Saturday, February 27, 2010

HP Compaq Presario CQ 40

The HP Compaq Presario CQ 40 is a laptop model under the HP Compaq Presario CQ series. From skimming through its specs, one quickly gets the impression that the HP Compaq Presario CQ 40 is intended to be used in business.

The HP Compaq Presario CQ 40 has the Intel Centrino P7350 processor that would fall short of what gamers require. It also would not be able to run heavy applications with ease. Its central processing unit has a processing speed of 2 GHz and as it is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo technology, a smooth performance is assured for the average user. As long as the laptop is being used for tasks that are not heavier than word processing, then glitches are not to be expected.

The CQ40 has 2 gigabytes of RAM. This would ensure that multi-tasking and multi-threading can be accomplished without any difficulty. This laptop has ample storage. Compaq thought it best to give this laptop 250 gigabytes for a hard drive memory. With this, you can throw out worries of quickly filling up your laptop with multimedia files.

The CQ40 has a widescreen LCD display that measures 14.1 inches. This might be too small for some consumers however it is able to accommodate a resolution of 1280x800, lending it sufficient detail and sharpness. Viewing movies and editing pictures can be done with no trouble.

What the CQ40 needs is a boost in graphics capabilities. Unfortunately, the CQ40 doesn't have a dedicated graphics card that has sufficient video RAM to process heavy games and instead, it has an Intel GMA 4500MHD. Since it shares its memory with the motherboard, gaming and video editing can't be done without encountering glitches. These activities require a large amount of memory and a powerful graphics card in order to perform well.

The HP Compaq Presario CQ40 also has 2 USB ports, an eSATA port, infrared, Bluetooth, Ethernet port, a 56 kbps modem, Wireless LAN, and output connections for both VGA and HDMI (for viewing HD content in a true HDTV). In addition, the CQ40 has a fingerprint sensor, a webcam and an ExpressCard slot.

The CQ40 is priced from $735.00.

SPECS

Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor: Intel Centrino P7350 Core 2 Duo 2 GHz
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD
RAM size: 2 gigabytes
Screen size: 14.1 inches
Resolution: 1280x800
Weight: 2.4 kilograms

PROS

The usual word processing and browsing tasks can be done with no trouble on the HP Compaq Presario CQ40. Numerous applications can be worked on simultaneously without lags. This laptop has a weight of 2.4 kgs. and it has a display screen that may be slightly smaller than the average laptop but it has a resolution that allows multi-tasking.

CONS

The CQ40 is not recommended for heavy applications such as those required for games and media editing. The user can watch HD movies but the laptop fails when it is asked to process 3D graphics. If your usage involves the latest games, it would be best to get a model that has a dedicated graphics card.

CONCLUSION

Those whose requirements are concentrated on just the average computing processes may get the HP Compaq Presario CQ40 and be pleased with the purchase. But for those who will need the laptop to run the latest games that demand larger memory and power, you'd be better off with another model. Visit HP Compaq Presario for a review of the entire series.

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

Nokia N900 Review - Latest Smartphone From Nokia

The Nokia N900 is one of the latest offerings of the leading mobile phone manufacturing company. Nokia has a wide range of mobile phones for almost every range of the users and this one is a dedicated internet device, which mean that the N900 is perfectly suitable to match up the requirements of the internet users.

Let's begin the review with the look and the display of the mobile phone. In terms of the look, the Nokia N900 is very attractive and also quite bulgy. The thickness is definitely going to make your pocket feel the bulge of the mobile phone. The overall measurement of the phone is 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm, and it weighs 181 grams. Therefore, it is best to carry the handset in your pocket or bag. This one is a slider device and once the handset is slid-open, the full QWERTY keyboard appears. You can type on the keyboard quite smoothly and take a look at the display screen, which is in the landscape mode.

After the fully functional QWERTY keyboard, let's check out the other prominent feature of the phone, which is the high-end touch screen display. The N900 features a 3.5 inch TFT capacitive touch screen that boasts 16 million colours and a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The display features are inclusive of accelerometer sensor for auto rotate and proximity sensor for auto turnoff.

The mobile phone is touted as an "internet tablet" and therefore, it must be backed with a good memory option. The device is loaded with a 32 GB internal memory, which is massive for storing wide ranges of applications such as Skype and GoogleTalk VoIP integration, PDF document viewer, photo editor, Adobe Flash Player 9.4, games, etc.

One of the major highlights of Nokia N900 is its camera option. The device comes loaded with a high-end 5 mega pixel camera that provides a resolution of 2576 x 1936 pixels. Some of the prominent highlights of the N900's camera are Carl Zeiss optics, Dual LED flash, video light, Geo tagging, and auto focus. In addition to that, there are loads of entertainment options in the mobile phone. Nokia N900 features five integrated games and also options for downloading few more. The music playback of the phone can play diverse files such as WMA, MP3, eAAC+, and WAV while the video playback is capable of playing WMV, RealVideo, MP4, AVI/XviD, and DivX files. So, the scope of entertainment is huge in Nokia N900.

On the whole, Nokia N900 has several pluses and therefore, it wins a "thumbs-up."

Choose a new mobile phone. Read our full Nokia N900 review plus read phone reviews and search mobile phone deals collected from across all the major retailers.

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

Downgrade Laptop From Windows Vista to Windows XP

The introduction of Windows vista has caused numerous challenges in the computer world. From consuming of computer memory, software incompatibility and others including the challenge of trying to downgrade you laptop or desktop from windows vista to windows XP.

Do you have a laptop or desktop that came with windows vista installed on it, and you want to downgrade it back to windows XP.

Did you buy a new hard drive and you want to install windows XP on it and it tells you that no hard drive was found.
In this short article I will be showing you the tricks to downgrade your laptop to windows XP.

Firstly, power your computer and enter the BIOS setup. For most motherboards the button to enter the BIOS is F1, F2, F10, and DELETE.

When you turn on your laptop or desktop computer, keep pressing these buttons one will take you to the BIOS. Then inside the BIOS setup utility, locate "Sata native support" under system configuration, and then disable it. Press f10 to save and exit the BIOS setup.

Insert windows XP CD in the CD ROM drive. Restart the computer and set it to boot from CD ROM drive. For some computer F12, esc, F10 will take you to the boot menu select the CD ROM drive and hit the enter button windows XP installation process starts. Install windows XP the way you normally do it.

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Nweke Chinedu is a computer engineer for over 10 years and also a developer. He has an intimate knowledge of computer maintenance, software and site development. He also has vast knowledge of computer virus and how to remove computer viruses. visit his site for free articles on computer maintenance, computer security, virus removal and computer solution. online-computer-repairs.blogspot.com

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

Macintosh Laptops - Apple MacBook Air

This would have to be the best looking laptop computer around. It's just gorgeous. But is it just a fashion accessory or is it also a working computer. The answer is YES. This ultra thin smokin' cool aluminium shelled wonder is in fact a solid business computer with excellent multimedia potential. It's all the things a ultra portable laptop should be.

The MacBook Air uses a 1.3 GHz Processor with a minimum of 2GB of RAM memory and 120 Gig hard drive available, making this a very capable unit. There are many positive aspects to owning one of these computers including the great battery life to the MacBook Air which is anywhere up to 260 minutes, the easy to use snow leopard operating system, its compatibility with other apple products including the iPhone, iPod and soon to be available iPad. The Macbook Air weighs in at a tiny 1.3 kilograms.

Will the IPad replace this computer. I don't think so. These two products do serve different purposes, with a number of different technological and design limitations that allow both to have a specific market. The IPad will be more suited to internet and multimedia applications with little word processing applications whereas the MacBook Air is basically an ultra portable business based laptop computer.

The MacBook Air portability does come at a cost, this being it does not have a optical drive (DVD,CD player). However there is the Apple MacBook Air External Superdrive which is a DVD/CD Writer which is connected via USB. All in all a very small sacrifice for the great portability of this unit.

If you can't live without some form of windows, there is Bootcamp which is already available on the Macintosh laptop. This allows you to go into Windows upon booting up the system. Personally I wouldn't do this as it will impact on the effectiveness of the processor and really if you need windows than maybe the MacBook or MacBook Pro is a better option.

The Mac Book Air comes in as a 13" unit. Overall the MacBook Air is and excellent ultra-lite laptop computer which is keenly priced and is really a unique product in the computer market place.

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

iPhone Vs Blackberry - A Mobile Device Comparison

The BlackBerry has been favored over other smartphones for corporate use for a number of reasons. However, in today's workplace, enterprises are adopting iPhones at a rapid pace, because of a push by employees who want to use them in both their personal and professional life.

Yes, there will always be great debate over which mobile device is superior from a usability standpoint. But when it comes to security, which device is best suited for the enterprise?

Mobile device comparison

BlackBerry®:

  • Robust management ecosystem: The significant differentiator in security is the management flexibility that the BlackBerry provides. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server® provides rich controls that allow scalable management for thousands of users.
  • Application policies: Administrators can define precise policies to control which applications can be downloaded to and run on the device. The security model allows administrators to translate and enforce acceptable use policies.
  • Transport security: The BlackBerry uses a secure and encrypted connection back to the enterprise that enables it to access corporate resources. This transparent VPN connection allows accessibility without exposing resources to the cloud.
  • Device/data encryption software security: The BlackBerry has robust encryption and data protection built in. Policies can be centrally defined. This ensures web traffic passes through scanning proxies and the device itself is kept very secure with very strong data encryption.
  • Remote wipe/restore: If a device is lost it can be remotely disabled and the data removed very quickly. Moreover, new devices can be provisioned with a complete copy of the original data, policies and applications. Research in Motion (RIM) provides the right tools for secure mobile computing - they just need to be configured. In particular, take advantage of the device's configuration capabilities to lock down the methods by which software can be installed. The recent spyware distributed by Etisala is an example of increasing focus on mobile devices. RIM produced a whitepaper paper that thoroughly explains how to lock down the device to control applications and prevent such threats.

iPhone(TM):
  • Lack of computer policies: Unlike the BlackBerry, the iPhone does not have rich central management. A simple portal is provided to allow device location (using the built-in GPS) and remote wipe, which works reasonably well, compared to earlier versions that took many hours to remove the the vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, there are no controls over allowed applications, configuration or security. Users must set up their own configuration (and they make it very easy) but this doesn't mean that secure protocols are necessarily used.
  • Too much user privilege: The iPhone essentially provides all users with administrator capabilities. They can install any applications or change any of the configurations. While this delivers user satisfaction, it is a security nightmare. This pushes the security policy on to the user with a severe dependence on education.
  • Exposure to cloud: While BlackBerry provides seamless and secure access to corporate resources within the perimeter, the iPhone requires exposure to the internet. Smaller businesses, or those embracing cloud exposed mail systems or corporate resources, will find the device easy to configure. Those with internal systems with controlled exposure may find the iPhone requires them to break their data protection security model or to have users VPN in to access resources. This can degrade the usability of the solution but is key to avoid exposing sensitive data in a cloud where the security model is still not yet broadly defined.

This article was provided by Sophos and is reproduced here with their full permission. Sophos provides full data protection services including: security software, encryption software, antivirus, and malware.

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

BlackBerry Storm 2 Review

Since the news is out that there might be a new version of blackberry storm; speculation is quite rife in the market of the mobile phones. The BlackBerry enthusiasts can't just wait for the official announcement of the device, which is expected to be named as BlackBerry Storm 2. Though nothing is confirmed, but as far as the news goes, the model number of Storm 2 will be 9550. A particular website released a video footage about the device and from that it appears to be quite interesting.

The first thing that comes into mind after the announcement of such an interesting phone is - "what are the specifications?" As there is no official announcement of the phone, the specification that it will feature is not known completely. According to a news, Storm 2 is expected to feature Wi Fi connectivity and hence the device will be much faster compared to the earlier versions. The camera that Storm 2 is supposed to include is 3.2 mega pixels that will provide nice clarity and quality of images. Network supported by the device would be quad band GSM network along with EDGE and single band UMTS with HSDPA (2100MHz only). The operating system of BlackBerry Storm 2 might be OS 5.0 or 5.1.

Storm 2 is expected to arrive with 360 × 480 resolution capacitive screen. The screen will remain fixed when the phone is off, but it will soon resume to normal mode after switching on the phone. Blackberry storm's earlier version has a major drawback, which is a big gap between the frame and the display. Due to this factor, that area gets surrounded by dust and particles. The design of BlackBerry Storm 2 will not be featuring this gap and hence it would appear much cleaner than the original blackberry-storm.

Those who are yet to see the original storm, here are few aspects about the phone for them. The designing of the phone is done in such a manner that when the user presses a button, the display screen gets pressed down providing a real time experience. Like this there are several highlights of the phone. However, some of the limitations of the original Storm are plump body, uninspiring camera, instability of software, and no Wi Fi. Whether the other features will be included in BlackBerry Storm 2 or not is uncertain, but it will definitely feature Wi Fi.

Choose a new mobile phone. Read our full BlackBerry Storm 2 review and read hundreds of other mobile phone reviews.

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

Major OS Release Coming Soon, Windows 8

With Windows 7 out the door, many people have forgotten about the fact that Microsoft has a release pattern when it comes to their operating systems. Let's take a look at some of the releases that Microsoft has done in the past few years, in 2003 Microsoft came up with Windows server 2003, in 2005 there was yet another update to the server OS, in 2008 a major release after server operating system was done in 2009 there was yet another release of their server operating system along with a major mainstream operating system release such as Windows 7.

According to a January 31 blog post published on the Microsoft developer network the development of the next generation of operating systems which has been codenamed "Windows 8"is already well on its way. According to Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer, the new generation of operating systems will do something completely different from what people usually expect from Windows.

After Microsoft CEO made such statement developers as well as users have begun to wonder if Microsoft will follow the trend that Google has already set, we're talking about Google chrome which has evolved from a regular browser into a full-blown OS which is mostly driven by web applications instead of programs installed within a user's computer.

Operating systems that heavily rely on Internet applications will change the way the people use and store information for instance, the developers of Google chrome have already said that all the information manipulated through a web browser can be stored on Google's servers which is a case of e-mail and spreadsheet documents that can be accessed and edited through Gmail's web interface.

Having such environment in mind has apparently triggered a revolutionary new idea in the minds of Microsoft OS developers who have said that the next generation of operating systems will change the way that people think about Microsoft. Following Microsoft's OS release pattern we can estimate that between 2011 and 2012 there will be yet another major release from this company, a release which has been codenamed Windows 8.

According to eWeek, people can expect to see the integration of new web platforms into their windows OS such as a Twitter interface, Facebook apps, a MySpace app and so on. All this buzz about Microsoft following the trend that Google chrome has set leads us to believe that Windows 7 might indeed be the last OS to heavily rely on information and applications that are stored on people's computers, that being the case with you start thinking that all of the information will move from our desktop into the web which brings about a new set of challenges and concerns about privacy and security.

For more information about Windows 8 and to see some Windows 8 screenshots make sure to visit our website at windows8news.com

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