Chromebook Pixel

4:07:00 PM

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

5:39:00 PM

Let's face it: there's a lot of me-too design in tablets, which is why Asus's various Eee Pads are so much fun: what's not to like about a tablet that magically becomes a laptop?

The new Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime takes things further and turns into a truck.

OK, that's not strictly true, but it's still one of the most exciting Android tablets around.

Here's what you need to know about the new Asus tablet.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime specifications are tasty

The Transformer Prime processor is a quad-core Tegra 3, making its first appearance in a tablet, and its 12-core GeForce GPU should deliver impressive graphics performance.

There's 1GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of storage and a very bright IPS display, twin cameras (8MP and 1.2MP), 12 hours of battery life and six more with the optional dock, MicroSD and micro HDMI ports, and the dock adds USB2.0 and an SD card slot. The Transformer Prime also has GPS and a built-in gyroscope.

poza

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime display is very bright

The Transformer Prime screen is a 10.1-inch, 1280x800 IPS panel with a very wide 178-degree viewing angle, and it has a "Super IPS" mode that boosts brightness to a retina-popping 600 nits (most tablets are 300-400 nits).

Asus tells us that means a better outdoor viewing experience, and also claims that the touchscreen is much more responsive than before: the firm says input lag has been halved.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime design is impressive

In its tablet incarnation the Asus Transformer Prime is just 8.3mm thick and weighs 586g, which means it's marginally thinner and lighter than an iPad 2. The aluminium case comes in two colours - grey and gold - and the dock adds a full-size keyboard and trackpad, as well as an extra battery.

The screen and case have also been treated with an hydro-oleophobic coating to reduce fingerprint smudges.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime software is Android

The Transformer Prime operating system will be Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but it will be upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich via an over-the-air firmware update. Asus will also provide a selection of apps including Asus WebStorage, MyCloud and Asus Sync. SuperNote and Polaris Office will be pre-installed.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime camera is pretty nifty

The main 8-megapixel camera is impressive: it boasts an F2.4 aperture for decent low light performance, an LED flash, 1080p HD video recording and image noise reduction.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime price isn't too scary

As with the previous Eee Pad Transformer, the Transformer Prime is priced to sell: the US price will be $499 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB, while the dock will be an additional $149.

battery laptop

Laptop PC Buyer's Guide Or How to Buy a Laptop

9:29:00 PM

Laptop PC Buyer's Guide

Notebook buyers have to think about such additional variables as size, weight, screen dimensions, battery life, and keyboard quality--plus options such as built-in wireless.

Most shoppers have a general idea of what their laptop should look like and what they want in terms of features, but are often intimidated by their sheer number and baffling complexities of the laptops available, which have grown to include terms such as netbooks, and CULVs, and small business (as opposed to enterprise) laptops.

Laptop Design

Plastic is still the most commonly used material in laptop frames, and while inexpensive, manufacturers have managed to turn them into art forms. The most common technique is a process called In-Mold Decoration (IMD)—a process made popular by HP, Toshiba, and Gateway—in which decorative patterns are infused between plastic layers. This process has evolved into textures and etched imprints, where the patterns can be felt by running your fingers over them.

In the end, though, plastics are often associated with cheap laptops. What you should be on the lookout for are designs that employ metal. The most common of those is aluminum, found in laptops such as the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz), Asus U45Jc-A1, and HP Pavilion dm4-1160us. They have a more luxurious look and can be made thinner than plastic. In fact, HP is moving its entire laptop line to metals this year, and Toshiba and Acer are already deploying a fleet of laptops with this fancy material. A metal such as magnesium alloy is more commonly found in business laptops that place a strong emphasis on durability (check out our business laptop buying guide). Carbon fiber is yet another attractive material, but is less used than aluminum and magnesium, as it is expensive to make. If metals aren't exotic enough for you, check out the Asus U33Jc-A1.

Key Features

Processor: Intel's dual-core processors have helped laptops gain ground in the power department. In PC World tests, laptops using these dual-core processors performed considerably faster than laptops using single-core processors, particularly when multitasking. In newer notebooks you may see references to Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, and Core 2 Extreme, which represent steps up in computing power for laptops.

Some notebooks use AMD's Athlon Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor, which also supports improved performance. The Turion 64 X2 and the Core 2 Duo both provide 64-bit support, which will become increasingly useful as more 64-bit applications reach the market.

Low-end laptops offer Intel's Celeron M processor, which is generally not as speedy as the Core 2 Duo processors. And down below low-end are the new mobile processors that appear in netbooks (or mini-notebooks)--sub-$500 machines that run on low-power, low-cost 1.6-GHz Atom CPUs.

Important consideration: Processor. The CPU determines how quickly a notebook runs applications and performs on-screen tasks. Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors are good choices for speedy processing. Atom processors appear only in budget-friendly netbooks, so plan according to your needs.

System memory: Unless you're buying on the cheap, a new laptop generally includes 2GB of system memory. Many notebooks today are available with 3GB of RAM or more. Before electing to upgrade to more RAM than that, be sure to check which version of Windows your new notebook uses. A 32-bit OS can't efficiently use more than 3GB of RAM. A 64-bit version can go higher. Outfitting your laptop with more RAM at the time you buy it is convenient and helps you extend its useful life.

Graphics memory: Portables can have either of two different types of video chip sets: dedicated video (which means a separate preinstalled graphics card) or integrated graphics. Dedicated video chip sets come from nVidia and ATI/AMD, whereas integrated graphics are typically from Intel. If you intend to use your laptop for even casual gaming, make sure that it has memory dedicated to graphics use, rather than relying on graphics that pull from main memory.

Gamers need advanced 3D graphics chips, along with 512MB of dedicated graphics memory. High-end desktop-replacement notebooks have sophisticated desktop graphics capabilities, as well; in the past integrated graphics would work just fine for business purposes, but Windows Vista demands a more-powerful graphics subsystem.

Some laptops now offer Scalable Link Interface (SLI), which provides a means to run multiple graphics chips in one machine. Hybrid SLI, a technology offered by nVidia, involves two GPUs operating within a single notebook. The most basic version of Hybrid SLI already exists on Apple's new MacBook Pro laptop and on a couple of notebooks from Sony's VAIO line. With these machines you toggle between a high-powered discrete GPU for graphics-intensive work or play and an integrated GPU on the motherboard for low-demand graphics. A second implementation of Hybrid SLI will allow an integrated GPU, like nVidia's GeForce 9400M GS, to work in tandem with a discrete GPU for greater performance when needed--and then downshift to a lower-power mode when it isn't.

Bigger Screen, Heavier Weight

Weight and screen size are directly correlated to one other. The cutoff point between a laptop that should stay permanently on your desk and one that can be a commuting companion is a 14-inch widescreen. There are exceptions, of course. The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core i5) and Samsung R540-11 are two of the lightest 15-inch laptops—lighter, in fact, than many of the 14-inch ones in the market. A 13- or 14-inch widescreen means that you can still be productive without sacrificing portability. The Toshiba Portege R705-P35 and Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X are prime examples of superb 13-inch laptops. Fourteen-inch models like the HP Pavilion dm4-1160us, Dell Inspiron 14R , and Gateway ID49C13u offer a terrific blend of features and components, but they won't weigh you down. Below that, you'll be venturing into netbook territory, which is an entirely different category of laptops.

Get a screen larger than 14-inches and you'll have to contend with deeper and wider dimensions, which your laptop bag may not have room for. Screen sizes that range between 16 and 18 inches are usually reserved for media centers, gaming rigs, and desktop replacements, such as the Acer Aspire AS8943G-6782 (18 inches) and Dell XPS 15. These massive systems often have luxuries like high resolutions, hardcore gaming graphics, and a wealth of state of the art features.

Battery:

Laptop battery life continues to improve. In PC World's tests, laptops using a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo processor average roughly 3.5 hours on one battery charge. Keep in mind that manufacturers may improve their times by taking steps such as turning off wireless receivers, which tend to consume a lot of power. Also, check to see if the manufacturer's stated battery-life numbers are for its regular or extended-life battery--the latter kind of battery can last up to twice as long as a regular one. And remember that, in general, lighter laptops tend to have longer battery lives than big desktop-replacement notebooks do.

Communications: Few laptops come with a full set of legacy ports anymore. Serial ports are as rare as bigfoot sightings at this point, as are PS/2 ports (for a mouse or keyboard). Most notebooks still have one PC Card slot, though many now offer an ExpressCard slot as well. With new GPUs, many notebooks--and even some netbooks--now offer HDMI outputs.

Warranty Plans

Laptops take a lot of abuse and are more prone to breakdowns due to their portability. When buying a system, make sure to get at least a 1 year warranty from the manufacturer. If you will be using the system heavily, a system that comes with a 3 year warranty might be a better choice but it will cost more. Third party extended plans are not a good choice unless service is done through the manufacturer.

batteries

How to prolong laptop, cell phone lithium-based batteries

7:48:00 PM

Battery research is focusing heavily on lithium chemistries, so much so that one could presume that all portable devices will be powered with lithium-ion batteries in the future. In many ways, lithium-ion is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistries and the applications for lithium-ion batteries are growing as a result.

Lithium-ion has not yet fully matured and is being improved continuously. New metal and chemical combinations are being tried every six months to increase energy density and prolong service life. The improvements in longevity after each change will not be known for a few years.

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.

Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate.

Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance caused by oxidation. Eventually, the cell resistance reaches a point where the pack can no longer deliver the stored energy although the battery may still have ample charge. For this reason, an aged battery can be kept longer in applications that draw low current as opposed to a function that demands heavy loads. Increasing internal resistance with cycle life and age is typical for cobalt-based lithium-ion, a system that is used for cell phones, cameras and laptops because of high energy density. The lower energy dense manganese-based lithium-ion, also known as spinel, maintains the internal resistance through its life but loses capacity due to chemical decompositions. Spinel is primarily used for power tools.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge. Figure 1 illustrates the capacity loss as a function of these two parameters.

Figure 1: Permanent capacity loss of lithium-ion as a function of temperature and charge level. High charge levels and elevated temperatures hasten permanent capacity loss. Improvements in chemistry have increased the storage performance of lithium-ion batteries.

The mentioning of limited service life on lithium-ion has caused concern in the battery industry and I will need to add some clarifications. Let me explain:

If someone asks how long we humans live, we would soon find out that the longevity varies according to life style and living conditions that exist in different countries. Similar conditions exist with the batteries, lithium-ion in particular. Since BatteryUniversity bases its information on the feedback from users as opposed to scientific information derived from a research lab, longevity results may differ from manufacturer' specifications. Let's briefly look at the various living conditions of the lithium-ion battery.

The worst condition is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is the case with running laptop batteries. If used on main power, the battery inside a laptop will only last for 12-18 months. I must hasten to explain that the pack does not die suddenly but begins with reduced run-times.

The voltage level to which the cells are charged also plays an important role to longevity. For safety reasons, most lithium-ion cannot exceed 4.20 volts per cell. While a higher voltage boosts capacity, the disadvantage is lower cycle life. Figure 2 shows the cycle life as a function of charge voltage.

Figure 2: Effects on cycle life at different float charge levels
(Choi et al., 2002)
Higher charge voltages boost capacity but lower cycle life.

There are no remedies to restore lithium-ion once worn out. A momentary improvement in performance is noticeable when heating up the battery. This lowers the internal resistance momentarily but the condition reverts back to its former state when the temperature drops. Cold temperature will increase the internal resistance.

If possible, store the battery in a cool place at about a 40% state-of-charge. Some reserve charge is needed to keep the battery and its protection circuit operational during prolonged storage. Avoid keeping the battery at full charge and high temperature. This is the case when placing a cell phone or spare battery in a hot car. Running a laptop computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45°C (113°F).

Removing the battery from the laptop when running on fixed power protects the battery from heat. With the concern of the battery overheating and causing fire, a spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises to eject the battery of affected laptops and to run the machines on a power cord. It should be noted that on a power outage, unsaved works will be lost. The question is often asked, should the laptop be disconnected from the main when not in use? Under normal circumstances, it should not matter with lithium-ion. Once the battery is fully charged, no further charge is applied. However, there is always the concern is malfunction of the AC adapter, the laptop or the battery.

A large number of lithium-ion batteries for cell phones are being discarded under the warranty return policy. Some failed batteries are sent to service centers or the manufacturer, where they are refurbished. Studies show that 80%-90% of the returned batteries can be repaired and returned to service.

Some lithium-ion batteries fail due to excessive low discharge. If discharged below 2.5 volts per cell, the internal safety circuit opens and the battery appears dead. A charge with the original charger is no longer possible. Some battery analyzers (Cadex) feature a boost function that reactivates the protection circuit of a failed battery and enables a recharge. However, if the cell voltage has fallen below 1.5V/cell and has remained in that state for a few months, a recharge should be avoided because of safety concerns. To prevent failure, never store the battery fully discharged. Apply some charge before storage, and then charge fully before use.

All personal computers (and some other electronic devices) contain a battery for memory back up. This battery is commonly a small non-rechargeable lithium cell, which provides a small current when the device is turned off. The PC uses the battery to retain certain information when the power is off. These are the BIOS settings, current date and time, as well as resource assignment for Plug and Play systems. Storage does shorten the service life of the backup battery to a few years. Some say 1-2 years. By keeping the computer connected to the main, albeit turned off, a battery on the PC motherboards should be good for 5-7 years. A PC should give the advanced warning when battery gets low. A dead back-up battery will wipe out the volatile memory and erase certain settings. After battery is replaced, the PC should again be operational.

Longevity of high-power lithium-ion

Generally speaking, batteries live longer if treated in a gentle manner. High charge voltages, excessive charge rate and extreme load conditions will have a negative effect and shorten the battery life. This also applies to high current rate lithium-ion batteries.

Not only is it better to charge lithium-ion battery at a slower charge rate, high discharge rates also contribute the extra wear and tear. Figure 3 shows the cycle life as a function of charge and discharge rates. Observe the good laboratory performance if the battery is charged and discharged at 1C. (A 0.5C charge and discharge would further improve this rating.)

Figure 3: Longevity of lithium-ion as a function of charge and discharge rates.

A moderate charge and discharge puts less stress on the battery, resulting in a longer cycle life.

Battery experts agree that the life of lithium-ion depends on other factors than charge and discharge rates. Even though incremental improvements can be achieved with careful use of the battery, our environment and the services required are not always conducive to achieve optimal battery life. The longevity of a battery is often a direct result of the environmental stresses applied.

Simple Guidelines

Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.
Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)
Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.
If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.

bios

Bios

8:35:00 PM

The BIOS is built-in software which is typically placed in the ROM chip of your computer. On a PC, the BIOS contains the codes required to control such things such as your keyboard, disk drivers and communication ports. The BIOS also loads the operating system of your computer. You will need to enter the BIOS in order to change/verify low level system settings.

A BIOS will also have a user interface (or UI for short). Typically this is a menu system accessed by pressing a certain key ( DEL-F2-F10-F8-ESC) on the keyboard when the PC starts. The easiest way to learn how to enter your computer's BIOS is to restart your computer and look very carefully at your computer's Boot/Splash screen when it first starts up. There is usually directions on this screen to enter to BIOS -- look for something to the effect of, "Press Esc to enter Setup" -- here Esc is how you enter to BIOS. You must be quick; as soon as this screen passes you have lost your opportunity. In the BIOS UI, a user can:

Boot Order-

When your computer starts up it looks at devices to see if they contain system software (such as DOS, Windows, or Linux). You may have noticed that when your computer starts the lights on your floppy drive or CD may flash -- this indicates that your computer is looking at them -- before it loads into your OS. The reason why it looks at these devices is because your the settings in your BIOS tell your computer to do so. In your BIOS you could change these settings so that it always looks at your hard drive first (improved boot time and better for security -- someone cannot bypass your Windows password by booting with a floppy), or to look at your hard drive last.

Integrated Peripherals-

Currently, most proprietary machines have many built in peripherals such as a sound, video, NIC, or controller cards. At some point in time you may wish to upgrade these components. In order to conserve system resources, and to avoid potential conflicts you will have to disable those devices in your BIOS.

The PC Health menu

will provide you with readouts of temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. You will be able to set temperature warning thresholds and warnings to indicate if a fan stops working.

Some motherboards will also have settings for adjusting fan speeds depending on certain temperatures inorder to make the PC quieter when not running at full speed.

Setting up RAID-

In order to use a RAID array you must first create it in the RAID utility. This is separate to the BIOS and the screen that prompts you to open this utility will usually follow the POST or motherboard logo screen after you have switched on your computer.

You will be prompted to pres a key combination (for example ctrl + i) in order to enter the setup utility. On entering it will list any existing arrays and will give you a small number of options, usually 'Create RAID volume', 'Delete RAID Volume' and 'Exit'. It should be pretty self explanatory what these options are. Once you go to create RAID volume you will be given the options to add disks to the array and the type of array you would like (eg. stripe (0), mirror (1), Stripe with parity (5) etc.).

Once set up the array will be usable as a single unit so that you can install the OS onto it or just use it for data storage.

The BIOS provides a small library of basic input/output functions used to operate and control the peripherals such as the keyboard, text display functions and so forth, and these software library functions are callable by external software. In the IBM PC and AT, certain peripheral cards such as hard-drive controllers and video display adapters carried their own BIOS extension ROM, which provided additional functionality. Operating systems and executive software, designed to supersede this basic firmware functionality, will provide replacement software interfaces to applications.

The role of the BIOS has changed over time; today BIOS is a legacy system, superseded by the more complex Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), but BIOS remains in widespread use, and EFI booting has only been supported in 64-bit x86 Windows since 2008. BIOS is primarily associated with the 16-bit, 32-bit, and the beginning of the 64-bit architecture eras, while EFI is used for some newer 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Today BIOS is primarily used for booting a system, and for certain additional features such as power management (ACPI), video initialization (in X.org); but otherwise is not used during the ordinary running of a system, while in early systems (particularly in the 16-bit era), BIOS was used for hardware access – operating systems (notably MS-DOS) would call the BIOS rather than directly accessing the hardware. In the 32-bit era and later, operating systems instead generally directly accessed the hardware using their own device drivers. However, the distinction between BIOS and EFI is rarely made in terminology by the average computer user, making BIOS a catch-all term for both systems.

Computer^News^FAQ

Chromebook Pixel

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Laptop PC Buyer's Guide Or How to Buy a Laptop

How to prolong laptop, cell phone lithium-based batteries

Bios

About me

Follow Us

Press

recent posts

Text Widget

Pages

PCWorld How-To's and Tips

PCWorld Latest Technology Reviews

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images

Computer^News^FAQ

Chromebook Pixel

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Laptop PC Buyer's Guide Or How to Buy a Laptop

How to prolong laptop, cell phone lithium-based batteries

Bios

About me

Follow Us

Press

recent posts

Text Widget

Subscribe To

Pages

PCWorld How-To's and Tips

PCWorld Latest Technology Reviews

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images