CrunchGear has a post on how desktops could be dead in three years, and the thought of seeing desktops fading away is scary. Why I think desktops would stay around for much much longer? Unless the laptops could do away with the overheated problem as well as the desktops could and could be as strong as the desktops, I have no reason to believe that the desktops could be a dying technology. You could make the argument that people nowadays spend more times on smart phones than on desktops, hooking up into the cloud computing networks as most smart phones do, and some smart phones carry the whistles and bells that could be found on the desktops, but in reality the same argument could be argue for the smart phones is not that different from the argument we could argue for the laptops. Laptops haven’t replaced the desktops for years, why the smart phones would be the desktops’ killers? I doubt so very much. Unless the smart phones could be as strong as the desktops and stronger than the laptops, I see there is no way that the smart phones could do away the desktops — as of now these hardware are not the same and not competing against one and another. When I say strong, it means I talk about the horsepower behind a machine, the capabilities a machine could provide.
When come to business, I couldn’t see how the desktops would be dead as many business applications had been working so well with the desktops that may stick around for a lot longer. IE6, are we talking about you? In addition, the cloud computing is not 100% stable and cost savings. You could take my word on the cost savings as a grain of salt, because the costs are not constant and could always change depend on the market’s demand and various factors that I don’t need to bother with in this article. Why? Cloud computing although is not a new technology, but recently many people and companies have implemented cloud computing through either private networks or public networks, but I had read some news that were mentioned about various hiccups that these recent cloud computing networks have experienced (security issues, etc…). Yes, cloud computing is just like any other computing, because it’s computing — which means it could go bad just like any other computing environment. Sure, you could argue that cloud computing is more stable since its network layout has a better network-redundancy, but I could only see that if only if you get the cloud computing right, then you could say cloud computing works, but we also have other known working technologies such as load balancing, clustering, and so on that have been around for years and have been known for working superbly; I could say cloud computing is just another competitive technology in which it’s competing against the others that I had mentioned. It’s just that the cloud computing is the thing that we all fixate on for now.
Why am I talking about cloud computing and related technologies although I’m trying to make the argument about “long live the desktops?” It is because some people tend to have the idea that everyone would be better off when one is hooking into a cloud computing network, do away one’s desktops to go for a thin-client type of desktops, but aren’t we all already hooking up to the Internet and yet our desktops still cheerfully existed? To me, the Internet is just another cloud computing environment but a much more encompassing one, and yet the Internet is a very dangerous place when it comes to security measures. There is a saying, and my way of wording the phrase could be off, but here it goes, unless you have buried your computer how many feet under the ground without any wireless activity and any Ethernet connection (Internet connection), then that is the only way you could be safe from the computer viruses, computer worms, and all other known dangerous security holes due to the vulnerabilities from software and operating systems.
To say more of the same… For cloud computing and smart phones, you could always be online; I doubt that anyone could argue that the cloud computing is going to be 100% secured, and 100% online is a dangerous thing. At least I know that when a desktop user intimately knows about the computer security, he or she could safeguard about his or her computing security matters better than cloud computing users such as smart phone users. It’s just because that you have more controlled over your desktops than you have over your smart phones since it’s you who’s calling the shots for what could be install on your desktops. It’s not so with the cloud computing. Cloud computing is an environment where one’s data be among many, and when a computer virus has gone wild, it could be that everyone who is hooking into the same cloud computing network could find their data expose to an unknown evil entity.
I could go on and say that maybe one day, cloud computing could solve all security problems and would be the safest computing environment among all, unfortunately it’s only a fantasy for now. In regard to computing security, I couldn’t see how desktops at least in security measures could be outdone by the thin-clients that are connected to the cloud computing networks. The argument about one only needs smart phone is ridiculous, because I still love how powerful a desktop could be, and I doubt that there is a smart phone in the current market could be as powerful as an average desktop. Plus, smart phones have small screen sizes that make the viewing of videos not nearly as pleasurable as how you would view a video on a regular monitor. Maybe when one day smart phones could just send the data over to any nearby HD monitor regardless of screen sizes, but until then I still prefer a desktop over a smart phone whenever I’m not on the go. I’m not straying off the main point at all when I talk about viewing videos on a smart phone and a desktop comparison, because we are talking about how desktops could be dead due to smart phones and other various technologies.
Even more… As of now, I doubt that the cloud computing networks could offer all the software that the various desktops have been carried, and until then I couldn’t see how the smart phones that are depending on the cloud computing networks could carry as many whistles and bells as the desktops. In conclusion, I have to say I doubt the desktops would be dead.
Linux users never have to worry about not knowing how hot or how cold a computer runs since aptitude and apt-get and yum and yast and whatever else are only a command line away to obtain the temperature sensor programs/widgets. For Windows users, you (as in all Windows users) have to search the Internet for such a program to download, and hopefully it won’t be a download that has a virus. No worry, I’m here to tell you such a program exists, and it is safe to download and safe to use for Windows. I found out this program known as SpeedFan from CNET as I browsed Google for such a program. I’m glad that CNET has a review on this very program, and I trust CNET since whenever CNET recommends a software to use, the software seems to be solid and safe to use.
The whole purpose for some of us to download SpeedFan is to keep check on how hot or how cold our computers have ran. So we don’t really need to understand the advance options that SpeedFan has, because those options are something that even an average computer user may not understand. Another advantage of running SpeedFan due to the fact that this software utilizes the sensor mechanism of your hardware and certain capabilities of your hardware to control how fast or how slow a computer’s fan runs according to how hot or how cold a computer is; this helps bring down the consumption of electricity (energy) and noise.
After installing SpeedFan, you have to open the program and let it runs, otherwise it won’t be activated and lies dormant as if you haven’t yet installed it. SpeedFan launches slowly as it probes for hardware’s capabilities, but it won’t affect your computer performance. There are many advance options that you could toy with through SpeedFan’s easy to understand and navigate user interface, but I recommend you not to mess with such complicated options and features unless you know what you’re doing, otherwise you could really create some strange computer behaviors that you may regret for having done so. After all, we’re installing SpeedFan to keep an eye on the computer’s temperature.
Why should we know how hot or how cold our computer runs? When a computer runs too hot, and not enough airflow permeates throughout the computer case, and the fan is not running correctly, all of this could lead to a very slow computer; in extreme case, all of this could lead to broken components. Luckily, this generation laptops and computers do have mechanism that shut down your machine when it gets too hot to prevent a worse scenario. Still, even with such a mechanism, there is no guaranteed that everything is normal with the machine. By knowing the temperature for a computer/laptop beforehand, we could brainstorm and poke around for a solution before any type of mechanism or mishap kicks in. In this way you could prolong the machine’s lifespan.
How could you tell at what temperature that your computer/laptop should be running? It’s depending on the type of processors and components that your computer have. For processors, you have to look up that with the manufacturers for information, and these information could be easily found on theirs websites. Each processor has its own maximum temperature which dictates when a computer runs beyond the maximum temperature prescribed by a process’s manufacturer, your computer/laptop could stop functioning correctly and may horribly go wrong. A same recommendation from many sources seems to agree that a computer/laptop’s temperature should be running at a room temperature. What’s a room temperature? Wikipedia has the answer to this!
To use SpeedFan, you can download the latest version at here. To reinforce your trust on SpeedFan, you could check out the CNET’s SpeedFan Review. I’m running SpeedFan on Windows 7, and it seems to work just fine! I haven’t yet tested SpeedFan with any other version of Windows besides Windows 7, and so if you have tested SpeedFan with other Windows versions, please write a comment or two to let me and everyone knows how it goes. Check out a SpeedFan screenshot that I took for your viewing pleasure right after the jump!
There are times that your computer may act strangely! For an example, your computer may restart without prompting you. Sometimes problems could be a bug within Windows and other software, and sometimes it may very well be a part of your computer such as RAM went bad. One of the possible ways is to use Windows’ event logs to figure out the hidden errors and when such errors had happened. To view event logs, you need to click on start button, and type in the search field with the keyword event, a list should be appearing after what you just did, and make sure to highlight and click on view event logs.
Unfortunately, even event logs could be helpful to only some users, because average users may not understand the error messages. This is why you should do the obvious things even though to do all of these things could be time consuming. Supposedly, after viewing the event logs, and you still have not a clue of why your computer behaves so strangely, you may need to go on and try to narrow down if the problem is related to hardware or software — in special case it could also be a malware or a virus or a rootkit.
Sometimes when a computer gets overheated, weird problems occur. Make sure your computer has enough airflow, clean from dirt, and a working fan (or two); these should be enough to address the overheated problem. If a power supply goes bad, you may not notice since it’s hard to track down a specific problem that could be related to a power supply. For RAM, Windows 7 has a tool which allows you to do a diagnostic test to see if your computer’s RAM is working fine or not. To do a memory (RAM) diagnostic test, you need to click on start button, type in the keyword memory in the search box, and make sure to click on Windows Memory Diagnostic. You will get a prompt window to ask you to restart so your computer could do a RAM check, and so make sure you do just that.
Testing for software problems, it could be a real mess since you may have too many installations of different software on your computer. You may not know which software is the culprit. Sometimes cleaning up the registry may help solve the problems. To clean up the registry, you could use programs such as Norton Utilties or CCleaner (free). You could use anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs to look for viruses and spyware and rootkits.
You should try to do the obvious things first before you pay a computer specialist to help fix your computer problems. Paying someone to remove a computer problem could be expensive, and so the alternative way is to reinstall Windows when you have no important file to be kept on your computer. When there are important files to be kept on your computer, you need to do a backup of those files before you go ahead and reinstall Windows. Windows 7 does have a backup option for you to implement, but I suggest you should only use Windows 7′s backup feature when you know that your computer is clean of viruses and other malicious stuffs. Instead, I suggest you to buy external hard drive as this is cheap nowadays, or you could also use a flash drive as this option is even cheaper, and use these external devices to backup only important files; Windows 7′s backup feature is more like creating a system image which mirrors your whole Windows system including all other files and folders.
For my readers, if you’re a computer expert, please help make this post even better by posting insightful comments so everyone else could benefit from such a thoughtful task.
Laptops are getting cheaper, and especially there are companies like Asus who make super cheap laptops with average to gorgeous specs. This is where we think the days of expensive laptops are over. Wrong! Companies like Apple and Sony are still making some laptops that could break your wallet or purse.
OK, enuf (pardon me for my online grammar) with the chit chat, let check out the upcoming Sony VAIO Z with its impressive specification. The new VAIO Z series carry Core i7-620M, solid state drive hard drive for faster data access, hybrid graphic solution taunts with 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with Intel HD graphics that allows you to switch between performance and stability. How can we not drool over 6GB DDR3 SDRAM? The rest need not to say such as wireless — all fits into 13.1 inch case. The keyboard looks impressive with back-lit.
Sony’s new VAIO Z series looks so powerful that make me want to whip out my credit card although I may have to max it; it’s that tempting! Did I forgot to mention it also has Blu-ray? Many laptop can be overheated, I wonder how cool this one will be? Check out the video for this bad boy after the jump. Source.
Here is a cool video that shows you how to build a computer. This video is a quick introduction to how hooking up the computer components together to form a whole computer. It’s not advising you on the quality of the hardware and where to get the hardware. It’s like a quick glance at how one putting together a computer.
Certainly, to build a computer, you need to know more than just hooking up parts together; otherwise you won’t get the high performance computer that you are aiming for. For an example, to build a gaming computer, you definitely need a very powerful (expensive) GPU (graphic card), and usually a powerful GPU needs a powerful power supply (a metal box that convert AC current to DC current) that has high watt. It certainly be helpful to yourself if you know what power supply’s watt you need when getting a power supply.
The most important part that you need to know to build just about any computer is a motherboard. Getting a right motherboard which allowing you to determine all other compatible components that go into your computer (e.g., graphic card, RAM, CPU). It certainly be easier for one to go out and buy a computer in whole, but building it is a lot more fun. Also, building a computer allows true customization to one’s needs and demands with specific goals from a computer.
Sometimes, building a computer can also save you huge amount of money, and there is a term for this which is “the best bang for your buck!” — Still, you have to figure the price out on your own, and no one could help you since it is depending on who you know. Check out the video after the jump.
Talking about speed, a conventional hard drive is 50% slower than Micron’s C300 RealSSD Drive (SSD stands for Solid-State-Drive). According to Gizmodo, C300 RealSSD is also twice as more expensive than the regular hard drive. When compare to a leading SSD in the market, according to the benchmark tests, Micron C300 RealSSD is a lot faster.
At the moment, Quad-Core computers are available in many computer stores for purchases, but a concept chip with 48 cores which proves to be feasible is not too far away from being available for the computer market. 48 core computer, when it comes out will probably going to dwarf a Quad-Core computer in term of multi-tasking. You’ll be surprised if I told you that this 48 core chip uses the same amount of electricity as a single Intel processor. You can bet on that big companies with huge data centers are going to love 48 core chip, because they can save huge amount of money by not wasting space and electricity. It’s going to be a challenge for programmers to program software that take full advantage of a chip with that many cores. Source.
Intel wants your legs to be cooled when you use a laptop. A laptop can get really hot when you let it sits on you for quite some time. Bad designed laptops end up be really hot quite quickly, and if you touch these, you think you are touching the hot part of the stoves; it’s a little exaggerating, but it does make you think that laptop makers need to redesign their products. Intel promotes a new way of cooling a laptop to prevent heat from inside the laptop heating up the outside of the laptop by using Intel Laminar Flow Technology.
Months back, Intel demonstrated laminar flow in Taiwan using animation to show how laminar flow works. You can picture this, inside a jet engine, extreme heat exists, and if the heat is not redirect away from a jet’s internal combustible components, the result could be catastrophic for a jet without a proper cooling technology. Although a laptop’s temperature could never rise to the level of a jet, but by implementing laminar flow, Intel suggests that the heat within a laptop could be redirect to a proper outer ducting and away from a laptop’s skin.
Laminar flow could be a crucial element that laptop makers would want to use on their super thin laptop models. Nowadays, more laptop makers are trying to make thinner laptops, as thin as possible. Laminar flow can provide a solution for laptop makers. It’s not clear how much thinner a laptop could get by implementing laminar flow, but you and I can expect that the future laptops to be found in electronic stores near you may be a lot thinner than you could ever imagine. Source.
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