagehostinginfo.com">webpagehostinginfo.com</a>), Go To College Online (<a target="_new" href="http://www.gotocollegeonline.com">gotocollegeonline.com</a>) and The Video Exchange Community (<a target="_new" href="http://www.videoexchange.org">videoexchange.org</a>) Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.

Survey of Both Past and Modern Printers

Printers are on-line devices initially categorised as being either impact whereby a printing head assembly of some type is in physical contact with the paper, and non-impact where there is no mechanical contact with the paper. Impact printers: Dot matrix printers; employ a set of pins that can be projected or withdrawn as required to form a dot matrix of the required character that is fired through an inked ribbon to form characters on an underlying sheet of paper. Advantages:<br> Software is often provided by way of firmware, a selection of fonts and text styles can be produced and they are reliable. Disadvantages:<br> Dot matrix printer tend to be noisy; They create fuzzy, low-quality characters and are not suitable for light quality or light volume output. Daisy wheel printers; employ a metal or plastic wheel with raised letter or character embedded into the end of thin strips extending from the centre. The wheel spins to position the correct character under a single hammer which strikes it, forcing the character through an inked ribbon onto the paper. Advantages:<br> Software is often provided by way of firmware and they are suitable for light quality output. They create high quality characters and are suitable for high quality or light volume output Disadvantages:<br> They tend to be noisy, slow and are not capable of producing graphics. Barrel (or Drum) printers; employ a revolving barrel that contains a set of 32 characters, each of which has a hammer, which allows each print position to impact the correct letter for that position through an inked ribbon. This mechanism allows all the characters of the same type to be printed simultaneously. The process is required for all the required characters to build line of text the drum rotates so that the next line can be printed. Advantages:<br> They are suitable for high quality, high volume output (up to 2000 lines per minute). Disadvantages:<br> They are only able to produce print in one font and style and are not capable of producing graphics. Chain printers; employ a revolving chain that contains one of more sets of characters which revolves in front of 132 hammers, which allows each print position to impact a character through an inked ribbon as it passes the appropriate place on the line. This mechanism potentially allows a complete line to be printed in one pass. Advantages:<br> They are suitable for high quality output and some chain printers are able to produce more than one font and/or style. It is capable of very high speed. Disadvantages:<br> they are large free standing printers and are not capable of producing graphics. Drum plotters; operate by moving a pen across the paper to create horizontally movement and the paper revolves around a drum past the pen to create vertical movement. This mechanism allow text of images to be drawn. Advantages:<br> They are capable of producing high quality output and can use large paper (for example A3). Disadvantages: v They are not suitable for high volume output. Flatbed plotters; operate by moving pens mounted on a carriage that moves over a board. The carriage moves in 365 degrees over the paper placed on a board under the pen. Advantages:<br> They are capable of producing high quality (colour) output and can use large paper (for example A3 or A1). Disadvantages:<br> They are large free standing printers that are not suitable for high volume output. Non-impact printer: Laser printers; apply an electrostatic charge to a rotating drum inside the printer. A laser or a light-emitting diode then discharges portions of the drum according to a sequence of electronic signals representing images or text that is build line at a time. The drum rotates so that the next line can be created. As the drum rotates, it makes contact with charged plastic like powdered ink (toner) attaches itself to these discharged sections. A piece of paper that is given a greater charge than the drum is passed over the drum, transferring the toner. The toner is heated and fused to the sheet. Advantages:<br> They are capable of producing extremely high-quality text and graphics (including colour) at extraordinary speeds, are suitable for high volume output and the consumable costs are low. Disadvantages:<br> They are more complex and considerably more expensive than most other common printer types, require more memory and power. Ink jet printers; employ a set of nozzles embedded in the print head through which small ink droplets are sprayed onto the page in a matrix of ink dots to form images or text on the page. Advantages:<br> They are capable of producing colour text and images with near-photographic quality. Disadvantages:<br> They are prone to clogging and the consumable costs are considerably high. Direct thermal printers; employ an array of heated rods embedded in the print head that selectively burn a matrix of dots on heat sensitise thermograph paper to form images or text. Advantages:<br> The consumable costs are lower other prints as ink is not needed. They are capable of producing images as well as text. Disadvantages:<br> They are not suitable for light quality or light volume output, and specially prepared papers is needed. Thermal transfer printers; employ an array of horizontal heating elements, one for each print position that melts ink from a ribbon to form a matrix of dots which is transferred to the pater to form images or text. Advantages:<br> They can print very attractive labels on a broad range of media and the consumable costs are lower than some other common printer types. Disadvantages:<br> Requirement for specially treated paper. Affected by temperature changes. Summary: It is clear that if the sole criteria for decision making is reduced software cost and speed, the Drum or Chain printers will fit the bill. However te laser technologies and their consumables are not cheap enough to make this a very cost effective alternative assuming there is a need for over say 10,000 pager a year! Anything else requires a closer analysis of the exact printing requirements to trade off the relevant software costs against other savings and convenience. I am the website administrator of the Wandle Industrial Museum, <a target="_new" href="http://www.wandle.org">http://www.wandle.org</a>

Used Laptop Computer: Your Quick Purchase Inspection Guide ? Part 2

Used laptop computers are everywhere these days. How can you sift through the mass of available used laptop computers to narrow your search down to the right laptop for you? This is the second part of a series of articles designed to give you a few suggestions for your next purchase. Assuming you've done the visual inspection mentioned in part one, you're ready to power up the laptop and do some more digging. Laptop Operating System Does the laptop you're looking at come with an operating system? If not, it could be difficult for you to fully test the operation of the laptop. One good alternative to a built in operating system is to download and burn a copy of Knoppix. Knoppix is a linux operating system that runs off the CD-ROM drive instead of the hard drive. This allows you to test the laptop even if it doesn't have an operating system installed. You can find Knoppix at www.knoppix.com Quick Power Up Inspection Power up the laptop if it already isn't on. Make sure to open the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive that comes with the laptop. Look for USB ports and make sure they are in good repair. Locate the vent for the CPU fan (if it has one ? most do) and listen to the sound it makes. If you hear any whining or grinding sounds, beware. This may be an indication that the CPU inside has not been getting proper cooling which can definitely lead to problems down the road like random crashes, shut downs, etc... Examine the LCD Screen Chances are, you're going to be staring at that screen an awful lot. Make sure the colors are stable and that there are no parts of the LCD screen that are washed out or discolored. Replacing an LCD screen is expensive. Better to find a problem with it before you buy it then afterwards. Is the LCD screen bright enough for your needs? Some used laptops will have LCD screens that are too dim to be practical. Keep in mind that older laptops will often not be very bright in direct sunlight. They should all be bright in normal lighting conditions however. Joe Duchesne is the President of <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Gotocompare.com</a> a site that specializes in <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Computer Hardware</a> related information. Gotocompare helps owners find the device drivers, manuals and tech support they need to keep their equipment in tip top shape. Reprint freely as long as the links in this resource box are live and point back to Gotocompare.

Buying Cheap Refurbished Laptops

When comparing refurbished laptop models, ask about these specifications: Central Processing Unit: The CPU or processor is the heart of the computer. The more software you want in your refurbished laptop, the more powerful the processor has to be. A 32-bit processor is less powerful and less expensive than a 64-bit processor. Operating System: The operating system, or OS, is the graphic interface between you and whatever programs you are running. Windows and Unix are the two main families of operating systems. Windows is the more common interface, and therefore less expensive. Screen Size: Smaller does not necessarily mean cheaper; some smaller models are just as powerful as some larger models but more portable. Hard Drive Size: The hard drive, or HD, is the permanent information storage disk inside the unit. HD capacity is measured in gigabytes. A GB is one billion bytes. A byte is a piece of information, such as text, sound, or picture. The larger the HD is, the more software it can handle and the more expensive the laptop will be. Hard Drive Speed: HD speed is measured in revolutions per minute ? usually 5000 to 15,000 RPM. The faster the HD, the better and more expensive the laptop will be. Random Access Memory: The RAM is the temporary storage chip that continually updates information while you are using the computer. Today 64 megabytes is the entry level RAM size, suitable for running many programs simultaneously. The greater the storage capacity of the RAM, the more powerful and expensive it is. Media Bay: The media bay contains the slots for playing and recording CDs and DVDs. Older laptops might only allow the playing of CDs, whereas newer laptops allow you to both play and record CDs and/or DVDs. The more features there are in the media bay, the more you can do with your laptop, and the more you will spend. Modem: Modems can take the form of dial-up telephone modems, or fast cable or direct satellite linkup modems. The faster your type of modem is, the more easily you will be able to surf the web and the more costly your laptop will be. The price will be affected by all these specifications, along with added features, how well preserved the chassis is, the name of the manufacturer, and whether you acquire the laptop form the factory or through a private dealer. Private dealers charge less, but beware: not all dealers are up to par with their refurbishing skills. Be sure to go to one that is reputable and experienced. <a target="_new" href="http://www.i-refurbishedlaptops.com">Refurbished Laptops Info</a> provides detailed information on quality, cheap refurbished laptops by manufacturers like Dell, IBM, Toshiba, and HP, as well as refurbished laptop batteries and related products. Refurbished Laptops Info is the sister site of <a target="_new" href="http://www.e-rackmountcomputer.com">Rack Mount Computers Web</a>.

An Introduction to Tape Backup

If you run a small business, chances are you're saving important files to a server. But what happens when disaster strikes? How are you ensuring that your files won't be lost? Many people fail to realize that the loss of files could cripple their business. You can insure your office and equipment, but you can't insure files. You can't repair or buy back lost files. Ipso facto, they are lost! This brings us to the concept of disaster recovery. What is disaster recovery? If you're thinking that disaster recovery is about frantically trying to get back data that's already been lost, then you're already behind the 8-ball! Disaster recovery is about safeguarding your organization's data so that it can be safely restored in event of a crippling disaster. And having an industry-standard file backup strategy is undoubtedly the most important part of disaster recovery. What you have to do is ensure that all files on the server are backed up to another storage medium -- tape, removable hard disk, NAS device, and so on. Most businesses choose to use tape. Let's look at how you can set up a tape backup strategy for your own business. 1. Tape -- the perfect backup medium Isn't tape an anachronism in the age of optical disks, removable hard drives and a plethora of whiz-bang, random-access storage media? Tape is indeed a dinosaur in relative terms, but it's ideal for backup. Tape is slow, but can store a lot of data... one mid-range tape should be enough to backup your entire server. Plus, tape is extremely cheap -- mid-range tapes cost around $20 each. 2. When should you backup? Typically, tape backup is performed at the end of each day. Just put in the tape and let the backup process run overnight. If your server ever suffers a catastrophic disaster, you have at least saved all your files from the previous day. 3. Tape Rotation The ideal tape backup solution would involve using a new tape for each backup. This means purchasing a new tape for every day of your business's operations. This is hardly cost-effective for your business. Tape is cheap, but not that cheap! This is why we speak of tape rotation. Tape rotation means to reuse tapes from previous backups. The simplest tape rotation scheme is to have one tape for each day of the working week. Tapes are labelled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You can restore data from any one of the tapes in your library, or in this case, any day in the past the week. This strategy requires only five tapes, but only provides one week's data backup history. 4. Grandfather-Father-Son -- A Case Study The grandfather-father-son schedule is the most widely used method, and involves backing up data in the following way: * daily -- on the "son tapes"<br> * weekly ?- on the "father tapes"<br> * monthly -? on the "grandfather tapes"<br> This system is far more powerful than the five-tape rotation, but requires more tapes. This strategy provides you with the ability to restore data from the last week, plus any Monday over the last month, plus any month for as many monthly tapes as you have. Variations on this scheme are available, and provide a trade-off between the number of tapes required, and the number of monthly tapes available. 5. Different types of backup Different types of backups are available in backup software. * Full -- all files, system data<br> * Differential -- all files added or changed since the last full backup<br> * Incremental -- all files added or changed since the last full, differential or incremental backup<br> * Daily -- all files added or changed on the day of the backup<br> A Full backup will copy all files and system data to the backup media. It allows for the complete restore of all data from one single tape. Differential, Incremental and Daily are partial backups are designed to reduce amount of data backed-up to the media, resulting in faster backups. To restore data using one of these backups, the last Full backup tape will also be required, along with any other partial backups since the last Full backup. 6. Tape backup software At this point you may be thinking that performing tape backup is a complex task. Tape rotations, incremental backups... sure, you can try to do this manually, but this would make the backup process hiddeously difficult and prone to human error! The solution is to invest in a good piece of server backup software that will manage and schedule your tape backups for you. What should you look for in tape backup software? For many small business owners, the price is crucial. Many brands of backup software are just too expensive -- in the $1000+ range -- and contain features that you'll never need. Look for a backup utility that's designed specially for small business instead. It should be simple-to-use, reliable and affordable. Choose a good <a target="_new" href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/tape-backup-software.html">tape backup software</a> and you'll be well on your way to safeguarding your files and data. Linus Chang is a backup expert and the lead developer of BackupAssist-- <a target="_new" href="http://www.backupassist.com">backup software</a> that is simple and affordable, and perfect for small and medium businesses. Protect your Windows servers, including SQL Server and Exchange Server, to tape, REV drive, hard drive, NAS and more, at a fraction of the cost of other backup programs. Designed as a fix for <a target="_new" href="http://www.backupassist.com/news/ntbackup.html">NTBackup</a> bugs and issues.

Obsolete Is A Dirty Word (Intel Pentium 64 Bit Microchip)

Get ready everyone, home computers are about to set new LAN speed records! The Intel 64-bit microchip will soon be powering the new line of Pentium 4 computers. This long awaited sizzling fast release will be heading to store shelves across America just in time for the new blazing fast Windows 64-bit operating system. You'll get the 64-bit Pentium microchip, the 64-bit operating system, and that's not all, if you spend all your money, you'll also get all the new 64-bit stellar fast software programs that will leave current versions coughing in the rooster tail of their 64-bit micro-dust. Yet a startling new poll indicated a majority of respondent(s) were actually upset by the good news from the technology sector. Here are the fascinating results of the poll: Respondent(s) gave a 1-10 rating regarding their anticipated personal happiness and productivity that the newer and faster computers would yield. 1 being: "I'm in electronic nirvana, I waited to buy, I was patient and did not up-grade pre-maturely, and now the technology gods have rewarded my computer buying diligence, bestowing upon me a new Intel 64-bit processor, operating system and software as soon as they come out!!" And 10 being: "Don't talk to me I hate you!" The margin of error was +/- 0%. Questionnaires were sent to a scientific sample of 1. OK it was me. I polled myself. And no I'm not happy. But wait, before you judge me harshly, I should give you some facts about myself that might engender some empathy. First of all, I'm cursed. I don't know how this works, but I hold all power over technological advances. That's right, new technology will not be released to the computer buying public until I finally decide to upgrade...to the old technology. Narcissistic? Hardly. There is a cosmic triggering mechanism that knows. If you happened to be tuned in, it would go a little something like this: "Technology universe heed! Rick has purchased Super Gizmo 3.0. Prepare to launch version 4.0. Wait for my command....Steady... There, he's exceeded the store return policy envelope. Launch upgrade. Brace for impact and greatness of sorrow. That is all." So I hope you're happy. Because the only reason, that you can go out and buy the new Intel 64-bit P4 wonder machine and all of the wonder programs & software to come, is because I just bought a beautiful 32-bit machine with matching laptop. No, that's ok, you don't have to thank me. It's just a burden that I must carry. I do it stoically and with quiet dignity, normally, but this is a revolutionary advance, a tectonic shift in computing acceleration and I'm going to wail out loud, because I just can't go out and buy another computer and stay married! At least that's how she interprets the vows. Oh...you think I make too much of this do you? Perhaps. But for those of you who may not be as, how should I say...techno hip... let me explain the speed differential between the present 32-bit sludge processors (like the one I just bought...twice) and the new sleek Intel 64-bit miracle maker. Picture languishing in a huge super Wal-Mart with two hundred bargain happy shoppers squeezing through 32 cash registers at once. And just to make it really painful, some have price checks and questionable coupons. See yourself in line. A long line. And all you can do to pass the time is inch along reading the "13 Things Wives Never Tell Their Husbands". After awhile, you might get close enough to see another magazine cover with a picture of Jennifer, ...the exact moment she found out about Brad. Go ahead judge Brad, you've got the time. You can even manufacture some contempt for that vixen Angelina. You're not going anywhere, no one is going anywhere. They've only got 32 cash registers open! Suddenly, one of the cashiers feels the heat, fumbles for the microphone, and makes a garbled announcement. It must be in code, because no one can understand it, yet the next thing you know, everyone is tossing magazines and trampling children, nuns, & puppies. Why? I'll tell you why. Because 32 more cashiers are now open for the next person in line! That makes a grand total of 64 cashiers "processing" transactions instead of 32! The line is moving fast..."Come on people, we're all going home!" And that my friend is how the new Intel 64-bit microchip works. Do you see now why I mourn? "The analogy is brilliant", you might say, "but how does that translate into reality?" Well, the average home computer user will now be able to print a letter at .005 nanoseconds instead of .006! Think of it. You'll be pulling out your letter from the printer, while I'll still be be pulling out my letter from the printer too, but a whole .001 nanoseconds behind, unless I come up with an ingenious "low tech" way to make up the difference and win. So go ahead, buy the faster computer, see if I care, I don't mind. One day I'll have that 64-bit, right before the 128's come out. And perhaps you'll be standing with me, in 64-bit hell, wanting my Cosmo, but no, I'm not done reading it yet. I still need to find out the "22 Secrets of True Passion and How To Enlighten Your Idiot Man." And then we'll see who mourns, when I look you in the eye and say, "Go find your own magazine!" Rick David writes a humor column entitled, <a target="_new" href="http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com/index.php?x=articles&type=is_sd"> "Don't Laugh, It Could Happen To You!"</a> for <a target="_new" href="http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com">http://sandiego.merchantamerica.com</a>

Advanced Tips on Speeding Up Your PC

Other then keeping your HDD free of viruses, spyware, and ad-ware at all times, there are other methods for speeding up system speed which you may like to employ. One of these is overclocking. Overclocking is a method of increasing your system speed by increasing the frequency at which your CPU operates at. If this interests you, please refer to our guide on overclocking. Other methods of keeping your computer up to speed include: <BR><BR>-Running defrags/scandisks on your PC once to twice a month <BR> -Upgrading your RAM by installing faster, or more memory <BR> -Formatting at least once a year<BR><BR> Running a defrag is easy. You can find this windows tool in programs--->accessories--->system tools. You can also find scandisk on this same menu. Running defrags/scandisks will help to improve your hard drive read/write time. Scandisk and Defragmentation work to fix corrupted files on your PC. These files become corrupted when you restart your computer by using the reset button, or by being careless with your hard drive (like not bolting it properly to your case or removing it constantly). You could also use a tool called a Registry Fixer. Sometimes, especially if you have been infected recently with a virus, spy-ware, or ad-ware, these programs work to fix your registry and repair certain errors. This is more for an advanced user, however, as some of these programs can be difficult to grasp. There are also several registry tweaks programmers have produced which improve startup and shutdown times by skipping some uneeded parts of processes. These are also recommended for advanced users as they can sometimes result in a hardware or software error, although such incompatibilities would likely be rare. If however they do cause a problem, post your problem on our forums and we will try to help. I am a young, aspiring computer engineer into Internet Marketing, hardware, software, web design, SEO and just about anything related to computers. Please come check out my growing PC forum at <a target="_new" href="http://www.markspcforum.com">http://www.markspcforum.com</a>

Getting A New Laptop At A Great Price

With all the wheeling and dealing that seems to take place on the internet at all times of the day, it can sometimes get confusing just trying to find your own deal. Finding the best price on your new laptop is most likely your highest priority at this point, but there are other important factors as well.<br> In this article I will discuss some of the best ways to ensure that you get the ultimate price on your new beauty, as well as a few other tidbits that shouldn't be left out.<br> I don't know about you, but I always love to first check out prices on eBay. In fact, this is what I recommend that you do also. Head on over to eBay and see what kinds of prices are listed for your specific notebook. I am assuming you are looking for a brand new laptop, so that is what you should look for on eBay. I like to look at the &quot;buy it now&quot; prices, of course making sure that the price listed is for a brand new machine. Alternatively you can look at auctions that are about to end. This method will usually give you a little better indication of what your specific notebook is going for on eBay.<br> eBay is good to look at first, mainly because they usually have the best prices. By finding out what you can get your laptop for on eBay, you will instantly have a lowball figure that others must beat.<br> So what now? I recommend going over to a couple price comparison sites such as shopping.com or pricegrabber.com. What these sites do is list a bunch of merchants that are selling the specific product that you are looking for. What is great about it is that a price is listed by each merchant, as well as customer reviews of the store (merchant).<br> A lot of these price comparison sites will even list the shipping price, and then calculate your total cost for whatever you want? It's a win-win situation for you! So now you are going to want to search for your specific notebook on a few price comparison sites. When the merchant listings come up, look for prices that are better than the ones you got from eBay. You will probably want to skip merchants with a bad rating, or at the most, go in and see why they are rated poorly. One more thing ?- Look at the shipping price? Sometimes you can get free shipping, or shipping at a much better rate than the auctions listed on eBay, which could steer the deal away from them.<br> Hopefully you have found an even better deal at one of the price comparison sites online. If you want, you can even go to some of the big name computer retailers and look at their prices, (even though many of them are listed on the price comparison sites). Sometimes you can find clearances though that will beat any of the prices you have found.<br> One other last point ?- Reliability is very important, especially with a purchase like this. For the eBay auctions you are going to want to look at the seller's feedback rating, and on the price comparison sites you are going to want to look at the merchant's customer ratings.<br> If you take the time to properly use the various resources that are available on the internet, you will find that getting a great deal on a new laptop is a lot easier than one might think. ***************************************************<br> Cody Kahl is creator and writer of Toshiba Laptops Guide ? A site<br> dedicated to providing only the best <a target="_new" href="http://www.toshibalaptopsguide.com/">toshiba laptops</a> information.<br> Cody believes in quality, and this free resource proves it.<br> ***************************************************

The Making of Energy Efficient Datacenters

The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron is a wonderful movie to watch. It is based on the book, The anatomy of greed, written by a former employee of Enron, Brian Cruver. One interesting thing that comes on our minds is the size of all power companies. They are all huge. We all depend on power for just about everything and yet very rarely do we think about conserving energy. A typical PC for example takes about 135 watts of power. A data center with about a 1000 servers should typically take about 135 x 1000 Watts or 135 Kilowatts and that would just power the computers. This does not include the air-conditioning and lighting. According to to a research paper sponsored by The California Energy Commission in a datacenter about 50% of the total energy consumed is by the servers and about 35% is the air conditioners. <br> Here are some interesting research done in this field - <br> <ul> Feeling the heat- An interesting paper by Liebert describing the challenge of effectively managing the heat dissipation in datacenters. </li> </ul> <ul> Heat-Density Trends in Data Processing, Computer Systems, and Telecommunications Equipment- This white paper provides valuable current data and best available insights regarding historical and projected trends in power consumption and the resulting heat dissipation in computer and data processing systems (servers and workstations), storage systems, and central office-type telecommunications equipment. <br> </ul> This problem can be solved by making better energy efficient air conditioners and by making more energy efficient computers. Many companies have taken a lot of interest in subject. However, nothing substantial has been done primarily because of the market requirements. The end users still want to host their sites on the fastest processors which drives the market with the latest processors. Going at this rate we would reach a time soon when the energy required would be much higher than the energy available in the market. <br> <br> Intel, AMD, Transmeta and Via have all released processors which consume very low power. A typical Pentium or AMD processor consumes about 25 Watts of power, whereas these low powered processors take only about 5 watts of power i.e. about 5 low powered processors would consume as much power as a single main stream processor of today. These low powered processors are also generally fan less processors which means lower noise levels too. Intel has the centrino which has a lower power consumption than the regular pentiums. Intel also has the arm processors but those are RISC. Our prime focus would be AMD, Transmeta and Via. They all have some very promising products.<br> <br> One thing to be noted is that most of these low powered processors work only at about 1.2GHz or lower. So they won't be as fast the pentium4s. Which means one would have to host lesser sites per server. A good recommendation would be upto a maximum of 600 sites on a regular pentium 4 server. A low powered processor should comfortably take about 200 sites. One advantage of these low powered processors is that they have a very small form factor too. This means that one can have more such servers in the same space that is typically allocated to a high powered servers. All datacenters use a profitability matrix based on the following rule: Performance/Per Watt/Per Cubic Foot. This is one place where the low powered processors really score high. <br> <br> <br> AMD Geode? NX Processor family comprises of the AMD Geode? NX 1250@6W processor, the AMD Geode? NX 1500@6W processor and the AMD Geode? NX 1750@14W processor. The first two in these consume only 6Watts of power and run without a cooling fan. According to AMD they provide the highest x86 performance for fan less operations. They are based on the mobile AMD Athlon processor technology.<br> <br>Transmeta was one of the first companies to develop low powered processors. For a long time Transmeta was known as the company where the Microsoft co founder Paul Allen had interests in and the place where Linus Trovalds, the father Linux, worked. Both of them are no longer part of the organization. Today they are known for the two processor families they have - The transmeta crusoe and the transmeta efficeon<br> <br> Transmeta Crusoe?- processors range from 500Mhz to 1.2 Ghz. According to Transmeta,Crusoe is a unique combination of software and hardware. It's this radical design that gives Crusoe its important advantages, and manufacturers of all kinds of electronic devices their first truly innovative new platform in over 25 years. Thanks to Crusoe, mobile devices can be made smaller and lighter than ever. These new devices will be more comfortable to use, too, because Crusoe generates very little heat a problem that plagues the industry's legacy hardware-only processors. And because it uses far less power, mobile devices running on Crusoe run far longer on a single battery charge, and Crusoe-powered ultra-dense servers do far more work per watt, far more efficiently. <br> <br> Transmeta Efficeon processors are the higher end processors from Transmeta and they run at upto 1.6Ghz and have high performance I/O interfaces. They are built upon Fujitsu's next-generation 90nm silicon technology featuring transistors with a length of just 40nm. <br> <br> The entire Transmeta range not just uses the x86 instruction set, they also have full multimedia instruction support (MMX, SSE-SSE2). Transmeta has done very little in marketing in terms of selling their products for the server market. Like all other companies they have focussed on mobile products, set-top boxes etc.. While these products are great for the mobile market, they do have a great potential in the server market. FIC, JM-Net etc. have some products for the server market which run on the Transmeta processors. <br> <br> Via , the Taiwanese manufacturer purchased the Cyrix processors and has since gotten out of the race of faster processors with AMD and Intel. Instead they are focussing on fan less, low-powered processors. They have the Eden and the C3 range of processors. The power consumption varies from only 7watts to 15Watts. Additionally, the processors come with the PadLock Hardware Security Suite which provides a platform approach to computer security, ensuring uncompromising security performance. These features include the implementation of the Quantum-based VIA PadLock RNG (Random Number Generator), and the VIA PadLock ACE (Advanced Cryptography Engine) supporting AES encryption. <br> <br> According to Via, the VIA Eden-N Processor is the world's smallest, lowest power and most secure native x86 processor. It is a mere 15mm x 15mm in terms of size and consumes between 2.5W @ 533MHz to 7W @ 1GHz. <br> <br> <br> Via again like Transmeta has not focussed in the server market. The images above give a good idea of the benefits of this processor in the server market. For datacenters, Via may be the best in the Performance/Per Watt/Per Cubic Foot matrix.<br> <br> Companies like Hitachi make some very good low powered hard disk drives which have a very small form factor. They have both IDE's at 7200 rpm as well as SCSI hard drives. <br> <br> Many may think it is better to take higher end servers as the power or heating problem does not directly affect them. As mentioned earlier a server driven by a low-powered processor would be able to take just about 200 sites. This means that a person with 600 sites would need to take 3 such servers instead of one higher powered server. Here are some benefits of this scenario. <br> One of the biggest factors influencing the performance of sites on the internet is the capability of the network card (ethernet) . When all sites are hosted on just one server, they all would use the same network card to push the data. Now if these sites are distributed among 3 servers the amount of data that the sites can push would be 3 times more which means faster access to the sites. Another benefit is that if one of the site goes down all 600 people would not be effected, rather only 1/3rd the number of sites would be affected. Hence, the number of support request would be lesser. And finally, such processors are very affordable. Typically they would be just a third of the cost of regular mainstream processors. <br> <br> Amarjyoti Krishnan heads bobcares.com, a tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., a software and IT services company which specializes in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 100 engineers. Amarjyoti is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of experience in the hosting industry. He has spoken and written extensively on the subject. His articles have been published both online as well as in print in magazines. <a target="_new" href="http://poornam.com">http://poornam.com</a> <br> <a target="_new" href="http://bobcares.com">http://bobcares.com</a> <br> <a target="_new" href="http://amarjyoti.com">http://amarjyoti.com</a>

How To Purchase A Quality Laptop Computers Case

So you finally have that new laptop you have been drooling over for the past 3 months, only there is one problem ?- You don't have a case for it. You've probably already laid down over a grand for the notebook and you're telling yourself that you don't want to spend another $70 for a case. Trust me, this isn't the time to be cheap.<br> In this article I will go over the importance of getting a quality notebook bag, as well as what sort of features are found on quality laptop cases.<br> If you consider your laptop to be important or essential, then getting a good, solid case is a must. You may be wondering why? Here are just a few reasons:<br> - Expensive notebook should be protected properly<br> - Quality cases have way better outer and inner protection for your laptop<br> - More comfortable<br> - Better shoulder protection<br> If you still need some prodding in the direction of that super duty case maybe the next points will help. Let's go over what distinguishes the good from the bad in notebook bags.<br> Comfort ? Quality bags have much better shoulder support than cheapies. Your notebook is going to be at least 6 pounds, probably more. Do you really want to break your shoulder just carrying the thing around? You have a lot more choice with quality aftermarket cases as well when it comes to carrying style. In the end you are going to be a lot more comfortable with something that wears well on you.<br> Protection ? Make sure you don't drop that notebook case that came with your computer ?- You may find your laptop in pieces. Quality laptop cases have great inner and outer protection. Things like reinforced corners on the outside, and air pockets on the inside? It all adds up to piece of mind. If you want, you can even find cases with single or double combo locks.<br> Storage ? If you want to put extra files or folders into your notebook case you are going to need the space. Quite often, cheaper cases will have just enough room for a notebook and maybe a small folder if you are lucky. When buying an aftermarket case you have a lot more choice in size, and can find something that will hold everything you need it to.<br> Are you ready to spend a little more money and get that quality case now? Good, but before you do, let's go over a couple more things that are very important.<br> First, you need to think about what you will be carrying most of the time -- Chances are it isn't just your laptop. What you will be carrying will be a big part of what case you decide on. The more stuff you need to bring along in the bag, the bigger the bag needs to be.<br> Next, find out the dimensions of your notebook. You need to know this when buying a case. Not all laptops fit in every case, so you need to look for a case that will fit the size of your notebook. Whether you are buying a case locally or online, the main compartment size of the case should be easy enough to find.<br> Lastly, as you will soon find, there is more than one style of laptop case available. There are the standard cases, ones that look like actual luggage bags, and even backpack style cases. The last one has the added benefit that thieves won't think there is a notebook sitting inside.<br> Going over exactly what you need in a laptop case, and then purchasing a quality one won't just save your shoulders in time, but possibly your investment too. *******************************************************<br> Cody Kahl is creator and writer of Toshiba Laptops Guide ? A site<br> dedicated to providing only the best <a target="_new" href="http://www.toshibalaptopsguide.com/toshiba-laptop-computers.html">toshiba laptop computers</a> information.<br> Cody believes in quality, and this free resource proves it.<br> *******************************************************

Wireless Notebooks: What You Need To Know About Going Wireless!

It's not exactly breaking news that our world is becoming increasingly wireless. Many of our daily activities that once needed a wired connection can now be done wirelessly! The cell phone craze was probably the first revolution that seemingly happened overnight. The convenience of being constantly connected or plugged in to the your business, friends, or family was an undeniable need that was quickly met. For many people it has become a necessary in their daily lives. Wireless computers, notebooks or laptops may just be the second wave in our struggle to becoming a totally wireless world. The ability to be constantly connected to your business and/or loved ones is revolutionizing the way we use computers and the Internet. The ultraportable, versatile little notebook computer, will no doubt play a major leading role in our wireless struggle to be constantly connected. It's the 'portability' of the notebook or laptop computer that holds the most appeal and is its major selling point. And its popularity is growing. It is estimated that over 42 million computer notebooks will be produced this year in 2005. The market for laptop and notebook computers is growing at a rate of 20% each year according to Taiwanese notebook makers. And they should know -- they make 70% of these notebooks or their components for such major players as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. But it's the portability and wireless communication these devices offer that's increasing their popularity among most users. Just how is this wireless communication accomplished by the notebook or laptop you ask? Wireless notebooks uses three major wireless data standards in order to transfer data. The one that is probably most common is 802.11b, also called Wi-Fi which stands for Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi or 802.11b transfers data wirelessly at a maximum rate of 11Mbps for up to 150 feet. It uses the 2.4GHz radio spectrum and although it says 11Mbps, you will probably only get around 4-6Mbps in actual use. But this is enough bandwidth for high speed Internet, gaming and most file transfers. The 802.11a is another standard that uses the 5GHz radio spectrum, so it has 8 channels available instead of only 3 that's available with 802.11b. The 'A' version also permits a larger transfer, at a maximum of 54Mbps. The other standard, 802.11g, is a hybrid of 'A' and 'B' -- its also capable of 54Mbps but it uses the 2.4 GHz spectrum and is compatible with 802.11b devices. Some notebooks like the Fujitsu LifeBook N6010, have a tri-mode 802.11a/b/g wireless system that uses all three forms! The next technology in Wireless Communication is 3G EV-DO! Sounds like one of those funny robots from Starwars -- but it stands for evolution-data optimized. This new technology will change how we view and use the world wide web. Verizon Wireless 3G EV-DO began commercial operations in Oct. of 2003 and is now expanding to over 125 million US consumers by the end of 2005. With download speeds of 400 to 700 kbps and bursts up to 2 Mbps, 3G has really given us wireless Internet this time. It has or will turn the Internet into a truly wireless system that's devoid of any cables or lines. It will be everywhere -- no space within our biosphere will be without the Internet very soon. Of course, it should be kept in mind, that any group of computers can be made wireless by using a wireless router and a wireless network adaptor for each computer. Also, many notebooks and computers come with a Bluetooth module, which allows for wireless communication between any sort of electronic devices -- from cell phones to computer to stereos to headphones. However, if you're setting up a wireless network or if you're using your wireless notebook or laptop at hotels and airports -- security will be a concern. Anyone within distance, possessing the right equipment and a little ingenuity may get access to this wireless system. For major corporations or the lowly homeowner; safeguards need to be taken to prevent unwanted visitors from interrupting your peaceful wireless universe. There are usually two basic methods of securing wireless networks, WEP and MAC address filtering. The MAC (Media Access Control) is the physical address or unique hardware identifier given to each device in the network. Then you manually enter a list of addresses that can use or access your wireless network. The other filtering process is more secure, WEP or Wireless Encryption Protocol requires a shared key between the users and then using this key to encrypt and de-encrypt data that's transmitted between your network users. Many major hotel chains and other businesses are now offering 'Wi-Fi' services as an added convenience to their patrons. These 'hot spots' are popping up everywhere, even at some gas stations. You may need to sign in or get a password or key to access these services. But like your cell phone conversations, any radio transfer or transmission will not be as secure as a wired connection. Keep this in mind if privacy is a major concern for you. But don't let it stop you from enjoying the convenience, portability and practicality of your wireless notebook or laptop. It's a wireless world after all. For More Information on Computer Notebooks and Laptops Click Here: <a target="_new" href="http://www.bizwaremagic.com/notebook-online-buyers-guide.htm">Computer Notebook Guide</a> Copyright ? 2005 Titus Hoskins of <a target="_new" href="http://www.bizwaremagic.com">http://www.bizwaremagic.com</a> This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

How To Purchase A Quality Laptop Computers Case

So you finally have that new laptop you have been drooling over for the past 3 months, only there is one problem ?- You don't have a case for it. You've probably already laid down over a grand for the notebook and you're telling yourself that you don't want to spend another $70 for a case. Trust me, this isn't the time to be cheap.<br> In this article I will go over the importance of getting a quality notebook bag, as well as what sort of features are found on quality laptop cases.<br> If you consider your laptop to be important or essential, then getting a good, solid case is a must. You may be wondering why? Here are just a few reasons:<br> - Expensive notebook should be protected properly<br> - Quality cases have way better outer and inner protection for your laptop<br> - More comfortable<br> - Better shoulder protection<br> If you still need some prodding in the direction of that super duty case maybe the next points will help. Let's go over what distinguishes the good from the bad in notebook bags.<br> <b>Comfort</b> ? Quality bags have much better shoulder support than cheapies. Your notebook is going to be at least 6 pounds, probably more. Do you really want to break your shoulder just carrying the thing around? You have a lot more choice with quality aftermarket cases as well when it comes to carrying style. In the end you are going to be a lot more comfortable with something that wears well on you.<br> <b>Protection</b> ? Make sure you don't drop that notebook case that came with your computer ?- You may find your laptop in pieces. Quality laptop cases have great inner and outer protection. Things like reinforced corners on the outside, and air pockets on the inside? It all adds up to piece of mind. If you want, you can even find cases with single or double combo locks.<br> <b>Storage</b> ? If you want to put extra files or folders into your notebook case you are going to need the space. Quite often, cheaper cases will have just enough room for a notebook and maybe a small folder if you are lucky. When buying an aftermarket case you have a lot more choice in size, and can find something that will hold everything you need it to.<br> Are you ready to spend a little more money and get that quality case now? Good, but before you do, let's go over a couple more things that are very important.<br> First, you need to think about what you will be carrying most of the time -- Chances are it isn't just your laptop. What you will be carrying will be a big part of what case you decide on. The more stuff you need to bring along in the bag, the bigger the bag needs to be.<br> Next, find out the dimensions of your notebook. You need to know this when buying a case. Not all laptops fit in every case, so you need to look for a case that will fit the size of your notebook. Whether you are buying a case locally or online, the main compartment size of the case should be easy enough to find.<br> Lastly, as you will soon find, there is more than one style of laptop case available. There are the standard cases, ones that look like actual luggage bags, and even backpack style cases. The last one has the added benefit that thieves won't think there is a notebook sitting inside.<br> Going over exactly what you need in a laptop case, and then purchasing a quality one won't just save your shoulders in time, but possibly your investment too. *******************************************************<br> Cody Kahl is creator and writer of Toshiba Laptops Guide ? A site<br> dedicated to providing only the best <a target="_new" href="http://www.toshibalaptopsguide.com/toshiba-laptop-computers.html">toshiba laptop computers</a> information.<br> Cody believes in quality, and this free resource proves it.<br> *******************************************************

What is Over-clocking a Processor?

Q : What is over clocking? Overclocking is when you make your system processor run faster that its normal speed. This has many advantages and dis-advantages. Advantages : This is obvious, your system will run faster Dis-Advantages : Your hardware is likely to have a less life span. Your components will run at higher temperatures and there is an increased chance your system will overheat and crash. You need to be very careful or you could blow up your processor and / or motherboard. Q: What components do I need? You need to buy a special motherboard. Most motherboards will automatically detect your processor make and speed and you can not make any configuration changes. When buying a motherboard you need to make sure that you can change the processors bus speed. You will also need to buy some extra fans for your computer as it will be working harder and as a result everything will run at a higher temperature. It might also be worth looking for a case that can hold lots of case fans. Q: How do I overclock a processor? What you need to do is over clock the processors bus speed. You will need to check the manual that came with your motherboard on how to do this. I would recommend that you start by only overclocking a little bit before you try to get the most out of your processor. Q: Tips for Over clocking? Start by overclocking only by a small amount. If you overclock your processor to much your system will not come on and there is a chance that you could damage the processor and motherboard. If you do overclock your processor to much and the computer does not come on you can reset your motherboards configuration by removing the power at the back of your PC and also removing the battery on the motherboard for a few minutes. - Monitor the temperature of your processor. You can sometimes check this by going into your computer BIOS as it will be displayed in there. If it is not in there, there are freeware programs that you can download, Try searching <a target="_blank" href="http://www.download.com">www.download.com</a> - Make sure you have a descent processor fan. Always buy a fan that supports much faster processors as this will cool your processor much better. Buy and fit as many case fans as you can. - Before overclocking your processor do some research by searching the internet for stories of what other people have done. This way you will know how much you can realistically overclock. Good luck, and remember post your stories and experiences of overclocking in our forums Article <a target="_new" href="http://www.computing-forums.com/computer/how-to-overclock-a-processor-46.htm">http://www.computing-forums.com/computer/how-to-overclock-a-processor-46.htm</a> Jason Barrett <br> <a target="_new" href="http://www.computing-forums.com">www.computing-forums.com</a>

Getting A New Laptop At A Great Price

With all the wheeling and dealing that seems to take place on the internet at all times of the day, it can sometimes get confusing just trying to find your own deal. Finding the best price on your new laptop is most likely your highest priority at this point, but there are other important factors as well.<br> In this article I will discuss some of the best ways to ensure that you get the ultimate price on your new beauty, as well as a few other tidbits that shouldn't be left out.<br> I don't know about you, but I always love to first check out prices on eBay. In fact, this is what I recommend that you do also. Head on over to eBay and see what kinds of prices are listed for your specific notebook. I am assuming you are looking for a brand new laptop, so that is what you should look for on eBay. I like to look at the &quot;buy it now&quot; prices, of course making sure that the price listed is for a brand new machine. Alternatively you can look at auctions that are about to end. This method will usually give you a little better indication of what your specific notebook is going for on eBay.<br> eBay is good to look at first, mainly because they usually have the best prices. By finding out what you can get your laptop for on eBay, you will instantly have a lowball figure that others must beat.<br> So what now? I recommend going over to a couple price comparison sites such as shopping.com or pricegrabber.com. What these sites do is list a bunch of merchants that are selling the specific product that you are looking for. What is great about it is that a price is listed by each merchant, as well as customer reviews of the store (merchant).<br> A lot of these price comparison sites will even list the shipping price, and then calculate your total cost for whatever you want? It's a win-win situation for you! So now you are going to want to search for your specific notebook on a few price comparison sites. When the merchant listings come up, look for prices that are better than the ones you got from eBay. You will probably want to skip merchants with a bad rating, or at the most, go in and see why they are rated poorly. One more thing ?- Look at the shipping price? Sometimes you can get free shipping, or shipping at a much better rate than the auctions listed on eBay, which could steer the deal away from them.<br> Hopefully you have found an even better deal at one of the price comparison sites online. If you want, you can even go to some of the big name computer retailers and look at their prices, (even though many of them are listed on the price comparison sites). Sometimes you can find clearances though that will beat any of the prices you have found.<br> One other last point ?- Reliability is very important, especially with a purchase like this. For the eBay auctions you are going to want to look at the seller's feedback rating, and on the price comparison sites you are going to want to look at the merchant's customer ratings.<br> If you take the time to properly use the various resources that are available on the internet, you will find that getting a great deal on a new laptop is a lot easier than one might think. ***************************************************<br> Cody Kahl is creator and writer of Toshiba Laptops Guide ? A site<br> dedicated to providing only the best <a target="_new" href="http://www.toshibalaptopsguide.com/">toshiba laptops</a> information.<br> Cody believes in quality, and this free resource proves it.<br> ***************************************************

Correctional Institution Preventive Maintenance Software

There is a great need for preventive maintenance in correctional institutions. The public would be at risk if penal facilities waited to solve problems until after they manifested themselves. Correctional institution preventive maintenance software is necessary to ensure that life in the facility runs smoothly and none of the prisoners escape. As the governments and other organizations allot revenues for correctional facilities, there may be debate about the costs of such maintenance. Although the software is expensive, it is both effective and necessary. The best way to implement preventive maintenance software in correctional institutions is to integrate it in facilities statewide. This provides a uniform plan for all of the penal institutions and makes it easier for such facilities to work together if need be. This also assures that all of the institutions will be equally maintained and none will be in worse condition than the others. As with many other large institutions, standardization of correctional facilities is of paramount importance. There are many goals of correctional institution preventive maintenance software, including maintaining of the prison, reducing or eliminating emergency repairs, and systematically updating the information database. The need to maintain the physical facility is obvious ? the safety of the public and the living conditions of the inmates depend on the prison being well-maintained. The need to avoid emergency repairs is parallel to the maintenance of the facility. The integrity of the facility would be disturbed if the building suddenly needed to be repaired, creating a breach in the orderly pattern of operations. Finally, the creation of a comprehensive database makes it easier to keep accurate records and to share information between facilities. Correctional institution preventative maintenance software streamlines the operations of the facilities and minimizes unpredictable events. In the long run, it saves the taxpayers' money by making the institutions more efficient. <a target="_new" href="http://www.e-preventivemaintenancesoftware.com">Preventive Maintenance Software Info</a> features detailed information on preventive maintenance software for health care and correctional institutions, computer hardware, and personal assets, as well as reviews of preventive maintenance software companies. Preventive Maintenance Software Info is the sister site of <a target="_new" href="http://www.e-fleetmaintenancesoftware.com">Fleet Maintenance Software Web</a>.

Bluetooth Basics - Bluetooth Technology Tutorial

Bluetooth Basics Bluetooth technology is nothing new, but in many respects it still seems to be more of a buzz word rather than a well understood, commonly accepted technology. You see advertisements for Bluetooth enabled cell phones, PDAs, and laptops, and a search of the Geeks.com website shows all sorts of different devices taking advantage of this wireless standard. But, what is it? History Before getting into the technology, the word Bluetooth is intriguing all on its own, and deserves a look. The term is far less high tech than you might imagine, and finds its roots in European history. The King of Denmark from 940 to 981 was renowned for his ability to help people communicate, his name (in English)... Harald Bluetooth. Perhaps a bit obscure, but the reference is appropriate for a wireless communications standard. Another item worth investigating is the Bluetooth logo. Based on characters from the runic alphabet (used in ancient Denmark), it was chosen as it appears to be the combination of the English letter B and an asterisk. Capabilities The FAQ on the Bluetooth.org (https://www.bluetooth.org/) website offers a basic definition: "Bluetooth wireless technology is a worldwide specification for a small-form factor, low-cost radio solution that provides links between mobile computers, mobile phones, other portable handheld devices, and connectivity to the Internet." Just like 802.11 b/g wireless networking systems and many cordless telephones, Bluetooth devices operate on 2.4 GHz radio signals. That band seems to be getting a bit crowded, and interference between devices may be difficult to avoid. Telephones are now being offered on the 5.8 GHz band to help remedy this, and Bluetooth has taken its own steps to reduce interference and improve transmission quality. Version 1.1 of the Bluetooth standard greatly reduces interference issues, but requires completely different hardware from the original 1.0C standard, thus eliminating any chance of backwards compatibility. The typical specifications of Bluetooth indicate a maximum transfer rate of 723 kbps and a range of 20-100 meters (65 to 328 feet - depending on the class of the device). This speed is a fraction of that offered by 802.11 b or g wireless standards, so it is obvious that Bluetooth doesn't pose a threat to replace your wireless network. Although it is very similar to 802.11 in many ways, Bluetooth was never intended to be a networking standard, but does have many practical applications. Practical Applications There are a variety of products that take advantage of Bluetooth's capabilities, from laptops and PDAs, to headphones and input devices, and even wireless printer adapters. Many Laptops include an onboard Bluetooth adaptor to allow the system to connect to any Bluetooth device right out of the box. For laptop or desktop systems that do not have an adaptor built in, there are many USB Bluetooth adaptors available. Bluetooth enabled PDAs allow for convenient wireless synchronization and data transfer. Headphones can take advantage of Bluetooth for two purposes? audio playback and mobile phone communications. Using something a mobile headset with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone allows anyone to go hands free, as well as wire free. Logitech, and other manufacturers, also produce input devices that eliminate wires thanks to Bluetooth. You can add a Bluetooth mouse to your system, or both a mouse and keyboard. One advantage that Bluetooth wireless keyboard/mouse combinations have over the standard RF wireless keyboard/mouse combinations is range. Where most standard RF keyboard/mouse combinations have a range up to 6 feet; a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combination will usually have a range of up to 30 feet. Bluetooth printer adaptors make sharing a printer extremely convenient by eliminating the need for any wires or special configurations on a typical network. Printing to any compatible HP printer from a PC, PDA or mobile phone can now be done easily from anywhere in the office. Final Words At this point the popularity of Bluetooth might not be as large as some proponents would have hoped, but many devices are available for those interested. The cost and competition from other standards have hindered the widespread acceptance, but Bluetooth does offer a viable solution to many devices that might not have wireless connectivity without it. <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com">Computer Geeks</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">tech tips</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">computer advice</a>

Dusting Your Computer - Keeping it Cool

My mother always told me to dust, but I never did, mostly because I was lazy, but also because I couldn't find any tangible benefit to dusting. I just didn't see how I'd benefit from my room or my things being less dusty. Well now I've gotten a bit older, and I finally found a reason to dust - a cooler running computer. I'm going to give some background on my own system and circumstances first, then run tests before and after dusting, as well as explain how and what I used to dust. Be sure to take a look at this article - with pictures and graphs - plus a whole lot more, at aworldofhelp.com. I've had the computer in question for a little over two years, a dual AMD Athlon MP workstation that while no longer the top of the line, is still plenty fast enough for what I do. The computer is running at standard speeds and specifications, and has always been very stable - but not 100%. When the system was about a year old I had been getting by with the occasional, roughly once weekly lock up. At that point, I finally spent the time to try and diagnose the problem. To be perfectly clear, I'm talking about a lock up, where everything stops responding, the screen freezes and I have to reboot, not simply an application crash, which I can usually just blame on Microsoft. My initial thought was that the computer was overheating, specifically the CPUs. I was a little hesitant though because I was running AMD retail processors at standard specifications with AMD retail heatsinks and fans, and I figured that should have been a fine setup. But I've had CPUs overheat before when I was sure that was the problem and this just felt like it now. I did some research online and it looked like the AMD cooling solutions were somewhat underwhelming performers, so I broke down and bought new heatsinks and fans. These still weren't top of the line, but they reduced my CPU temperatures immediately by about 20%. In unscientific testing I'd say my computer was absolutely more stable after the reduction in temperature. I estimate the weekly lockup became a monthly or even every other monthly lockup. This clearly isn't perfect for a system that really should be 99.99% stable, but it was a big improvement, and I let the problem go for a while. I will note that as many of you many assume, this computer is always on, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Anyway now it's another year later and my computer is increasingly unstable again. I'm not going to go out and get better heatsinks and fans again, as I'm sure the improvement would be less than before. My next though was about how dusty the whole system is. I know I should have dusted it once in the last two years, but I never got around to it. I'd say I live in an average environment in terms of dustiness, not especially better or worse, and I just never thought it would make a very significant difference in my CPU temperature. As you'll see, I was completely wrong - which incidentally might make my mother right. Almost all users should really consider the results of both tests, possibly giving more weight to the one which most closely matches your typical computing. Even if you run predominantly business applications, you'll almost certainly occasionally do something that falls under this content creation test, editing pictures or an occasional home movie, for example. So consider all the tests, don't just focus on one graph. Should you dust your computer? Yes, why not, it can't hurt. But really, there are tangible benefits of cleaning your computer, even if it seems stable right now. Computers and electronics in general don't like heat. Dust blocks fans in your case, which generally cool you CPU, video card and motherboard components. Dust also blocks fans and their airflow into and out of your case. Cool air needs to be brought into a case, and then the host air dispelled. If the airways are blocked, system temperature can rise quickly. If your computer is stable but the CPU is running too hot, you cut down on its lifespan, potentially quickly. More important to many people though, may be the result of that first heat related computer lock up. Even if it's never been a problem before, if your computer crashes at the wrong time it can be catastrophic. Usually mine just locks up when I'm away from it, or overnight, and I just turn it back on and restart Firefox and haven't lost anything important. But last week it locked up with unsaved graphs for my last article and Excel chose no to auto save. I spent the hour it took to redo them considering ways to eliminate these lock ups. Of course, reducing heat is also always a priority for people who overclock their CPU. For those that don't know, overclocking is running a CPU at a higher frequency than it was sold to run at. For example, you could take your Intel Pentium 4 that is running at a "clock" rate of 2 GHz, and try to run it at 2.1 GHz, 2.5 GHz, faster speeds, or anywhere in between. I have an old dual CPU system that was supposed to run at 366 MHz. Instead I ran the chips at 500 MHz each, which was a huge performance gain. Overclocking is actually a great way to get more "free" performance out of a system, as long as you can maintain stability. Usually the single biggest factor for success is reducing heat as much as possible. Another thing to note is that while it is very important to keep CPU heat to a minimum, hard drives, video cards, and other components all need to be kept cool as well. In fact, I don't really know for sure that my CPUs are the current problem. I think they are, but my next guess (if I'm correct that it's a heat problem) would be my video card, since I've checked, and it runs really hot. Consider this as well, if my CPU were to actually stop working because it was too hot, it would probably be a gradual process, and I could fix the situation by purchasing a replacement. If my hard drive crashes and ultimately loses data, that could be a much more problematic situation. I could replace the drive, but recovering the data could be far more difficult than just replacing a CPU. I opened up the system and saw more dust than computer. All the fans were covered in dust, and their airflow was totally blocked. I put the case back on and took temperature readings of my computer both idle and when working. The tests are all run are on the following system: CPU - Dual AMD Athlon MP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) Motherboard - AMD K7-D RAM - 1024 MB RAM (2 x 512 MB registered DDR 2100) Video Card - Matrox Parhelia AGP 128 MB HD - Segate 5400 rpm- st320410a Windows XP SP2 I picked that unexciting hard drive because it was the only one I had that reports temperature. For the idle readings the computer was freshly booted into Windows. To get the computer running at full load I ran two instances of Prime95, a math application that will max out a CPU (2 copies running, one each for 2 CPUs), and copied 2 GB of Music on the hard drive to another folder on the same drive. The entire process took about half an hour. Without anything to compare them to, those numbers for the most part aren't terribly interesting. My only reaction was that 63 degrees Celsius seems pretty hot, and the idle CPU temperatures aren't too wonderful either. Remember, each CPU type has a different recommended temperature range. 63 degrees may be too hot for mine, but could be either acceptable, or perhaps way too hot for your own. Regardless, you hopefully will notice a relative reduction in temperature after dusting. Dusting the computer As I said, I've never dusted a computer before, but I came up with what ended up being a reasonable plan. I bought compressed air and a small brush from staples for $7 total and used a rag I have here. I made sure to unplug my computer, grounded myself to discharge static electricity by touching something metal other than my computer, opened up the case and was ready to go. As long as you make sure your computer is unplugged, don't get anything wet, and are gentle while you have it opened, you really shouldn't damage anything. For the most part, the inside of your computer is delicate, but it isn't brittle. The most notable exception is your CPU. If you were to disconnect it and pull it out of the motherboard you would expose pins on the bottom that are in fact extremely delicate. You could do a really thorough job by taking everything apart and getting all the dust out, but I didn't want to spend that much time doing it and I figured if I left everything connected their was less chance I'd mess something up. So I used the air, brush and rag and got the dust off the computer, taking the most time to clean the fans and the holes they blow out of. I ran the same tests again, and the results were dramatic. Idle, CPU 1 saw an 18% reduction in temperature, while CPU 2 is 10% cooler. That's very important, as all those hours my computer is sitting doing very little it's going to be considerably cooler. At full load, CPU 1 is 21% cooler and CPU 2 is 12% cooler. These are again very impressive results, and very important as well. I have had lock ups when video encoding and doing other CPU intensive tasks, and now the chips should be running cooler while doing those. It's interesting that originally CPU 1 was hotter than CPU 2, and after the cleaning they switched. An important fact is that the temperature reporting on this type of dual AMD Athlon system is generally uneven. That said, CPU 1 was easier to dust around because the DVD drives were in the way of CPU 2, so I probably did a better job cleaning the former and there is still likely room for improvement in cooling the latter. One other note, I kept track of the fan speeds before and after cleaning, and I saw about a 2% increase in the CPU fan speeds after I dusted. I wasn't expecting this at all, and certainly can't be certain that this will always result from dusting, but it could be very interesting for overclockers trying to eak out every last bit of fan performance. The hard drive temperature saw a 9% improvement while idle after dusting, and again a 9% improvement at full load. It's a nice temperature reduction for a mechanical component that will be grinding away for thousands of hours over the life of your computer. The case temperature stayed the same throughout all the tests. Conclusion All in all I was surprised the results were so dramatic. I expected few degrees for the CPUs and maybe one for the hard drive, but to see a 20% reduction in temperature is just great. There is defiantly room for improvement as well. The CPU fans have covers that I could have taken off and gotten more dust out, and as I mentioned reaching one of the CPUs was harder than the other. Further, I'd say I got most of the dust inside my computer, well over 90%, but I still saw some that proved more challenging to clean that I was willing to bother with. Taking all the cards out and thoroughly cleaning the whole system would have no doubt led to even better results. My system has maintained the cooler temperatures so far, a week after the cleaning, and I haven't had a lock up since. I can't be certain I've solved the lock up problem, but it does appear I have for now. At the very least, I can be sure CPU heat is not the problem, as now they are running at very acceptable temperatures. Your own results will vary, and may not be as dramatic if your computer wasn't as dusty as mine. Regardless, you should see some reduction in component temperature after cleaning your system. All in all I recommend you take a look around and inside your computer to see how it looks. If it's dusty, $7 and an hour of your time seems like a good investment to increase the life of your computer and prevent system lock ups. I suspect many people suffer the occasional heat caused lock up, it just isn't obvious what the problem is, and they don't occur often enough to be a serious concern. But remember, even if you only have one heat caused lock up in the entire life of your computer, it could come at the worst time, or cause permanent damage. Steve Perlow is the founder of <a target="_new" href="http://aworldofhelp.com">aworldofhelp.com</a>, where you can find the aworldofhelp Top Picks in desktop and notebook systems. Visit aworldofhelp.com to get answers from real people to your questions about technology, travel and more.

Used Laptop Computer: Your Quick Purchase Inspection Guide ? Part 3

Used laptop computers are everywhere these days. How can you sift through the mass of available used laptop computers to narrow your search down to the right laptop for you? This is the third part of a series of articles designed to give you a few suggestions for your next purchase. Test the Keyboard and Built-in Mouse When you get an operating system up and running, open a text file like notepad and start typing on the keyboard. How do the keys feel? If they are sticking, this may indicate coffee or another liquid having been dropped on the computer. A definite red flag. Is the built-in mouse functioning properly? If it isn't, understand that this could seriously hamper the portability of the laptop. Using an external mouse when you are on the go can be very inconvenient. Laptop Battery: Don't expect much Laptop batteries generally don't maintain a full charge for more than a year or two at most. The manufacture date of the laptop is often found on its underside. If the manufacture date is more than two years and it has an original battery, consider yourself lucky with any battery life you get. Most used computer dealers will not give you any warranty for the battery. An extra battery is always a wise purchase when buying a used laptop. Consider asking the dealer what it would cost to get another one. Laptop multimedia: Testing the sound and video. Sound and video are both things that are important to some people and not to others. If you see yourself listening to music using the laptop speakers, try to play some music on them to see how they sound. You may want to cart a music CD with you along with your Knoppix CD. Have realistic expectations though. Laptop speakers rarely sound full. They usually have a tinny sound with lots of treble and little bass. If you plan on watching movies on the laptop, you may want to consider choosing a used laptop computer with a DVD-ROM drive in it. If that is important to you, I would suggest you carry a DVD movie with you to evaluate how well the laptop plays back video. If it pauses and labors with the DVD, you may want to consider another laptop. Stay tuned for our fourth and final article on tips you should follow when purchasing a used laptop computer. Joe Duchesne is the President of <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Gotocompare.com</a> a site that specializes in <a href="http://www.gotocompare.com" target="_blank">Computer Hardware</a> related information. Gotocompare helps owners find the device drivers, manuals and tech support they need to keep their equipment in tip top shape. Reprint freely as long as the links in this resource box are live and point back to Gotocompare.

How to Change, Upgade or Remove an IDE Hard Drive

Hard drives - Hard drives are a little more complicated. First off, you have to know what you want to do with the hard drive. By this, I mean either you want it set to either SLAVE or MASTER. If you want to boot from the hard drive (load windows or whatever other OS off it) then you want it to be your master. If you already have a master, and you want to use this as extra space, set this hdd to slave. This setting change requires a jumper on the back of the hard drive to be moved. It may sound hard, but it's easy. These jumper configurations can be found on the back of the hdd; most have a small label which states which way is which. After setting the jumper, take the IDE cable that runs to your primary hard drive. This is the long, usually grey cable that runs from a slot on your motherboard to your primary hard drive. If you are putting your new hdd in as a slave, this cable should have a second connector on it not being used. Connect this to the new slave hard drive, but don't disconnect the cable from your other HDD. If you're putting a new drive in as master, then you need to take the cable running right to your old HDD, detach it, and connect it to the new master HDD. In both cases, you will need to connect a power cable to the HDD. This runs from your power supply, and you should have a few extra not being used. Connect one connector to the 4 pronged connector on the hard drive. Once the hard drive is all connected, make sure it is fastened to the chasis on both sides of the case. This can be done by removing the case, then bolting the hard drive on one side and then the other. This is important - if you only bolt one side of the HDD, it can lead to corruption of files on the HDD. I am a young, aspiring computer engineer into Internet Marketing, hardware, software, web design, SEO and just about anything related to computers. Please come check out my growing PC forum at <a target="_new" href="http://www.markspcforum.com">http://www.markspcforum.com</a>

Learn to Find Cheap Laptop Computers on the Internet

Cheap laptop computers are coming to a store near you. In fact, there are many there already. That's because, like any newfangled electronics device, laptop computers were once the cream of the computer crop, which made them super expensive. Nowadays, however, laptops are a dime a dozen. Held-held personal digital assistants and Bluetooth cell phone devices are the new rage. And so laptops are cheap. This does not mean that they are cheaply made, though. Thanks to the wonders of the technological cycle, laptop computers are decreasing in price as their capabilities rise. Of course, there are the latest, greatest laptops out there-monsters made for gaming, for instance, or for high-powered multimedia applications-and these still cost a pretty penny. But the average user can find themselves cheap laptop computers that provide all that they need in power, connectivity, and then some. Every major manufacturer out there, such as Dell, HD, and IBM, has their lower end and intermediate models that come with more than enough speed and usability. The key to finding the right model for you is to figure out exactly what you need it for. Will you be using it mainly for surfing the Web or word processing? Do you need it to work from home or mainly to save your MP3s and digital pictures? Then consider the different facets of computer, starting with its hard drive, memory, and processor. Your hard drive is essentially the brain of your computer, where all of your applications, files, and folders are saved. Your memory, or RAM, involves the &quot;thought processes&quot; of a computer, and gets used whenever you have a program open, such as Word or your Firewall. Your processor essentially does as its name suggests, processing the inner workings of how each program runs. Some other aspects to consider for your computers are also the ports involved, which can connect your computer to your camera or music player. Many cheap laptop computers today also come with wireless and broadband connectivity. Mike Long is the successful web publisher of Laptop-SuperGuide.com providing valuable tips, advice, and info about a multitude of relevant topics including <a target="_new" href="http://www.laptop-superguide.com">cheap laptop computers</a>.

Portable MP3 Player Based Education

A revolution in learning technology has taken place. Actually, it took place a few years ago, and I'm only just now catching up. The reason is that no one connected the dots for me, and I guess I'm a bit slow. :) That's the value added I'm giving you here today. I'm connecting the dots for you, in case you haven't yet made the connection. MP3 players have become huge business. The most popular of these, of course, is the IPOD, but you can find many other brands with lots of different features to select from. They mainly get used for entertainment purposes - listening to music on the go, hearing podcasts by your favorite artists, and so forth. But the real revolution for upwardly mobile people is in having portable education that you can take with you most anywhere. I got, as a birthday gift, Creative's MuVo TX FM. If you get this one, and if you have ears anything like mine, be prepared to spend another $10 to get a decent set of headphones, because the ones that come with it physically hurt my ears. Not permanently - just a bit of temporary pain. And since I'm not into avoidable pain, I went to my local Radio Shack and got their "Three-In-One" package - which includes 3 sets of headphones for, like I said, about $10. OK - so having an MP3 player is "dot" number 1. "Dot" number 2 is that you can find huge numbers of MP3 audio files for instruction on almost anything. And you can download these files to your computer. And from your computer, you can transfer these files to your MP3 player. For example, from one of the membership sites I in which I participate, there is an mp3 file of an interview of Brian Keith Voiles, an acknowledged master copywriter. I've had that file on my computer for ages. Never got around to lisening to it. Now it's on my little MuVo and I've started listening while - well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go to ... "Dot" number 3 is that you can get an adaptor (I got mine, again from Radio Shack) to let you play these audio files in your car over your stereo speakers. Beautiful! Now as I drive around doing errands, I can absorb in the convenience of my car, wihtout breaking any laws, information from copywriting experts or from self-help coaches, and more. I spend a fair amount of time in the car, so this really increases my productivity. But we're not done yet... "Dot" #4 - My little MuVo enables me to go to bed, and continue listening as I drift off into the Land of Nod ... without disturbing my wife! I can walk around the house, go work out, and all kinds of other sundry things - and continue learning. Finally - the unit I bought also enables me to record ideas on the fly and play them back. I haven't fully tested this yet, so I'm not sure about the audio quality - is it suitable for playing to you on my website? I'll be experimenting and report back to you. The MuVo that I got costs about $149 plus whatever tax and shipping applies. Add the new headphones (a must, I'm sad to say) and the car adaptor, and you're looking at a total expenditure of about $180. That may seem like a fair amount of money, but if you spend a lot of time doing mentally deadening things like driving around doing errands or working out while the gym plays the latest in so-called music so that you can't think - well, this may be an incredible value. I can recommend the MuVo (depsite the headphones), but shop around. Lots of folks vouch for the iPod. And others for something called Zen. You'll find lots of options, including price. Something is bound to work for you. And once you have it - watch out. You're brain may just explode with the new wealth of information you'll be painlessly absorbing. =================== This article may be reprinted as long as you keep it intact, unchanged and include this resource box. Bal Simon will help you turn your ideas into money. Visit <a target="_new" href="http://subscribe.wealthcountry.com/home.php">http://subscribe.wealthcountry.com/home.php</a>. You can contact Bal at <a target="_new" href="http://www.wealthcountry.com/contact.html">http://www.wealthcountry.com/contact.html</a>

The Printer Cartridge Wars: Generic or Remanufactured Cartridges Right for You?

<b>Overview</b> As "generic", "remanufactured", and "new compatible" inkjet printer cartridges and laser toner cartridges creep deeper into the printer accessories market, the choices become varied and often confusing. It is estimated that by the year 2004 the aftermarket share of the inkjet and toner cartridge market will exceed 11% of the estimated 12 billion dollar printer accessory market [source: CART magazine, March 2001] Here's a look at what all these terms mean, and an examination of the upside and downside of using non-"brand name" printer cartridge products in your printer. <b>Terminology</b> First, let's examine the terminology. When shopping online for a new inkjet or toner cartridge for your printer, you'll likely encounter these terms: <b>OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or brand name products</b> A "brand name" inkjet or toner cartridge is just that - it's a printer cartridge that carries the brand name of the manufacturer on it, usually the same as the printer manufacturer, for example, Epson, Canon, Hewlett Packard, etc. <b>New compatible, off-brand or generic products</b> A "new compatible", "off-brand" or "generic" inkjet or toner cartridge is manufactured by a company other than the original printer manufacturer. There are a large number of these "new compatible" manufacturers, and it's quite true that the quality of their product can vary (more on that a bit later). In the case of inkjet cartridges, "generic" cartridges are completely new. In the case of toner cartridges, to qualify as "new compatible" the toner drum must be replaced with a brand new drum, as well as all major parts serviced and replaced as needed. <b>Remanufactured products</b> A "remanufactured" inkjet or toner cartridge, by definition, is a cartridge which has been serviced, cleaned, refilled with toner or ink and possibly had a few component parts repaired or replaced. In many cases, remanufactured toner cartridges do not have new drums; they instead refurbish the original drum and send it out for another cycle. <b>An Important Note About Toner Cartridges</b> The relatively unknown truth is that almost all laser toner cartridges, including most of the original brand name "new" cartridges, have been remanufactured to some extent. The defining point is to what degree they have had component parts repaired and/or replaced. For example: check the box for a brand new Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 4000/27X. Brand new, right? Well, it is. But check the fine print, which says: This newly manufactured product may contain parts and materials recovered from the HP planet partners recycling program. This means that the product, while "new", is possibly not completely new; it's quite probable that components of this cartridge have been used before, and have been recycled. <b>Quality vs. Cost</b> It's a fact: the cost of brand name inkjet and toner cartridges can be exceedingly high in comparison to generic or remanufactured inkjet or toner cartridges. In many cases, new compatible inkjet cartridges can be as much as 70% less than the cost of brand name cartridges. New compatible or remanufactured toner cartridges on the whole tend to be as much as 50% less in cost than their brand name counterparts. For example, an Epson T013201 black inkjer cartridge, used for various Epson Stylus printers, sells for $17.09 direct from Epson. The same cartridge, compatible, at an online retailer, Abacus24-7 (http://www.abacus24-7.com), sells for $4.95. The difference....70% in savings.(Prices as of August 2005) What's the catch? Well, there really isn't one, if you find a quality off-brand product you can purchase from an online merchant you can trust, one who stands by their product in those rare cases that generic or remanufactured products don't perform as well as you expect. Brand name cartridges cost much more than generics primarily because of the marketing and advertising budgets most OEM manufacturers spend in promoting their products; a cost most smaller manufacturers don't have. And then there's the issue of your printer warranty - we'll discuss that issue a little bit later. <b>Inkjet Cartridges: Performance</b> Generic or new compatible inkjet cartridges are in general highly reliable and perform as well as, or nearly as well as, brand name cartridges. Latest technologies and adherence to ISO 9001 codes (internationally recognized standards for quality assurance) by most producers of generic cartridges has increased the overall reliability of these aftermarket products in relation to your typical brand cartridges. In particular, Epson and Canon new compatibles are highly reliable, as the technology required to duplicate the performance of their cartridges is minimal (with the exception of the very latest Epson cartridges with the "computer chip"). In terms of print life (how many pages they print) generics stack up pretty well - usually within plus or minus 5% of the life of your typical brand name cartridge. High quality photographic printing is the one area where generic cartridges are occasionally suspect. The quality of the inks used by the manufacturer play a significant role here - lower grade ink which doesn't have the same density or brilliance and consistency of color can produce inferior results in the most high-demand cases. Although most manufacturers of generics have moved away from inferior inks, we recommend you ask your online merchant about the quality of the inks used by their supplier, if you are doing this kind of high-quality photographic printing. In particular, the inks should be made in the U.S.A.. With good ink your results should be just fine. Remanufactured Inkjet cartridges are another subject. Primarily you will only find remanufactured Inkjet cartridges for Hewlett Packard, Lexmark and Dell, as these companies have meticulously patented (and subsequently filed suit against anyone who tried to duplicate) their inkjet cartridge designs. There are no true "generics" for HP or Dell inkjet printers. Remanufactured cartridges are a huge cost value over new cartridges - usually over 50% less - and for every day printing work just fine. The failure rate of remanufactured cartridges is slightly higher than new product, however, and so it's important your online merchant guarantees their product to cover the occasional return. For typical printing, remanufactured inkjet cartridges can be the right choice over new ones. Lately, Dell computers and printers are increasing in popularity. Dell's popular models include the Color 720, and All-in-One a920, a940, and a960 models. Direct from Dell, one can buy an OEM cartridge, for example the color cartridge (X0504) for the Dell a940 printer for $34.99 from www.dell.com. The same cartridge, yet remanufactured, sells online for $23.95 at Abacus24-7 (http://www.abacus24-7.com).(Prices as of August 2005) <b>Laser Toner Cartridges: Performance</b> As with generic or new compatible inkjet cartridges, new compatible toner cartridges are for the most part highly reliable and provide a noticeable cost savings over brand new toner cartridges. Again, ISO 9001 standards have greatly increased the consistency and reliability of the aftermarket toner product in recent years. Further, many new compatible toner manufacturers increase the volume of toner in the cartridge, providing for a longer print life. Quality new compatible cartridges will have new or replaced mag sleeves, wiper blades, and magnet tips. Remanufactured toner cartridges in general have a less stringent set of criteria applied to them, and as mentioned before may not contain a new toner drum. Be sure to ask your supplier. It is our humble recommendation that you go with toner cartridges that have a new aftermarket drum, as opposed to a refurbished or recycled drum. Lastly, ask if the new drum is "high density". You want that. Color laser new compatible toner cartridges are just coming to market, and although early feedback seems to indicate a positive outlook, an evaluation of these cartridges is premature at this time. <b>Good for the Country, Good for the Environment</b> If you care about recycling or the good of the Country's economy, consider these facts: - 99% of new compatible toner cartridges are manufactured in the USA; most "OEM" brand cartridges are manufactured overseas - Nearly 40,000 tons of plastic are saved from our nation's landfills each year, by remanufacture of inkjet and toner cartridges - It takes on average 2 quarts of oil to manufacture a Brand New Toner cartridge but less than half of that amount to manufacture a new compatible toner cartridge <b>Your Printer Warranty and You</b> A legitimate concern of many people is whether using generic or remanufactured cartridges in their printer voids the printer's warranty. The answer is no. The following is a partial quote of the text of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, which deals with this exact question: MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY IMPROVEMENT ACT United States Code Annotated Title 15 Commerce and Trade Chapter 50 Consumer Product Warranties 15 Section 2032 ... (c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection be waived by the commission if: 1) The warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and 2) the Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest. In English, this means that no warranty may be voided by use of aftermarket products unless the manufacturer acquires a waiver that clearly shows such voidance would be in the public interest, or that their product will only function properly if the specified manufacturer parts are used. There is one catch, however: the manufacturer (in this case your printer manufacturer) is not compelled to repair their product under warranty if damage done to the product occurred as a direct result of using aftermarket parts. In other words, using generic cartridges is fine, and if your printer ever fails under conditions which have nothing to do with the cartridge you are using, no problem. However, if the damage is directly caused (however unlikely) by the use of a generic cartridge, the warrantor may elect not to repair it, although the warranty would remain in effect for all other warranty issues. <b>Conclusion</b> In general, aftermarket generic and new compatible or remanufactured printer cartridge products are an excellent way to cut significant costs from your every day small business or personal printing expense, while maintaining quality printing results. Those who need extremely high quality printing (such as photographers and artists) can, with a little trial-and-error testing of different generic cartridge products, find a product which provides the quality results you need. In all cases, be sure to buy your cartridges from an online supplier who 100% guarantees their product without question, and isn't afraid to answer your questions when it comes to the quality and reliability of their products. Written by David Amerman also published by <a target="_new" href="http://www.About.com">About.com</a>