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Souped Up Laptop Hard Drives

By:pumpkinslayer

Flash hard drives may be picking up in popularity, but they lose out when it comes to value for money. Currently for $300 you can get either a 750 GB traditional hard drive or a 32 GB non-volatile flash disk. For now there is an alternative that sits somewhere between the two.

Hybrid hard drives, or H-HDD combine these two technologies to offer an increase in performance as well as an improvement in power consumption. The flash memory is stored onboard the hard drive and picks up where a normal hard drive leaves off. You can get much higher speed as the mechanical latency associated with most hard drive is not there. Power consumption can be improved because frequently used application data can be stored and then pulled from the flash memory.

These advantages apply mostly to notebook hard drives. They are much slower than desktop hard drives and power consumption is a much bigger issue for notebook users. With these additions H-HDD manufacturers hope to make laptop hard drives reach similar speeds to their desktop counterparts.

Currently, hybrid hard drives require that you run Windows Vista, not because it needs Vista, but because it needs ReadyDrive, a feature that comes with Vista. Which data is stored on the flash part of the drive is controlled by the operating system, and in Vista, ReadyDrive takes care of this. ReadyDrive sees how you use your programs and which ones you use the most, it then puts the most heavily accessed application data onto the flash memory part of the hard drive.

Power is saved when there is a read/write done onto the flash portion of the disk. Because there is no motor, flash media draws much less power. However, when the data is written to the disk the motor still needs to be used and therefore uses that power that was saved.

The flash media suffers from a slower transfer rate than the main part of the drive, but with its much faster access speeds, makes up for this. The fast cache that has become an integral part of hard drives is not replace in these models, but the flash part just complements the functions of the drive.

In actual use there is not really much advantage to this kind of hard drive. Although it promises to improve performance and save a lot of power it really does very little in the real world. Just wait for flash-only drives to come down in price, which is already happening, or for now just use a traditional model.

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Computer-buying-guide.com's hard drive section will give you all the latest information you need to know about hard drives and give you help in choosing what you need.

source:users.search-o-rama.com

No Comment | Posted in » flash hard drives, h-hdd, onboard, readydrive    

Here Are Some Things That Might Cause Monitor Problems

By: Victor Epand

Recently thin horizontal bands (grey in color) have appeared on my screen. When I'm in Internet Explorer, these bands coincide with the text displayed on the screen (even when i am typing this question). Also, the 'Back' button which is green appears nearly fluorescently green instead of the usual green.

If this problem appears, You can try replacing the monitor data cable. It probably won't amount to anything useful, but it could be the cable. If it isn't, I'd say just get a new monitor because it is definitely a manufacturer hardware problem. Definitely try to test a different monitor out before you buy a new one, because if the other monitor is fine then you've singled out the problem.

The monitor only will run on default mode and it won't let me adjust resolution, and can't play games and can't even download sbc virus protections. I would suggest that you re-install the video driver, or download the most current from dell.com. I am assuming that you are using windows and know how to adjust your desktop settings. If you do not, then right click on your desktop, and select propertys, and then settings. You will then be able to select a higher resolution. If you can not, then, Select advanced, and then the monitor tab.

Verify that the monitor is listed correctly, if not go to the HP website, and look for the correct driver for the monitor, and download and install it. This should open up your choices for resolutions, color depths and refresh rates.

When I first boot the computer the monitor works fine, however, after a short time it goes blank (flickers then goes blank-gray). If I give it a whack or two on the top with the palm of my hand the display reappears and stays on without any further interruption. Is there something loose or stuck closed inside the monitor?

Please don't do anything to your display anymore, you can cause more damage. The issue is that a solder joint has failed on the pc board within the display. Most repair centers, TV or Computer, can repair this type of issue fairly cheaply. I would recommend doing this as soon as you can, since the intermittant failure can cause other issues.

My pc system is 18 months old and has been running perfectly on Windows XP. The last 4 days the monitor has switched itself off and on repeatedly when the system is booted up. The on/off button on the monitor doesn't function; it just lights for 1 second, then the screen flicks on for 1/10 second then it switches off, light on switch included, for another second. It will do this for hours. Nothing seems to help; rebooting (difficult if you can't see the screen), disconnecting power to the monitor. Then, suddenly, the screen appears and the monitor functions perfectly.

Is this a monitor or cpu/system issue? The pc has full service cover but the company who would repair the cpu say its a monitor issue and pass me to the monitor company while the monitor company say its a cpu issue and will not exchange the monitor.

If I understand your description correctly, the monitor will restore its self if you unplug it. That being the case I would suspect that the driver for your video card is suspect. I would try downloading the latest drivers for the mother board, video card, and monitor. If this fails then either the Monitor has its lowest resolution decoder chip failing or the video card is failing. The reason the monitor is flicking off and on is that it is not sure that it is getting a vertical and horizontal signal from the PC. It then goes into shut down.

The only reason this may be an errant diagnosys, is that the led on the front of the monitor, "Light", turns off as well. If it is turning amber or yellow, then this is the correct diagnosys, and the video card is likely the cause. Also be sure that the data cable from the monitor to the PC is fastened tightly to both connectors if you have connectors at both ends, if not at the PC.

Article Source: http://www.kokkada.com

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for www.BuyRAM.info/ , a computer memory Super Store. BuyRAM.info carries an excellent selection of computer memory, notebook memory, and digital camera memory for every type of computer, notebook, and digital camera on the market. Click Here to Search for System Memory by selecting the make and model of your system.

No Comment | Posted in » cable, data, diagnosys, monitor    

How Large, How Fast? Choosing the Right Hard Drive Size and RPM

ฺBy:Tim Childree

One necessary and extremely important component of computers is the hard drive. The hard drive stores your games, applications, music, pictures, videos, and documents. As such, you should be sure the notebook computer you're thinking of buying has a hard drive that can give you the storage and performance that you need.

There are two important considerations when looking at hard drive specifications for your computer notebook: hard drive size and hard drive RPM.

Hard Drive Size

Hard drive size simply refers to the data storage capacity of a hard disk drive. Desktop computer hard drives offer sizes of up to 500 gigabytes (GB), while notebook computer hard dives offer sizes of up to 160 GB. Notebook computer hard drives are more expensive than desktop computer hard drives with more than twice the capacity of the notebook hard drive. This is due to the engineering difficulties inherent in making high-capacity hard drives for the smaller notebook computers form-factor.

A notebook computer's hard drive size indicates how much data a notebook computer can store. If you are interested in storing large amounts of movies, pictures, or music, you want to go with a larger hard drive to avoid running out of space.

A hard drive's size has very little to do with its performance, unless the drive is almost full. The Windows NTFS File System requires a minimum of 10% of the hard drive to be free space for optimum performance, and it frequently requests as much as 15%. This means that, on a 40 GB drive, Windows prefers that you use a maximum of 34-36 GB, leaving 4-6 GB of space unused. On a 160 GB drive, Windows prefers that you use a maximum of 136-144 GB, leaving a massive 16-24 GB unused. If you start to go over these Windows storage limits, you may notice your computer's performance taking drastic hits.

Hard Drive RPM

Hard drive RPM is a hard drive's rotational speed, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM). Desktop hard drives now have speeds as high as 15,000 RPM. Notebook hard drives, on the other hand, currently have an RPM ceiling of 7200 RPM.

A hard drive's RPM indicates how fast the drive's spindle will move or how fast the hard drive platters will spin. The higher the spin rate is, the shorter the seek time and latency will be. This translates to quicker data access and transfer.

How Large and How Fast

The greater the free space and the higher the RPM, the better your notebook computer's performance will be, so go for a slightly-more-than-comfortable size and the highest RPM for your notebook computer's hard drive. A large hard drive gives you the option to expand in the future, and you can never go wrong with a notebook computer that can give you fast access to your stored data.

It is even more crucial that you go with the top-of-the-line hard drive size and RPM for your notebook computer if you are fond of computer games, you have a lot of multimedia files, or you want to be able to easily upgrade your programs. These games, content and programs take up a lot of space. A high RPM hard drive can also cut down on game load times, giving you more time enjoying your games and less time staring at loading screens.



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No Comment | Posted in » hard drive, NTFS File, RPM    

Apple Imac Wall Mount System - VESA Adapter Bracket For 17 Inch And 20 Inch Imac G5, Intel And Core

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Sony vaio sz

By:fatalus

This laptop is a sleek, big, with keyboard comfort ability, bright screen display, built-in webcam and microphone, a long battery life and good performance.

But it is very expensive, and doesn't have a multiformat card reader, and ordinary speakers. The Sony VAIO SZ has all the features and connections needed by business users. It has 3.8 pounds, it is a heavy notebook, even among Sony laptops, but it still tries to fit among the portable ones without forgoing a legible screen or a useable keyboard.

This laptop has a number of features needed by business users, features like an inbuilt microphone, and webcam for conferencing, and a fingerprint scanner needed for security with others like the Intel Core Duo processor, etc. But if you are not particular about budget, then the Sony Vaio SZ is the best portable laptop to go for.

Its processor is a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400, DDR2 RAM of 1GB (533MHz), a graphics card of a low-end Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 with a 128MB video memory, and a large hard disk drive of 100GB with a spin of 5,400rpm.

sony vaio sz

The Sony Vaio SZ has a dimension of 12.4 inches width, 9.25 inches depth, and 1.5 inches thick, with a weight of 3.8 pounds (or a little more with its AC adapter). I think it is not so heavy for easy carriage.

Also this laptop has a 13.3 inch wide screen display, with a good brightness effect, with a resolution of 1280x800 which provides a very good display view. Its stereo speakers lie above the keyboard giving its ordinary sound.

It has a battery life of about 5.6 hours, which falls among a competitive rate.

Some more features offered are 1.3 mega pixel webcam, and microphone, a headphone connector, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA and a 4-pin FireWire port. It also has a PC and Express Card slot. Its network features are Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11abg wireless, a 56K modem, and Bluetooth. Operating system is Microsoft Windows XP professional. All these features give you the best in laptop comparison.

No Comment | Posted in » built-in, business users, laptop, Sony, vaio sz, webcam