Can You Trust Laptop Computer Ratings?

Buying a laptop computer is an investment. This is one reason most people are looking for the best deal they can get on a laptop whether it is new or refurbished. There are so many high quality brands of laptops on the market today; it is hard to determine which one will suit your needs. Finding the best rated laptops to suit your needs is one of the most important elements when buying a computer. You need to know what your needs are before you commit to such an investment. Weeding through laptops that are designed for gaming, business or general home use can get confusing when you are not well versed in this area.

The best way to get educated on technology and laptop computers is to read laptop computer reviews. You can find expert laptop reviews online that will give you the information you need on laptop ratings and the pros and cons of various brands. You can even get technical information on the best rated laptops like how to make laptop computer wireless, laptop computer temperature monitor options, laptop wireless internet access and a breakdown of what they cost so you can find out how to get a top rated lap top computer cheap. Finding the best rated laptops is all about the knowledge you gather from experts and users.

If you prefer to check out information on a refurbished laptop computer, you are likely to find even more ratings and reviews on them since they are not so new. Something to consider when you are shopping for refurbished laptops is the brand name and where you decide to purchase it. Make sure you are getting the best deals by checking out the manufacturer's information before you buy. Most all the top brands like Apple, Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba, Sony and Acer offer top quality refurbished laptops. Finding the best rated laptops doesn't mean you have to buy new.

Most of today's laptops have integrated wireless internet already, so you won't need to buy an adaptor to make it work on your home or office wireless internet connection. It should pick it right up for you. Even if you are not going to use wireless internet at home, it can come in handy when you are traveling.

If you are looking for a laptop that can has a full keyboard for easier use, the Toshiba Satellite P505-S8980 is a model that provides that option. If you are looking for more portability, Apple MacBook is one of the best laptops for mobility. No matter what you are looking for in a laptop, finding the best rated laptops by reading reviews and learning as much as you can about them will be beneficial to you.

Jason Whitney writes about how to find the best rated laptops at http://www.squidoo.com/wirlelesslaptopexpert Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Whitney

15 ways to increase your laptop battery!

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up.  How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible?  Here are 15 easy ways to do so.
1. Defrag regularly -  The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.  Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.
2. Dim your screen – Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen.  Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance.  Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.
3. Cut down on programs running in the background.  Itunes, Desktop Search, etc.  All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life.  Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.
4. Cut down external devices – USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery.  Remove or shut them down when not in use.  It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.
5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.  Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse.  Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.  They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used.  Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.
7.  Keep the battery contacts clean:  Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.  This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.
8. Take care of your battery – Exercise the Battery.  Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time.  Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)
9. Hibernate not standby – Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.  Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler.  Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com.
11. Set up and optimize your power options – Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).
12. Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery.  Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3’s, set your mind to one thing only.  If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!
13. Go easy on the PC demands – The more you demand from your PC.  Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD.  If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.
14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop -  Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries.  Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.
15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.
Bonus Tip #1: Turn off the autosave function.  MS-Word’s and Excel’s autosave functions are great but because they keep saving regular intervals, they work your hard driver harder than it may have to. If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low. While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies.
Bonus Tip #2: Lower the graphics use. You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) use as much or more power today as hard disks – Thanks Andrew

How to Maintain and Charge Your Laptop Battery

Laptops are becoming popular as technology expands into the future, and it seems that most households have at LEAST one laptop these days. ( Please try your hardest to forgive me if you have no laptop at all!

Laptops are extremely convenient and handy, BUT - due to the proprietary parts that are used, and the relatively high cost of replacement parts, care must be taken in operating and maintaining these kind of computers.

One overlooked laptop accessory that can equal the difference between your computer working and your computer NOT working is: the BATTERY ! I recently experienced laptop battery failure, only 6 months after purchasing my shiny new HP laptop. Can you believe that my battery died in only SIX months while still under warranty? Exactly.....I can't believe it either!!

If I had known then what I know now, I would have avoided the frustration of waiting nearly two months from the time I shipped my old (dead) battery to HP; to actually receive the new item! Luckily, my computer was still under the factory warranty, or I would have spent a whopping $119.00 on a new battery! VERY BAD.

If your laptop is used for business, work or school; I am sure you cannot afford to go without your computer for suchs long periods of time, as I did. The old adage an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, holds as true as ever - so lets explore a few tips to prevent your laptop battery from dying prematurely:

1.) When at home or near a power outlet, plug in your laptop and REMOVE your battery!

Many people (including myself until last year), have the habit of plugging their laptop into the wall, and keeping the battery attached to the laptop. A laptop battery is rechargeable, and rechargeable batteries have a limit to the amount of times or hours, that they can be charged. When your battery remains in your laptop while it is plugged in, it continues to charge and thus the life of the battery is lowered significantly. Since your laptop will work with the power supply attached, without the battery; this method is the best way to extend the life of your laptops battery.

2.) Before you charge your laptop battery, make sure the battery is VERY LOW!

Rechargeable batteries have cell memory, which basically means that your laptops battery remembersï how much power it had prior to the last charge or use. For example: you keep your laptop plugged in, and your battery attached and only unplug the power adaptor when you decide to take your laptop with you, outside of the home. You notice that within 8 months, your laptop battery gives you the: recharge now warning, but in half of the time that it took 8 months ago. Instead of your battery dying in an hour and a half, it dies in just 45 minutes. Three months later your battery lasts a mere 30 minutes before the battery is dead, and so on.

You must allow your battery to cycle; in other words when you are using the battery in your laptop, keep the adapter unplugged UNTIL the battery power is nearly drained (your computer should have an icon or software that monitors and notifies you when your battery is low). I would recommend that you keep an eye on your battery while using your computer, save all of your important data when the battery gets very low, and allow the battery to die completely; and the PC to power itself off. Then, charge the battery.

(this method is not convenient at all, but the closer that you can get to practicing this, the longer your battery will last! )

3.When charging your battery, stop the charging process when the battery reaches 100%!

I know its extremely boring monitoring your laptops battery status when it is charging and no one loves doing this; BUT, if you would like your battery to work in peak condition, you will put this method into practice. For example: I used to plug in my laptops battery and allow it to charge for hours. I started to notice within several months, that after using my computer for 30 minutes the battery extremely low shutting down now warning would pop up; when months ago, I could use my computer for an hour and a half at least, until the battery extremely low warning popped up! I decided to let the computer shut itself off every time; and one day, I decided to plug the adapter in, turn the PC back on, and when it booted successfully I removed the adapter.

I continued this procedure for a day or two, then I finally noticed that the more I continue this cycling of the battery, the longer my battery lasted until it eventually supplied me with the full 1 hour of power. (I hope I didn't confuse you on that, if so, please feel free to email me).

I had inadvertently cycled my battery, or manipulated the memory cells by forcing the cells to re-learn their maximum charge level. To avoid needing to cycle YOUR battery, it is highly recommended that you monitor your battery is charging, and stop charging it once it reaches 100%. Just as important as unplugging it at 100%, is draining your battery completely prior to charging it.

I hope that you find this information helpful, and hopefully this article will help to save you from spending unnecessary money replacing your laptop battery. A penny saved is indeed, a penny earned. Happy Computing!

Jarvis Edwards is a Senior Technician at TekTime, a mobile computer consulting and repair company located in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. In his spare time, he likes to "hang out" with family, work on computers, play PC games and write articles! 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jarvis_Edwards

How To Receive Live Satellite Feed On PC or Laptop

Looking for ways to watch live satellite feed on your PC or laptop? Traditionally, people make use of hardware known as PCTV cards. However, there is a revolutionary alternative to that now. It comes in the form of software that enables PC or laptops to stream live satellite feed with the use of broadband network.

Why use software instead of PCTV cards? Well, one very obvious reason is that it will eliminate the need to open the computer and install the card inside. Although PCTV cards do come in the form of external USB device, you still have a hardware sitting on your desk. Also these cards will easily set you back by more than $50, not taking into consideration the time and effort in setting them up. The exciting thing about using this software is that since it is making use of the internet as the medium for live video feeds, a WIFI connection will work just fine with the software. What this means is that you can be sitting in a cafe watching live football or your favorite serials. You can get live satellite feed anywhere.

The software basically connects to the service provider and stream live satellite feed right to your desktop or laptop. This is not the typical episode downloads that you see online but the feeds are live. A good software like that will offer thousands of live channels in different languages for you to choose from. The best thing I like about this software is that you do not have to pay any monthly subscription to use it. Once the software is purchased, it entitles the user to live satellite feed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for as long as you like, free of charge, anywhere in the world.

Here are the summary of things to note before you buy satellite tv software:

1. It should come with a one-time fee. You only pay for the software and that's it.

2. A good software will offer more than 3000 channels worldwide for your viewing pleasure.

3. It should not cost more than $50.

4. Make sure that it supports your desktop or laptop's operation system (Windows XP, Vista, Mac, etc)

5. Read review about the software to have a better idea of what you are getting.

George Tho is a webmaster and a tv addict. Read his review on how to receive live satellite feed on pc or laptop and start enjoying thousands of satellite channels at http://www.clickbankproductreview.com/pcsatellitetvsoftware.php. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Tho

A Guide to Laptop Printers

Laptops are the most portable computers which are widely used among masses these days. If you are constantly on the run and always require hard copies of your work, research or presentations it is always a great idea to use laptop printers. The best feature about these is that they can be conveniently carried to anywhere at anytime. You can get your printouts even just minutes before a huge presentation without any kind of hassle. They are small in size and just as sleek as laptops themselves.

With such a printer in your access, you can simply print as many copies as needed in your office or any other business venue. Some people or business executives have a habit of proofreading letters and other official papers with a highlighter or a pen on a hard copy as compared to a computer screen. If you have one of these printers, you, your boss or associate can proof read on as many printouts as you want. There are a large number of computer companies who manufacture these. Most people like to purchase the printer of the same brand as that of their computer or laptop.

If you usually have a heavy load and need printing on a large scale then it is best to get a printer which can feed itself. Using this will save you time and also your work productivity will increase. The speed and the weight are two things which you should always think of while looking for laptop printers. It should be easy to carry and should also have a good speed. The printing quality is obviously a prerequisite so while purchasing don't forget to check out the quality of the prints.

A popular choice is the HP Officejet H470 mobile printer which can be purchased for $ 250 and is considered the fastest portable printers. It only weighs 2kg which makes it quite easy to carry everywhere with you. You can just keep it in your laptop bag and can enjoy unlimited printing. It also provides the advantage of printing pictures from phones, digital cameras and computers. It can be connected to another device by using Bluetooth or a cable and also using Wi-Fi technology to connect wirelessly which is helpful in producing laser prints. It is believed to be the best available these days. Do a thorough research before buying one as you can easily get confused with the vast range.

Visit laptop printers or compact printers for more information. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Everet