Hardware

SSDs might be getting less interesting, but that’s not necessarily bad

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , , , ,

Ars Technica has a story about SSD news coming out of CES.

Basically, they’re predicting that the big news this year will be consolidation and lower prices. That may be bad news for someone who writes about SSDs for a living (I don’t), but good news for consumers. Read more

Polaroid’s M7 and M10 tablets make me glad I didn’t buy a tablet last month

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware , , , , , , , ,

I didn’t buy a tablet last month. I knew about Acer’s new low-end tablet, the Iconia B1, and that they were at least initially reluctant to release it in the United States, but I hoped that either Acer would change their mind or that someone else would decide that the U.S. market really needs something in between the $80 cheapie no-name 1-ish GHz, single-core, 800×480 tablets sold in every drugstore, closeout store, and vacant gas station lot in the country and the $200 tablets that the likes of Samsung and Acer sell.

I’d be lying if I said I saw the Polaroid M7 and M10 coming. Lying like the evil spawn of a politician and a used car salesman. Read more

Coming soon to Monoprice: WQHD monitors

Dave Farquhar Hardware , ,

Monoprice dropped a bomb at CES this week: a 27″ IPS LED monitor with WQHD 2560×1440 resolution for $390.

From what I understand, there are several Korean manufacturers who make monitors from surplus or rejected panels intended for Apple displays, then sell them for under $400.

This looks like Monoprice signed on to distribute them in the United States, which seems less risky than buying them from a small importer or exporter off Amazon or Ebay. These monitors are popular with enthusiasts, but I imagine with Monoprice distributing them, the following will only increase. Monoprice is a bit of a secret too, but I heard of Monoprice long before I heard of Korean-made WQHD monitors.

Monoprice estimates they’ll be shipping them by March.

If you want a lot of screen real estate in the form of pixels, WQHD is useful. If you just want a sharp display, though, calculate pixels per inch first.

Are 80plus power supplies worth it?

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , ,
Are 80plus power supplies worth it?

Are 80plus power supplies worth it? Extremetech just that question recently. Based on their conclusion, not usually, at least not solely for power savings. But it’s an easy way to get a box built to stricter tolerances with higher-quality electronics. Read more

That other use of Stability Test that I promised

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware ,

I promised earlier this week to write about another use of Stability Test. The other use of Stability Test is for underclocking your CPU for better performance, undervolting it for better battery life, or both.

While a good number of people do both to their Nook Color, I can’t get mine to run for any length of time without crashing when I do either. Oddly enough, my Nook Color will pass Stability Test for 12 hours at 1.1 GHz, but then when I go to use it, it freezes up.

Mine was a refurb unit, so I may not have gotten the best chip in the batch. It’s entirely possible that it’s a refurb because some other enthusiast got it, tried to overclock it and couldn’t, then exchanged it for another, and then B&N tested and resold it as a refurb. But I find using Go Launcher EX makes life at 800 MHz tolerable on the machine anyway, especially when I use the apps for the web sites I visit most frequently, rather than trying to use a web browser.

A cheap Nook Color case from an unexpected place

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

I take my Nook Color with me enough that I wanted a case for it, but nothing too fancy, seeing as I’d rather spend money on hardware than on accessories.

Most retail stores carry cases for 7-inch tablets and e-readers, but they’re a high-margin item, often selling for $20 and up, which is 25% of what I paid for the device. I looked on Amazon, of course, where I found multiple cases for less than $10, but found conflicting reports as to whether any given case actually fit the Nook Color. Read more

R.I.P.: Netbooks

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , ,
R.I.P.: Netbooks

The last two netbook vendors standing, Acer and Asus, have both announced they’ve produced their last netbook. So they’re joining the Playstation 2 in the land of the digital dinosaurs, though I suspect more people will miss the 12-year-old game console than the netbook. The Guardian has an analysis, but basically they blame the emergence of tablets, and the increased cost of producing netbooks with Windows.

Read more

How to burn-in an Android

Dave Farquhar Android, Hardware , , ,
How to burn-in an Android

I always burn in my computers. But how do you burn-in an Android?

Here’s what burn-in means, if you’re unaware. When you first buy a computer, the very best thing you can do for it is leave it on for 24 hours nonstop, preferably doing something that’s reasonably hard work. That practice is called burning in a computer. If there’s anything at all wrong with it, there’s a very good chance it will come up in that initial 24 hour period. I’ve been doing that for more than 20 years, and of all the computers I’ve owned in that timeframe–and it’s an army of them, believe me–I’ve only had one machine fail prematurely. One.

The practice works.

So what about a tablet or a smartphone?

Read more

SSD pricing gets media attention

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , ,

It’s not news to my regular readers that SSD pricing continues to drop, but Computerworld noticed that this week.

Everyday pricing is well around 90 cents per gigabyte now, and with some shopping around, it’s possible to do better than that.

Read more

Review: Insignia NS20EM50A13 monitor

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , ,

My 15-inch Dell LCD died this weekend. Its date of manufacture was October 2001, so I can’t complain. I bought it used a number of years ago and paid a pittance for it. It had been acting up for more than a year, and at least it had the decency to wait until a potential replacement was on sale before dying completely.

Best Buy had its house-brand 20″ LED monitor on sale for $90, and I had a gift card with a few dollars on it, so I braved Best Buy again, and found a good low-end monitor for the money. Read more