Only Network » hardware

New laptop – 64-bit Windows

Owen — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:15:28 +0000

It’s a new year and I have a new laptop to play with, a Dell Vostro 3700 with an i5 processor, 6Gb of RAM and a giant screen, probably one of the biggest I’ve used. The notable difference from previous technology is that it runs 64-bit Windows. I had a brief forray into 64-bit a couple of years ago, but within a couple of days I switched back to 32-bit, as some of the hardware I was using didn’t have 64-bit drivers. Luckily technology has moved on, so I’ve had no drivers issues with this one. In fact, Windows Update is so efficient that it just takes care of all that for me without even making the process visible to me.

I’ll keep you posted of successes and issues I have. In the meantime, I’m off to play and build my new laptop.

The best kit for the job

Owen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:28:36 +0000

Have you ever found yourself wishing you had a better laptop? You know, a better laptop means you can work faster and be more productive, but really how much are you ready to spend on that? Well, I’ve been using this laptop for a few years now, and I can still all the stuff I need to do perfectly fine. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it suffices.

So, make sure you get the right laptop for the job, and a an extended laptop warranty cannot hurt. Remember, you’re buying something that has to last you a while, so making sure it’s covered is always a good idea.

Oh, and get one with a wide screen. It’s a great boost to your productivity!

Of connected gadgets

Owen — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:43:13 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Have you noticed that more and more gadgets seem to be “internet connected” nowadays. The internet used to be something you sit down to, power up your modem and connect to. Nowadays, my phone talks to the internet, my computer, my satellite receiver and a bunch of other devices around the house. I don’t have a wii, but if I did, I’m pretty sure that would talk to the Internet too. It’s great really, there are so many advantages you can get from a connected world. But sometimes you have to ask .. where is it all going?

Moving to new laptop

Owen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:46:53 +0000

I just got my new laptop from Solidsoft, the company I work for this week. It’s an HP like the old one, but has a massive 17″ screen, which is just awesome on a laptop. It took me all of 10 minutes to get used to 1600×1200 and unfortunately now I’m spoilt! I can’t see myself using a smaller screen, which is going to be a problem on my next laptop.

It’s a nice machine, with 4Gb of RAM and and Nvidia Quadro FX 1500M graphics card. It came with an 80Gb hard drive, but considering I had that much data on my old laptop, I bought a 500G 7200rpm disk for it. It has Windows 7 installed on it, and it just flies. I’m really pleased with it; should keep me going for some time

Taking it up a notch

Owen — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:53:05 +0000

I wanted to give a shout out to my mate Carlo who has just taken his hosting to a new level. He used to live on virtual hosting; but thanks to an influx of new traffic, he has just ordered a new server to move onto his own dedicated hosting. It’s a dual-Xeon quad-core box with loads of computer memory and 2 sets of RAIDed disks (one for the OS and one for the database) and seems to pack enough punch to handle anything the Internet can throw at it.

It’s great to be able to take a step like that, regardless of whether you’re selling holidays or just John Deere toys. I think it’s just a testament to the effort and time he’s pored into his sites and I wish him the best of luck!

Your PC CAN fix itself

Owen — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:28:15 +0000

Here’s a cute idea: a network appliance that can fix your computers for you. I was reading about the Persystent Edge Appliance that you can use to store images of your servers and desktops. If one of your machines needs rebuilding, you can deploy an image from the device, making automated PC recovery a doddle.

The other option (at least what I used to do), is to have a stack of images (made with Norton Ghost usually) just in case something blew up. Now I know a drive failure isn’t as bad as mesothelioma or some other awful sickness, but it’s still a big hassle to recover from, especially when someone has lost all their data. All I’m saying is that it’s important to have a back-up plan for when things go wrong. You can never be too prepared.

Welcome to the new computer

Owen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:30:06 +0000

So, while we were away, we bought a new computer for Camille. Her old one was starting to throw some problems with its USB ports and the screen was starting to come loose. The problem with laptops is that they are rather hard to repair, so we thought we’d get a new one to make things easier for her. At the moment she’s installing software on it and preparing it for use, a process not unlike buying crib bedding or baby clothes for a new member of the family. In reality, it’s actually much easier preparing a computer as it doesn’t struggle and wet the place.

Anyway, we have Office on it and her email is all set up. Now to get some graphic design programs on and transfer her photos over. Ah .. there’s always something to do. But .. one day, I’ll get myself a netbook, but not just yet …

Wireless is great

Owen — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:30:34 +0000

Well, it’s official. I’m now 100% convinced that WiFi is the way to go. Granted, it’s radio and so more vulnerable to interference than a cabled network, but even with Cisco cables there’s no guarantee that your wired network won’t suffer any interference (particularly if someone accidentally cuts through one of them).

From now on, I’m recommending Wifi to everyone.