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Sometimes offers for desktop and laptop computers seem to be priced too low to be real. In the description of these products you might find the term refurbished. Both manufacturers and retailers may be offering these systems below what a normal PC costs, but what is a refurbished product and are they safe to buy?

Refurbished computers typically fall into one of two categories. The first type have failed a quality control check during manufacturing.

Rather than simply disposing of these systems, the manufacturer will rebuild it to pass quality control but sell it at a discounted price. The other type is a rebuilt system from a customer return likely due to a component failure.

Now the refurbishment of the product may be done by the manufacturer or a third party. Manufacturers rebuild the system using the same parts used in the new PCs. A third party that rebuilds the machine may use alternate parts to get it up and running. These alternate parts may change the system from its original design. This makes it important that the consumer read the specifications of the refurbished system and compare them to the standard specs for the product.

Another type of product that consumers will find discounted is an open box product. These differ from a refurbished product as it has not been rebuilt. It is simply a product that was returned by a customer but it has not been tested.

Consumers should be very careful when purchasing any open box products.

Costs

Cost is the primary reason people purchase refurbished desktops and laptops. They are often priced below the average computer system currently sold. Of course the amount of discount is only really relevant if you happen to be looking at the same exact product.

Most refurbished PCs available will typically be older products that are being compared to the original suggested retail prices for the product when it was first released. As a result, the deals may not always be the best.

When pricing a refurbished computer, it is important to note if the system is still available for sale new. If it is, this makes the price comparison very easy to determine. PCs such as this generally can be found for modest discounts of between 10 and 25% off the retail prices. As long as they have similar warranties to the new products these can be an excellent way to get a system for below retail.

The problem comes from older systems that are no longer sold. Consumers are often tricked into paying for a system that looks like a good deal but is not. This is where the specifications become extremely important. With those in hand, try to find a comparable brand new system. If one is available, then the same cost analysis of 10 to 25% still holds. If a comparable system is not available, then look for an equally priced new system and see what you get. Often times consumers in this case will find that for the same price they can get a better, newer laptop or desktop.

Warranties

The key to any refurbished computer system is the warranty. These are products that typically were returned or rejected due to a defect. While that defect may have been corrected and no further problems may develop you want to make sure that some coverage is included for potential faults. The problem is that warranties are typically modified for refurbished products.

First and foremost, the warranty should be a manufacturer one. If the warranty is not provided by the manufacturer it should raise a red flag for consumers. A manufacturer warranty will guarantee that the system will be repaired to the original specifications with manufacturer parts or certified replacements can be used with the system.

Third party warranties can cause major problems as replacements parts may not be guaranteed and it may take longer for the system to be repaired.

The next thing to look at is the length of the warranty. It should provide the same length as if it was purchased new. If the manufacturer is not offering the same coverage consumers should once again beware. The lower cost of the system may be the result of them not offering to support the product.

Finally, be wary of extended warranties. If an optional warranty is offered for purchase with the system, it should be a manufacturer extended warranty and not one through a third party. Also be wary of the cost for extended warranties. If the cost of the extended warranties makes the system cost more than buying it new, avoid the purchase.

Return Policies

As with any product, you may get the refurbished computer and find that it does not meet your needs or has issues. Because of the nature of refurbished systems, you want to be very careful of the return and exchange policies offered by the seller. Most retailers tend to have more restrictive policies regarding refurbished machines and they may be sold as it which means you have no recourse for returning the product. Because of this, always read them carefully before making a purchase. Manufacturer refurbs often have been options than third party sellers.

Conclusions

Refurbished laptops and desktops are one way consumers can find a good deal, but they have to be much more informed before the purchase.

The key is to ask several key questions to know if it is really a good and safe deal:

• Ÿ Is it sold by the manufacturer or a retailer?
• Ÿ What is the price relative to the same PC new?
• Ÿ Is the system comparable to an equivalent priced new PC?
• Ÿ What type of warranty comes with the PC?
• Ÿ Who will handle warranty work?
• Ÿ Is there the option for a return?

If all of these can be answered satisfactorily, then consumers can generally feel secure in the purchase of a refurbished PC.

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How to Choose a Laptop Based on HDD, SSD, CD, DVD and Blu-ray Options

Most modern laptops are moving away from the traditional mechanical drives in favor of more durable and smaller solid state options.

This change is being fueled by the fact that laptops keep getting smaller, and so their internal space is restricted and no longer accommodating for larger storage devices.

To help clear up confusion for buyers, this guide looks at all the various types of drives that may be in a laptop, and what they can offer.

Hard Drives

Hard drives (HDDs) are still the most common form of storage in a laptop and are pretty straight forward.

Generally, the drive will be referred to by its capacity and rotational speed. Larger capacity drives tend to perform better than smaller ones and faster spinning drives, when compared with ones of similar capacity, are usually more responsive than slower ones.

However, slower spinning HDDs do have a slight advantage when it comes to laptop running times because they draw less power.

Laptop drives are typically 2.5 inches in size and can range from 160 GB up to over 2 TB in capacity. Most systems will have between 500 GB and 1 TB of storage, which is more than enough for the standard laptop system.

If you’re looking at a laptop to replace your desktop as your primary system that will hold all your documents, videos, programs, etc., consider getting one with a hard drive that’s 750 GB or larger.

Solid State Drives

Solid state drives (SSDs) are starting to replace hard drives in more laptops, especially the new ultrathin laptops.

These types of hard drives use a set of flash memory chips rather than a magnetic platter to store the data. They provide faster data access, lower power consumption, and higher reliability.

The downside is that SSDs don’t come in such large capacities as traditional hard drives. Plus, they usually cost a lot more.

A typical laptop equipped with a solid state drive will have anywhere from 16 GB to 512 GB of storage space, although there are some available with more than 500 GB but they are prohibitively expensive. If this is the only storage in the laptop, it should have at least 120 GB of space but ideally around 240 GB or more.

The type of interface that the solid state drive uses can also have a significant impact on the performance but many companies do not overtly advertise it. Most inexpensive systems like Chromebooks tend to use eMMC which isn’t much more than a flash memory card, while high performance laptops use the new M.2 cards with PCI Express (PCIe).

Solid State Hybrid Drives

If you want higher performance than a traditional hard drive but don’t want to sacrifice storage capacity, a solid state hybrid drive (SSHD) is another option. Some companies are referring to these as just hybrid hard drives.

Solid state hybrid drives include a small amount of solid state memory on a traditional hard drive that is used to cache frequently used files.

They do help speed up tasks such as booting up a laptop but they aren’t always faster. In fact, this form of drive is best used when a limited number of applications are used on a frequent basis.

Smart Response Technology and SSD Cache

Similar to hybrid hard drives, some laptops are using both traditional hard drives with a small solid state drive. The most common form of this uses the Intel Smart Response Technology. This provides the benefits of the storage capacities of the hard drive while gaining the speed benefits of a solid state drive.

Unlike SSHDs, these caching mechanisms usually use larger drives between 16 and 64 GB that provide a boost to a larger range of frequently used applications, thanks to the extra space.

Some older ultrabooks use a form of SSD caching that offers higher storage capacities or lower costs, but Intel has changed this so that a dedicated solid state drive is required in order for new machines to meet the ultrabook branding requirements.

This is becoming much less common now that prices for SSD’s continue to drop.

CD, DVD and Blu-ray Drives

It used to be that you were required to have an optical drive on a laptop since most software was distributed on discs, so it was required in order to load the program to your computer. However, with the rise of digital distribution and alternate methods of booting, optical drives are not a requirement like they once were.

These days, they’re used more for watching movies or playing games, as well as burning programs to a disc, creating DVDs, or building audio CDs.

If you do need an optical drive, what type of drive should you get on a laptop? Well, whatever you end up getting, it should definitely be compatible with DVDs. One of the great advantages to laptops is their ability to be used as portable DVD players. Anyone who travels regularly has seen at least one person pull out a laptop and start watching a movie during the flight.

DVD writers are pretty much standard for laptops that have an optical drive. They can fully read and write both CD and DVD formats. This makes them extremely useful for those looking to watch DVD movies on the go or for editing their own DVD movies.

Now that Blu-ray has become the defacto high definition standard, more laptops are beginning to ship with these drives.

Blu-ray combo drives have all the features of a traditional DVD burner with the ability to play Blu-ray movies. Blu-ray writers add the ability to burn lots of data or video to the BD-R and BD-RE media.

Here are some optical drive options and the tasks they are best suited for:

• Basic computing w/DVD Playback: DVD-ROM
• DVD/CD Recording: DVD Writer
• HD Video Playback: Blu-ray Combo
• HD Video Recording: Blu-ray Writer

With current component costs, there is almost no reason that a laptop would not have a DVD burner if it is going to have an optical drive. What is surprising is that Blu-ray drives have not become more standard as their prices are also quite low now for the combo drives. It should also be noted that laptop drives are generally much slower than similar drives found in desktop systems.

Even if a laptop does not have an internal optical drive, it’s still possible to use one so long as you have an open USB port for room to attach a USB optical drive.

Note: When you purchase a laptop with an optical drive, it may require additional software beyond the operating system to properly view DVD or Blu-ray movies.

Drive Accessibility

Drive accessibility is important when considering whether to upgrade or replace a damaged drive. It’s important to know what you’re doing, so you might consider having an authorized technician open the computer.

This generally isn’t a problem for many people, but in a corporate environment it can cause increased down time for a worker. Laptops that have drive bays that are accessible or swappable have the advantage of easy and quick access for upgrades or replacements.

In addition to being accessible, it’s also important to get an idea of what kind of drive bays there are and what the size requirements may be. For instance, the 2.5-inch drive bays used for hard drives and solid state drives can come in several sizes. The larger 9.5 mm drives often have better performance and capacities but if the drive bay only fits 7.0 mm drives due to a thin profile, you need to know that.

Similarly, some systems use the mSATA or M.2 cards rather than a traditional 2.5-inch hard drive for their solid state drive. So, if the drives can be accessed and replaced, be sure to know what type of interfaces and physical size limits there are.

Mousepads are a great way to help your mouse move more smoothly. Some of them even come with extra cushioning for support. Sometimes, they get dirty and need to be cleaned. To quickly clean a fabric or plastic-covered mousepad, rub it with a moist rag and some shampoo. Use a clean rag and water to rinse off the shampoo, then let your mousepad dry completely.

How to clean a mousepad?

Check out what your mousepad is made of. Usually it will be a spongy foam, covered with either a finely knit fabric or a plastic top. Clean it according to the type of surface. If the surface is fabric, try rubbing gently with a moist washcloth or rag and a bit of shampoo. Shampoo is a mild cleaner that’s gentle on most fabrics and on skin, plus you already have it. If your mousepad is plastic-covered, use any mild spray household cleaner and a cloth or sponge. Dish soap or shampoo will work just as well.

Rinse all the cleaner off the mousepad. Pat the outside of the mousepad dry. Allow the mousepad to dry thoroughly. Let it dry all the way through the foam before returning it to your desk.

Community Q&A

1.What should I do if the fabric mouse pad I cleaned now has a bump?

Try cleaning it again with hot water and soap, and then hang it to dry. That should stop bumps from forming as well as get rid of any existing bumps.

2.What if the mouse pad has a drawing on it? Should I worry about it at all?

It shouldn’t be a problem on plastic mousepads, because the plastic is covering the drawing. However, if it is a spongy foam fabric, you may want to be gentler when cleaning.

Do you want to learn how to type fast in the most efficient way? Follow these instructions, and you will be on your way to type fast on a keyboard.

1.Changing your keyboard

If you are going for speed, choosing the standard keyboard layout is out of the question. You must remember where are the buttons on keyboard. If you are a beginner at typing try to write your name or something you are familiar with your school name or your address etc. To learn more about the layouts. Notice that you don’t have to buy a new keyboard, just change a setting on your computer.

2.Improving your speed

Before you type, warm up your fingers by making fists with both your hands. Open them slowly, and bend your fingers back until they can’t physically go further without external help. Repeat this five times and you’ll be typing faster than you did before. Try not to look at the keyboard when typing. Challenge yourself at all times until you can type without looking at all, and get the typing accurate.

3.Use websites that allow you to practice touch typing

Practice at the various levels until you are using the fastest typing levels. Use timed typing tests that require you to beat the clock to finish a paragraph.

4.Find a touch typing tutor and learn to type

There are tons of free alternatives that should fit most people fine. Don’t move the keys around. This will only slow down your learning. To speed up your learning, try to practice with text that makes sense, and not the usual repetitive sequences of characters – these do not really work.

5.When you are ready to take a shot at beating the world record, and choose a test, preferably with a three minute duration to get a more accurate result.

To motivate yourself, make notes of your results before, during and after your training to see the increase in speed. Choose different tests, so that you don’t end up memorizing a text.

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Laptop screens tend to collect dust, food particles and other debris that starts to look unattractive after a while. It’s important to use very gentle supplies to clean your laptop screen, since the LCD surface is easily damaged. Here are attached tips and Q&A for your reference.

Tips

Tissues, napkins, and other paper products will leave flakes of paper on your monitor. It’s better to not even try using them. They can contain wood fibers and may even scratch polished surfaces. You don’t want mineral spots on your screen, so don’t use tap water. If you’re a photographer, you can use your lint-free lens wipes instead of a soft cotton cloth. If you have lens cleaner for eyeglasses, check the back to see if it contains “Isopropanol”, if it does don’t use it on your LCD monitor. Use a cotton swab for the harder to reach places with the cleaning solution on it. If you apply too much of the solution and it is drippy or too damp, wipe it off with a soft cloth and apply less. Clean and then let it soak for a little and then repeat. Be patient with hard to clean spots. If in doubt, test a small area of screen first.

Community Q&A

1.How can I clean a laptop keyboard?

Try using the sticky side of a sticky note in between the keys to pick up dirt and dust.

2.Are there similar types of cloth I can use instead of microfiber?

Anything made of cotton is gentle enough to use on a laptop screen, but you should avoid using paper towels or facial tissue, which are too abrasive for this type of cleaning.

3.Where can I buy a microfiber cloth?

Most supermarkets have them, as well as office supply stores.

4.Can I use cotton for cleaning a laptop screen rather than microfiber?

Yes, as long as it is a gentle, soft kind, like t-shirt material.

5.Can Lysol wipes be used to clean a laptop screen?

No, it is too harsh. Use only water and white vinegar solution with a microfiber or soft cotton cloth, like an old t-shirt.

6.Can you use Clorox wipes or baby wipes to clean your laptop screen?

No. If you have eyeglasses cleaner, I suggest using some of that. Don’t spray it directly on the screen or it could get into your laptop.

7.How can I get better at not being distracted when I work on my homework?

Get all the distractions out of the room and take breaks every once in a while.

8.What is the best way to clean a flat screen TV with fingerprints on it?

Take some dryer sheets and wipe across the TV lightly, if there’s dust. Then take a microfiber cloth and clean it like you would a computer screen.

9.What should I do if my screen is foggy due to cleaning solution?

I used distilled vinegar and water with a microfiber cloth for mine. It worked well for me.

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Always running out of space on your tablet? Whatever tablet you use, here are some easy ways to get more storage space.

People use tablets for different things. Some browse the web, others read their email and some use it as an entertainment device.

If you listen to music, watch moves, take photographs and download apps on your tablet, there’s a high chance your tablets drive will quickly become full and you won’t be able to download anything else.

Here are some ways to get more storage space for your tablet.

Free up storage

Start by spring cleaning your tablet and removing the apps and files you don’t use. You’ll be surprised how much storage space is taken up with things you don’t even use.

Hardware

Memory card

If you own an Android tablet such as the Google Nexus 9 or the Tesco Hudl 2 then it may have a slot for a memory card. The advantage of using a card is that you can keep it in your tablet and use to store content and apps.

Invest in a card reader

A wireless portable card reader is a good solution if you don’t have a card slot on your device, but want to access extra content such as movies, photos and videos.

Storage drive

A storage drive is a good way of backing up things that you don’t use every day. Photographs, for example, take up quite a lot of storage space, but it’s likely you won’t want to look at them all that often.

Plugging in a portable drive enables you to quickly transfer photographs and free up storage space. A portable hard drive is a good place to store music and movies you don’t want to keep on your tablet.

Wireless storage

If you don’t want to mess around with cables or formatting, or if you’re an Apple iPad owner, a wireless storage drive will be more convenient.

Apple doesn’t make it easy for iPad users to add extra storage to their tablets. The device doesn’t include a USB port and uses a proprietary charging port, either 30-pin in the iPad 2 or the new Lightning connector.

Cloud storage

The advantage of using the cloud to store things is that you aren’t using storage space on your tablet. Instead your files are stored on remote servers, commonly known as the cloud.

Cloud storage has other advantages. Many devices enable you to set up an automatic backup so you don’t have to worry about remembering to copy your files manually. Additionally, in the event you lose your device, you’ll be able to restore your files from backup.

A number of cloud storage providers that offer space without charge.

BT Cloud

With BT Cloud, BT customers get 50GB or 500GB storage free depending on the broadband package.

BT Cloud can be used to store photos, music and documents.

You can access BT Cloud from any device with a browser, or via the BT Cloud app which is available for Android, Apple and Windows Phone phones and tablets, using your BT ID. From there you can share your content with family and friends.

Apple iCloud

Apple Pad and iPhone users get 5GB of iCloud storage free with their devices.

Google Android

Google offers users 15GB storage across Google Drive.

Users of Android tablets, such as the Tesco Hudl, can turn on automatic backups to back up app information, settings and wi-fi passwords by heading to Settings – Backup & reset – Back up my data.

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