Archive for February, 2010

Make no doubt about it – Alienware is king in the computer gaming world. Their machines cost a pretty buck but deliver top end gaming performance. The Alienware M15x is a vast improvement over previous generations: it’s 15.6″ screen has a shows high def in all it’s glory (1920 x 1080 resolution), it’s Core i7 720QM CPU scores ultra high on PCMark Vantage, and it’s video card scores above average compared to others in its class. The chassis is a little bulky and speaker quality somewhat sub par. At max settings battery life is limited to two hours. CNET gives the M15x 4 out of 5 stars because of the amazingly powerful CPU & Video card.
The top end tricked out system costs $3,199. If you’re a gamer looking for your next rig the M15x is worth every penny.

Remember the old days when laptops were cumbersome, heavy, and had 2 “stellar” two hour battery life? Well those days are long gone. This past summer Intel released a new brand of processor called a CULV that changed the face of mobile computing. Instead of guzzling power it these new CPU’s “sip” from the power source. What does that mean? It means that now laptops get phenomenal 8, 10, and 12 hour battery life! You can literally go all day without having to plug in your machine. More freedom is always good.

I just bought the Toshiba T135-S1309. It’s a 13.3″ Ultra Thin CULV laptop that gets about 8 hours battery life.  The T135-S1309 comes with fairly speedy 1.3Ghz dual core processors, 3GB of RAM, and a spacious 300GB hard drive. The screen is bright and beautiful, ultra thin (1″), and only weighs 3.9 pounds! I’ve found the keyboard very easy to type on; the touch pad is somewhat average but functional. This ultra thin comes with all the basics: wireless N, webcam, card reader, LAN networking, and 3 USB ports. The only things missing are onboard Bluetooth and an optical drive. Most software be can installed via the internet (or external DVD drive) so optical drives really aren’t needed these days. Bluetooth is a nice feature to have but not absolutely required in my opinion. Read the rest of this entry »

Gateway’s SX2840-01 is a clever improvement of their fabulous SX2800-01. This slim tower has 2.93GHz quad core machine multitasks with ease and has very fast performance. The specs (6GB RAM, 64MB Video Card, 1TB Hard drive) make it perfect for home or office use. It’s got HDMI (video) out which means that you can also use it as a Home Theatre PC. The missing onboard wireless networking can easily be remedied by installing an internal or external device. The SX2840-01 is CNET Editors Choice for Feburary 2010.

You can buy the SX2840-01 for $559 at Newegg and $569 Amazon. Read the rest of this entry »

As many of you know – I’ve been repairing computers for the past 17 years. All technology has evolved over the years I’ve continually heard one statement over and over: “Backup your data.” From the old 486 machines, through the Pentium era, onto to today’s quad core systems…I’ve heard this same “Backup your data” statement so often that it’s almost become a mantra. Back up stuff up so if, for some reason or other you loose your data, you can retrieve it from the backup. If you only have one copy of your data don’t risk loosing it – back it up. More About Backing Up Your Stuff

This week Newegg is featuring the Acer Aspire AS5739G-6959 for $649.99. That’s actually a $150 savings off the usual $799.99 price. It’s nearly identical to the Acer AS5739G-6132 which ranked #1 in our Best 5 Laptops on Newegg – October Edition. This machine’s main two drawing points are the bright 15.6″ LED backlight display (1366 x 768 resolution) and the powerful 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M video card. News flash! This video card is a pure beast according to this user opinion on Tom’s Hardware. It runs World of Warcraft on highest settings! The CPU is a 2.2GHz Intel Dual Core with 4GB RAM and a 320GB Hard drive. The AS5739-6959 also comes with Windows 7 and today’s standard lineup: 720p Webcam, Wireless N, an HDMI port, and 5.1 surround sound (coming out of two built-in stereo speakers and one Tuba CineBass Booster). More About this Acer Laptop

It’s strange how technology can both eliminate barries and bring freedom (through social networks, and the free speach of the blogsphere) as well as bring hinderances and chains (through viruses and spyware  infections). Everyone faces the occassional technical problem and without an apparent solution and needs. In the next phase of our evolution we’ve decided to answer popular tech questions on Yahoo Answers and post them here. All those questions will be posted in our Tech Support category for everybody to see and use. Hopefully they will help you in the future if you find yourself in a bind.

How to Remove Internet Security 2010
All of us surf the web every day. While casually perusing around online it’s easily possible to go to a “fringe website” and get infected with a virus or spyware. Internet Security 2010 is one of the worst spyware programs out there. As computer technician who does a fair amout of software repair I see this program often on my clients laptops. I just removed this so I know exactly how to fix it. If you think you’re infected with Internet Security 2010 do the following: How to Remove Internet Security 2010