Computer Spot

If you are perennially a price-conscious shopper, shopping for laptops has to be a unique experience. No other part of the electronics shopping experience ever encounters the kind of roller coaster of temporary discounts and sales that shopping for cheap laptops does.

The most important part to finding cheap laptops is this – you really need to know your stuff.  It can be easy to take a quick look at the specs on the machine and think you’re getting great value.

If you don’t really pay attention to everything, you could be missing a hidden unimpressive spec.

Well, here are a few tips on how to understand the market for cheap laptops. Go in armed with these tips, you should find yourself a lot better equipped to tell the good deals from the bad.

As you might expect, retailers put various brands and models of laptop on sale in the discount area because usually, they’re trying to clear out space for more recent inventory.

Sometimes, they just have to do that because they have B-stock – that’s the term they use for floor display models that they would like to get rid of or units returned by the customer for some minor reason.

All of these are sold as refurbished products. And of course, they couldn’t sell this kind of thing at full retail.

So that’s an interesting term you usually come across when you’re hunting for cheap laptops – refurbished.

What exactly is a refurbished computer?

Well, as you just read in the last paragraph, these are usually units that are either returned by a customer for no real reason or ones that have been sitting on the shelves as display models.

They typically go over these computers carefully to see that there’s nothing wrong with them, wipe the hard drive and reinstall all software, and they sell it.

There’s really nothing much to it. They just have to slap the “Refurbished” label on it because they have to by law if it isn’t completely new.

One thing you need to do before you go out shopping, you need to do your research. To make sure that you remember the specifications at the store, keep those specs written down on paper.

You don’t have to worry about how cheap laptops are somehow less durable or anything. They use the same quality standards more or less.

At their best, cheap laptops are merely marked down for no good reason – the manufacturer decided to overhaul the look of their laptops or something.

And do remember – if you are buying refurbished, make sure that you check to see that you’re offered the full guarantee.

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If you’re a gamer and you’re working off a limited budget (who isn’t?) then you’re almost always better off buying a desktop computer and not a laptop. You get a lot more mileage for your money.

But laptops, more and more, are becoming mainstream and don’t really cost as much more than desktops as they used to.

You really could find a laptop for gaming that was designed with all the right features, that wasn’t that much more expensive than the desktop equivalent. This is what you need to know.

How do you know that a given machine is a gaming laptop? Well, usually, they don’t build them to be as slim and lightweight as regular laptops. These, they built for performance, even if it means a less flattering figure.

Now a laptop for gaming isn’t just a powerful laptop. It needs to have specific features built in that don’t all have to do with performance.

Let’s look at something to do with performance first of all and get out of the way. It goes without saying that a laptop for gaming needs a powerful graphics card built into the system.

Since this is meant to be an evergreen advice article and not just something for today, it’s hard to specify what kind of graphics card it should be.

As of late 2011, one specification you could look for would be a card built-in that had 2GB in graphics memory. That isn’t the only specification you need to look for though. Just look for the best discrete desktop graphics card for gamers they are selling at the moment, and look for something that’s nearly as powerful for your laptop.

A good way to judge how adequate the graphics card on your laptop is, would be to look up the recommended configuration for the games you intend to play. If your laptop has something like that, you’re good to go.

But apart from the performance, you’re looking for things that make gaming actually easy and convenient. For instance, if they call it a laptop for gaming and the keys seem all crammed together, that’s poor design.

Look for well-spaced backlit keys and a tapering keyboard design. You need to be able to hit those keys in a split second.

Of course, you need a good screen that’s at least 15 inches, and Full HD would not be a bad idea either. But you do want screen quality and sound quality that really live up to what the game designers have intended. And intend very well, they do.

They build those games these days to spectacular Hollywood movie levels of budget. The better your screen and sound are, the better you’ll enjoy your game.

Look for audio ports that will allow you to directly plug your laptop into a surround sound system if it’s available.

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The tablet accessories market is an overcrowded one. Once you get an iPad or other tablet and you’re happy using it on its own, at some point, you’re going to wonder about a few amenities you might appreciate to go with your tablet. Smart Covers for the iPad2, for instance, would be an example of a great essential tablet accessory.

Of course, you can go to some pretty exotic extremes buying tablet accessories that turn your tablet into all kinds of things.

For instance, on some models, you can get a nice laptop-like keyboard to just plug the tablet into – voila! instant laptop.

Or you could choose from among a bewildering range of tablet docks that let you just drop the tablet into a slot so you can play the music in it or something.

Well, those would be the more exotic choices. Let’s look at a few essential tablet accessories.

To any tablet computing enthusiast, the case has to be where all the accessorizing starts. You buy a brand-new tablet, and sooner or later, you begin to notice that that gorgeous expanse of transparent Gorilla Glass is beginning to pick up a few scratches – as hard as it tries to resist them.

They make covers and cases out of all kinds of different materials and in all kinds of designs. At its simplest, a protection cover is just a silicone skin or a clear plastic overlay for you screen.

It affects the looks of your pretty tablet as little as possible and it doesn’t add to the weight either. The iPad has its magnetic Smart Covers of course that actually performs a function – it turns tablet on or off on its own.

Buy an actual case for your tablet, and you could add considerably to its bulk. But you really would make your tablet far more usable – cases usually have kick- out stands that allow you to prop your tablet up like it were a picture frame.

And should you drop your tablet, as more and more tablet owners are beginning to notice that thye do, it’ll be completely protected unless you drop it directly on its face on a sharp rock.

A tablet is basically designed to be charged through the USB port on your computer. While this may be the way most people use their tablets, there are some who don’t ever go near an actual computer.

To them, a portable travel charger would be a great idea – something that you plug into the wall socket or the cigarette lighter outlet on your car. Companies like Belkin make all kinds of portable chargers.

Sure, your tablet comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. But often, just connecting it to another computer through a real wire is the fastest and most convenient way. Lots of tablets allow you to connect devices through HDMI, Ethernet or USB.

Often, it can be great just connecting your tablet to your large-screen TV and watching something that you just downloaded from iTunes. Getting the right complement of cables can be a lifesaver.

And finally, be sure to check out a windshield mount for your tablet. You’ll spend perhaps $20 for it, and it’ll just attach your tablet to your windshield with a suction cup. Your tablet can make for a great GPS unit.

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If you are on the market for a laptop for the student in your family, there are basically four things that you need to keep in mind as you shop around.

Laptops for students need to be light because they do need to carry them around a lot, and they need to be small enough to slip into a satchel or something.

They need to have the kind of power your child’s course of study requires, and they need to be the right operating system for the kind of software your child will be using in the course of her studies.

What that means is, if you have a student who is studying video editing or animation, you don’t want one of those mass-market $300 laptops. Those will almost certainly be underpowered for this kind of thing.

On the other hand, a powerful and bulky desktop replacement type with powerful graphics processing ability will be overkill somewhat for the student who just wants to take down notes in law school. Let’s look into it a little bit deeper.

As much as you would want to buy the most powerful machine out there that you can afford, you do need to remember that with bag and power supply all put together, a powerful computer can end up weighing 10 pounds.

It’s really too much to expect students to carry around all the time. You don’t want something that’ll tire her out before she even gets into class. So when it comes to buying laptops for students, you have to really accept that portability trumps power.

And it’s not just about how light the machine is, either. While you might find yourself loving a large 16 inch screen on a laptop when you’re working at home, try using that same laptop at the coffee shop or something where there are lots of other people and you don’t find yourself free to spread out.

That’s the kind of environment your child will be using her laptop in – in class or in the dorm. There really isn’t much room at a classroom desk for a large laptop. Go for something that’s 11 inches or 13 inches in screen size, and your child will thank you for it.

Actually, the small size of the thing should work out really well. The smaller the screen on the laptop is, the smaller the battery has to be. All put together, it has to make for one lightweight laptop. Not to mention, a smaller screen is likely to use less power. That’s more battery life for you.

Try your best to look for a laptop that has the longest lasting battery. Try to get something with seven hours of battery life at least. It shouldn’t be that hard these days.

And finally, you really don’t need to buy a really powerful computer unless your child really needs it in the course of her studies.

You do need to remember that a young person can be really tempted to stray into gaming in her spare time if she has a really capable computer. Get as little computing power as your child can actually manage with.

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When Microsoft released a Media Center Edition to Windows XP all those years ago, they were only acknowledging the obvious – that to most people, at least part of the time, their computer stands in for a videogame machine or an entertainment center.

Certainly, everyone knows right away that you need a nice, bright and impressive screen for their home entertainment system or their videogame machine. You need something that gives you an immersive visual experience.

What they don’t think of often is that you need immersive sound to go with it too. The best computer speakers that most systems ship with are tinny, tiny, and annoying.

Have you seen the kind of speakers they put into laptops? It’s as if they’re actually trying to not be audible. The thing is, people usually put all their speaker money into speakers for the home theater – out in the living room where there is a big-screen TV. They don’t seem like investing much in buying the best computer speakers as well.

Well, if you ever spent time looking around the computer speaker section at your local Best Buy, you will have noticed that once they call them computer speakers, they don’t really go beyond a certain size.

You really don’t need to spend a fortune. A reasonable pair is all one asks for. And since your computer is the most important entertainment unit in your house, it really does deserve better than what it ships with. You’ll have a far better time playing your games and watching movies.

So what do you need to look for if you’re out there at the aforementioned Best Buy computer speakers department and you’re not really sure how to judge all the speakers other than to look at the price tag?

Well, for the kind of attention to sound quality that today’s movie and game creators put in, you really owe it yourself to get a surround sound system – 5.1 or 7.1 – you know how it goes.

Every new DVD out there and every game as well, goes out of its way to blow your mind with spectacular surround effects. Everything is recorded to overwhelm you with crazy sound effects and immersive sound.

These don’t even have to be expensive. Your typical 5.1 system (which means five little speakers to surround yourself with and one subwoofer) by Logitech, retails for $65.

There is something that should occur to you when you talk about surround systems – how are you going to wire all those speakers all around your room without tripping over them all the time? Well, that’s what wireless speaker systems are for.

At least, that’s what they say they are for. You’ll pay hundreds of dollars for wireless surround computer speakers. If you think that buying wireless actually means wireless, think again.

The “wirelessness” only refers to how you don’t have to wire each speaker for audio. Each wireless speaker does need its own power source. So you just end up having to wire everything anyway.

And finally, make sure that you check to see that the speakers you buy have ready-built connections for all the different sound sources you might have – RCA, headphone jack and so on.

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You cannot get a good deal on a computer if you do not know what you need. You can get a great deal by saving a lot of money, but it is not a good deal if you do not get what you need the most when you make the purchase.

You have to know what you want when you go shopping so your great deal includes the programs and features that you use the most, and also so that you get enough memory so that you can store all the images and other items you have to have on your machine.

Great computer deals are only as great as they are once you find how good or bad it really is for your live specifically.

If you don’t take a lot of pictures or video that you plan to keep on a computer, you can find great computer deals on machines that do not have huge amounts of memory.

Remember that memory for storing files is different than the memory your computer needs to run programs. You want to have a high amount of speed to run your programs even if you do not have a large allotment of memory for images you will never store.

Be sure to find out, very specifically, where each model you are considering stands in those to very different forms of memory.

Other things to look for when getting great computer deals is what comes with the machine. If you use Microsoft Word all of the time, for example, then you want to be sure the entire program is on the computer that you are going to buy.

Some come with a trial run of the program, but if you want to use it more than a few times you are going to have to pay for this software on top of what you paid for the computer, and if you are aware of home much Word can cost at retail price, you know that getting a computer without Word is not such a good deal.

Another concern in finding great computer deals is the warranty that may or may not come included in the price. Some computers come with a great warranty that you do not have to pay for.

Some, on the other hand, have really flimsy warranties and you might want to consider buying something in a warranty from the store that covers the computer for you. Best Buy has something like this.

You have to decide if the savings on your new computer are worth the extra price in warranty that you might want to pay.

Saving fifty dollars is great, but not if you have to buy a hundred dollar warranty to protect it when others come with that same warranty included.

Do some research too. This does not have to be complicated or time consuming, but the more time you spend on your research the better prepared you are to choose the right computer. Ask friends and family, ask your FaceBook friends or Twitter followers, and even see what they use at your kid’s school.

Find out what brands and specific models people have had and still love long after purchase. Some brands that use to be top notch have gone down hill, so don’t go by what you loved ten years ago. Go by what others love now when finding great computer deals.

A typical computer should have a printer on hand. There are all sorts of computer printer characteristics to look into first.

The type of printer that is used is one of the characteristics to consider. This includes the printing quality and the speed of the printing. Multiple services, including scanning and faxing, can take place from a printer too.

Here is a look into these computer printer characteristics.

• The type of the printer
  • The dot matrix printer is still used in some places

  This is where pixels are printed to form a single image. However, more advanced technologies are being used. For instance, the toner based printer uses static electricity to move the toner into the paper for printing and then heat is applied to keep it on the paper.

  • The inkjet printer is the most common printer on the market today

  This is where small bits of ink are printed onto a piece of paper. Each bit of ink will be attached via a small electric charge.

  • Laser printers are becoming popular too

  These can work with toner in that the LEDs in the printer can get the toner to stick to the paper. Inkless printers are currently in development as well.

  Dye crystals are used to be heated into the area between the two layers of the paper. This is a process in development though, as the print has been known to fade quickly in trial tests.

Read the rest of this entry →

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Selecting the best laptop for yourself or for your Company may depend greatly upon the main purpose of usage.

The specifically designed net-books for business are selling big time in the market, attracting more and more businessmen in the market window, as they serve as a perfect communication, presentation and record keeping tool.

For any size of business, right from small to medium to king size, the notebook computer is quickly becoming an essential tool for business and the savvy business people know that acquiring the right tools is an important factor in determining the success or profitability of any company. Read the rest of this entry →