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 By Argile Stox Nov. 24, 2006 The Thanksgiving holiday is here and Christmas is soon to follow. If you have been following the shakeup in the computer industry, it appears that Microsoft is ready to release Vista – which will run on a 64 bit platform. But what this really means is that all computers that run on a 32 bit platform are going to be obsolete. Retailers have an overabundance of 32 bit platform personal computers in stock that are not Vista Capable. What this all boils down to is that retailers are going to try and dump all of their 32 bit platform personal computers on the public with drastic markdowns. Don’t Fall for this! Vista (code name Longhorn) has been on the drawing board for years. Only recently has Microsoft released a beta Vista operating system for testing. The real proof of the pudding will be when Vista it’s released to the general public and the end users has a chance to "play around with it." Remember when Xp I first came out? There were glitches galore and consumers had to wait until Microsoft recognized the problems and produced hot fixes to solve the problems. Even today, Microsoft is still sending out a hot fixes to fix some security problems in Xp. In this writer’s opinion, I feel that there will be many revisions to Vista before all the kinks are worked out of it. About four months ago my desktop died. I enjoyed using a Desktop –however, I really hated to be confined in one space to operate my computer. One day while walking around the stacks of computers at Best Buy a laptop caught my eye. It was a Compact Presario V5120NR, 80 GB hard drive, wireless, and had all the features I was looking for. In addition, it was Windows Vista Capable. The price is right – so, I picked one up. It came with 518 MB of memory and a three hour battery. Now at last, I can go wireless –so I thought. That will be an entirely different article. All of the old programs that were in my old computer fit nicely into my laptop. I was very pleased. There’s nothing more aggravating then purchasing a new computer and finding out that your old programs will not work in your new computer. The only complaint I have about this V5120NR Compaq Presario laptop is the touch mouse pad. To be quite honest, I hate the darn thing. It is really a pain in my backside. So, on one of my monthly trips to Best Buy – I spotted a rocketfish wireless mouse which included a “sleep mode.” If the mouse is not used for a period of time, it shuts itself off –thus reducing the amount of batteries that other wireless mouse units eat up. My old computer’s hard drives crashed and I did not have any backups. You would think that a neurotic New Yorker like me would immediately backup all the information contained on my hard drives, every week. However, I kept putting it off and then one day the unthinkable happened, both my hard drives crashed and burned. So this time I was not going to be left with my pants down, and I purchased a SimpleTech – model # 96300 – 400 –01 / 160GB hard drive backup unit. It even gives me a reminder every month to back up my computer. How convenient… About the same time my old computer crashed, my printer died. It was a Lexmark and served me very well for about two and a half years. However, after being moved around at least six times in its lifetime –it had taken its toll on the printer. Plus, I had been longing for a self feeder in a printer. Once again I found myself in Best Buy looking around at printers. What I really wanted was a laser printer. The cartridges on laser printers last a very long time. The ink jet cartridges last a very short time. However, the laser printers were so outrageously priced that I had to settle for and ink jet printer. It was as if Lexmark had read my mind. They had an X7350 ink jet printer with a self feeder. It was reasonably priced and had all the bells and whistles that I had become accustomed to. However, kit was an ink jet printer. Well, you can’t always get what you want. The second complaint about the Compaq PresarioV5120NR is its sound system. My old computer had two halfway decent speakers. After being hooked up to my laptop for about two months, they died too. This time I found myself at Sam’s Club and found an Altech Lancing 2.0 powered audio system, model # 4221, and it was a reasonably priced. When I got home –unpacked everything –connected everything, I was blown away by the sounds that the system produced. It has two speakers and a subwoofer. Plus –a remote control. WOW! I put in ZZ Top’s Greatest Hits CD and was rocking the house in short order. Originally, the laptop came with an introductory offer to try out Norton System Works. I had that in my old computer and it worked fine. However, I found that Norton consumed too much memory. In the back of my mind, I was thinking of putting in the maximum amount of memory (2GB’s) that this laptop can hold. As usual, I was light in the wallet and could not fulfill my dream of having 2GB’s of memory in my laptop. I searched around the Internet and found a very reasonably priced antivirus and security system put out by Trend Micro. I elected to purchase the two year option. In addition, the program did not eat up that much memory. As luck would have it, I saved up a couple of dollars and was finally able to place 2GB’s of memory in my laptop. I was once again, a very happy camper. However, there was one more thing (there is always one more thing) that I needed to rectify. The laptop only comes with two USB ports, and I found myself unplugging one piece of equipment and plugging in another piece of equipment. It got to point, where my patience was wearing thin and I had to rectify the situation. Each time my brain is in Best Buy –I learn something new. I picked up a “high speed” four USB plug hub. However, when I plugged it into my new laptop –a small dialogue box appeared and stated that I would have better results if I plugged the piece of equipment directly into the laptop USB port. At this point, I just didn’t get it. The hub said that it was high speed and everything worked well with all my equipment. Actually, I did not have a problem with the hub. It worked well, the equipment worked well, and everything was humming along very nicely. By nature I am a very curious fellow; when something states that it is high speed and my laptop says otherwise, my brain begins to contort. A few days ago, I was on the Best Buy web site and came across a Belkin four USB high speed hub which had to be plugged into the wall. OK, in my line of thinking –if a unit must be plugged into a wall to achieve high speed status –then that should solve my problem. Within a few more days, the unit arrived –I plugged into a wall, I plugged in all four USB plugs and the dialog box did not pop up. I did notice however, that my printer does engage quicker than it did before –and my camera has better clarity. I also picked up a twelve cell lithium battery, model number PB 995 A –manufactured by Hewlett Packard. The battery that originally came with my laptop was only six cells. This would have given me about two –four hours worth of power. With this new battery, I can happily do my work with a battery that will give me between four –six hours. While I am on the subject of batteries and laptops –you have probably heard that batteries have been exploding in laptops and causing fires in Dell equipment. With that in mind, I picked up a Targus model # PA 8248 laptop cooler. It has two fans that draw the heat a way from the laptop. It also runs off one of the USB ports. The unit sits very comfortably under my laptop and is virtually silent as the air is pushed out of the unit. I have also taken the advice of many PC magazines and have removed the battery that powered my laptop. I am currently running the laptop on A/C. I just have to remember to charge up the batteries before I leave the house with a laptop. As a precaution, I also have a device that plugs into the cigarette lighter of the car and produces an A/C current. So now I feel that I am covered six days from Sunday. There was just one more thing I had to test out before I became completely satisfied with the purchase of this laptop. I loaded in Microsoft’s 2003 Word Professional, with all its bells and whistles. That main aspect of this program that I was interested in was the dictation option. With my trustee Altech Lancing headphones placed on my head, I began to train the dictation program. It took about three hours –however, I am pleased to report that the dictation program has adjusted well to my New York accent. In fact, this entire article was dictated. The dictation program is not flawless. It is always in a learning process, so I have to use the keyboard every once in awhile. Other than that, I am very pleased with my laptop. For all those who are scratching their heads wondering if they should pay the extra bucks and get the Vista Capable computers that are on your Christmas list, it is really a coin toss. As you are well aware, once Vista has been released into the marketplace there are going to be bugs that will be discovered by the end users. If your old computer can last at least one –two years, I would hold off buying a computer. I have not downloaded IE 7 yet. This is due to the fact that many banking institutions cannot recognize IE 7. In addition, I have been reading that many end users are experiencing problems with IE 7. So, like everything else –I am going to take a wait and see attitude. IE 6 Works just fine and I do not plan to install Vista in the near future. In my line of thinking, I would rather wait and let the geeks and eggheads fully dissect IE 7 am report the problems to Microsoft. Once I have read that the geeks & eggheads have given the green light to Vista & IE 7, then, I will consider installing the new software in my laptop.  
------------ Email Argile Stox: argilestox@gmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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