hp laptop

Hewlett – Packard again is to make a major move to catch up with the technological (and financial) world’s constant and brutal demands. It can be recalled that in 1999 a firm called Agilent Technologies came from a spin off of HP’s measurement operations (which by the way spearheaded the birth of the now tycoon IT company). The same tactic has been done again by HP and this time another high revenue department was targeted – PC Division.

This is undeniably a cliché from CEO Leo Apotheker’s statement earlier this year when he described their PC business as a “competitive advantage”. However, we can also infer that HP’s purchase of Autonomy Corp., a firm focusing on keeping track of corporations’ data such as phone calls and emails is what Apotheker is referring with his recent statement he pointed out the need to “invest a lot of capital….in better places”. Take into account that this newly rendered firm will actually bring in higher profit for the company compared to its PC division. In addition to the rumored PC business spin-off, HP tablet and smartphones that were to rival or even surpass Apple’s offerings will be discontinued. I think this will be the end of the WebOS (i hope not).

It has been a surprise among the industry that HP is removing their PC Division from the lineup but will still continue to support and make servers, network and data-storage systems. If I were a consumer I would most probably prefer to purchase a PC brand where I can get all my hardware and that the same time enjoy technical support. Yes, it doesn’t make sense to put in line the back up with nothing tangible fronting it. But then, hypothesizing from known facts like HP’s subtle financial decline in the stock market, this might boost them unto higher ground. After all, other divisions also cave in high revenues. For instance, their tech-services team brought them roughly $9 billion last quarter. And let’s put into consideration that the company is the world’s largest printer manufacturer; getting the most amount of profit from their expensive ink.

Of course, HP’s course of action can be compared to IBM outsourcing their PC Industry to Lenovo back in 2004. Due to its depreciating profit margin IBM chose to take advantage of Lenovo’s lacking managerial skills in running a multinational PC business and maintained several management teams even after the merger. The move turned out to be beneficial for both parties apparently. IBM gained more profit and Lenovo, which came from a name only the techies of all techies know, to a household name. This may not apply to HP though. What HP needs to survive this time is to think clearly on what to would make their business survive without selling or spinning off their PC department. If Bill and Dave would still be alive they would find a way to innovate technologically and not do a maneuver that would compromise the interests of their loyal clients even if that would bring more profit to the company. They need to make new things that would captivate the interest of the people, after all HP’s goal is to “invent”!

Disclaimer:

Before you follow the steps that will be indicated below make sure that the replacement wireless card that you have is compatible with your device. Contact your manufacturer to be sure. This procedure is not as complicated as it sounds all you need is a small Philip’s screwdriver and of course a few ounce of guts.

On this tutorial we will be working on a Dell XPS M1210 that was sent to me to be repaired.

Part I: Locating the wireless card

Most of the time, the wireless card can be accessed by opening a cover at the back of your laptop or netbook using a Philip’s screwdriver.

Part II: Removing the wireless card

Unattach the two antenna cables (black and white) from the wireless card.

Push the metal lock away from the wireless card and it will semi pop out from the port on a 45 degree angle.

Remove the card from the PCI port by pulling it away.

Part III: Installing the replacement card

The steps that we will doing on this part will be the reverse of what we did on the previous part.

Insert the wireless card to the PCI port on a 45 degree angle.

Push the card down to let the metal lock secure its position firmly (don’t panic if you hear it snap)

Attach the two antenna cables to its right place. They are color coded so you won’t be confused where to attach them.

After you have done these steps you just need to close the cover and install/update the drivers for your new card and you will be all set.

One of the best parts with Windows 7 (and Vista) is arguably the greatly enhanced search capability. While a regular search in Windows XP often takes several minutes, it is lightning fast in Windows Vista and Windows 7. The reason is that the latest Windows version will index your hard drive in the background to serve you almost instant results when you type into the search field.

If you have a netbook or other computer running Windows XP, there is fortunately a solution. This is to install Microsoft’s free Windows Search 4. With this installed you can perform searches as fast on your netbook as on your brand new Windows 7 PC. Windows Search 4 is available for download here.

Once it’s finished downloading, run the self-explanatory installation program. When you’re done, exit to complete the installation. Windows Search is now embedded on the taskbar, right to the left of the clock. To use it, just enter any keyword in the search field and you will see the result in a new window.

If you want to change the settings in Windows Search, right-click the program icon at the bottom left. You can now choose to pause or restart indexing. You can also select options for Windows Search to do other more advanced stuff. Otherwise just lean back as your files are indexed and enjoy your new and improved search functionality.

This is Intel’s reaction to the new threat from AMD’s interesting Fusion APUs and the fact that ARM is about to enter the PC market in conjunction with the launch of Windows 8. Intel’s Atom platform for netbooks is now cheaper than ever, and the chip giant has just launched a bunch of new notebook processors that need just 17W at most, which have already found their way into the latest MacBook Air lineup.

To describe the Ultrabook concept briefly it will be laptops for less than $1,000 that are less than 0.8″ thick. They also have to offer a battery life of up to 10 hours and will come with a solid-state drive (SSD) or SSD cache using Intel’s Smart Response technology for better performance. The first computers to officially fit the Ultrabook guidelines will arrive by the end of the year, equipped with Sandy Bridge processors. However, the concept will not launch in earnest before Intel’s next-gen platform Ivy Bridge is released during the first half of next year. One of the first laptops that will fit the description is the ASUS UX21, which is due in September.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has demonstrated the high hopes they have for their new platform by comparing the launch of the UltraBook with the mobile platform Centrino, which was a revolutionary change for the whole laptop market. The Centrino notebook platform was launched in 2003 and the big news then was that the company invested time in creating a platform designed from the ground up for the portable market. This is one of the reasons that now – eight years later – the number of laptops on the market far exceeds desktop computers. Everything was obviously not thanks to Intel, but Centrino was undoubtedly an important first step for the mobile revolution. Now Intel hopes to repeat this accomplishment in the ultraportable market.

The Ultrabook project is much more akin to Centrino, Otellini says; it is a very holistic approach to moving the entire market to a different kind of form factor, not just in terms of its thinness, but in terms of the feature-set. I talked about always on, always connected. So the machine is always aware of the networks around it. I talked about instant on, instant boot capability. We talked about building in integral touch into it, another feature set. So this is as much about the features around the skin, or inside the skin, as the shape of the skin.

The closest analogy to an Ultrabook right now is Apple’s latest generation of the MacBook Air, which uses the new low-voltage Sandy Bridge processors that the first Ultrabook computers are intended to use. The ASUS UX21 is likely next in line and will compete with several different models from the major manufacturers. When Intel launches its 22nm Ivy Bridge architecture the concept should be fully realized. With new Tri-gate transistors, Intel has promised up to 50% less energy use and 37% higher performance, which are both key factors in the versatile ultrabook form factor. Intel has also promised integration of high-speed USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt , which further increases the possibilities for the platform to shrink its size.

How well Intel succeeds in getting broad manufacturer support and consumer acceptance for the Ultrabook concept remains to be seen, but it seems like the right way to go.

In the Red Corner:

Apple just recently started selling the iPad2 it is by almost all aspects better than its predecessor so we will be using the 64GB WiFi version of this device as the contender from Apple.

Tech Specs:

Processor:   1Ghz dual-core Apple A5 processor

RAM:       512MB DDR2

Hard Disk:   64GB

Display:     9.7″ multi-touch display

Price:         $699.99

In The Blue Corner:

I had the chance of seeing the HP dm1z netbook a few days ago (lucky me) and was impressed by the way it  looks but was more amazed by its performance.

Tech Specs:

Processor:           AMD E-350 1.6Ghz Dual-Core processor

RAM:                     4GB DDR3

Hard Disk:            500GB

Display:                 11.5″ HP Brightview LED Display

Price:                     $529.99 (beefed-up)

Round 1 (first impressions):

The iPad2 looked really  impressive, Its thin and very light (1.33lbs) body was complemented by its really cool apps. If the iPad’s looks could kill, the earth’s population will be diminished by the millions. The only thing that I was not really fond of was the touch screen (completely all my fault). The HP dm1z on the other hand was not at all unimpressive. In fact I think it looks sexy. What caught my attention was the really sleek body design plus the black color and the silver trim. Perfect match! It is not as slim as the iPad2 but this is good enough for a netbook.

Round 2 (performance):

I know that comparing the performance of these two sexy gadgets is really difficult but we’ll just make things simple and stick to the basics. Let’s start with boot up time. The iPad2  boasts a really fast boot time of 22 seconds compared to the dm1z’s 1 min and 15 seconds. Internet browsing performance from the iPad2 is just the  same with the netbook but sadly the iPad2 still does not support flash (really sucks). Apple’s bet also gives good response time when I was playing with its apps and reading an ebook out of can make you sit down and just glue your eyes on the machine for a couple of hours. A major drawback of the iPad2 is that it is still not compatible with Adobe’s Flash and also not capable of multitasking not unlike the dm1z with a good 4GB of ddr3 RAM. Playing games on HP’s dm1z is also imba with the integration of the Radeon 6310 on its APU. Gaming on a netbook was never this cool.

Round 3 (verdict):

I am not in the position to tell you which device is better simply because both devices work well with their intended purposes. The iPad2′s price tag might drag you down but still dresses to impress and its apps likewise do the same. HP’s dm1z on the other hand delivers really good performance for a computing machine its size and price. It’s up to you guys to choose which product best suit your needs.

You don’t need to buy a high end laptop to watch HD movies and do other graphics-hungry activities because now  you can do it on your netbook.  Just plug in a big external monitor to make the experience a bit better.

If you don’t know how to connect an external monitor to a netbook, then continue reading  this article to be enlightened.

As a precaution you better turn your netbook and your external monitor off before proceeding.

First step is to check the video ports of your netbook and your monitor for you to be able to use the right connector. Newer netbooks are HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) ready but in our case both of our devices have the VGA (Video Graphics Array) ports so we are going to use a VGA cable to connect these two.

Next thing that you have to do is connect one end of the VGA cable to the netbook’s VGA port and the other end to the monitor’s VGA port.

If both ends of the cable have been securely plugged, then it’s time to fire up your two machines. After booting it should look pretty much like this.

You can change the settings of your monitors by going to the “Display Settings” under the “Control Panel”. You can either turn off the display on your laptop and make the external monitor your sole display or vice-versa. You can also make the external monitor work like an extension of the laptop screen.  So choose which setting would fit your preference.

There you go folks, instead of buying an $800 notebook with a big monitor you can always buy a 21.5” LED monitor for around $130 and hook it up to your netbook. Talk about big savings!

Correct  Recharging – Recharge  your laptop using the adapter that came with it or an authorized replacement. A mismatch in the wattage could cause an overload and may  damage the laptop as well as the battery.

Keep it clean - Keep the area around your laptop clean to prevent dust from entering your notebook.  Keep the vents around your device clean to keep the operating temperature low. A laptop with blocked air vents will generate more heat which reduce the life of the battery.

Driver/Software Update -  Update the software, drivers, BIOS of your laptop. Newer drivers and software are often designed to be more efficient and most likely drain less power.

Power Options – Get familiarized with your systems power management settings under the control panel and set it up to optimize the power usage and conserve power

Disable programs running in the background - Disable programs that aren’t  that needed  to maximize the battery life (ex. Yahoo Messenger, Adobe updater, etc).   For Windows -based systems you can go to “msconfig” and uncheck the programs you don’t want to run during start-up. This will allow your laptop to use less power and  will make it boot faster.

Adjust the brightness –  Adjust the brightness on your screen lowest level that you can tolerate using the Function key toggles or using the Display Settings in Control Panel. This will lessen the load on your battery.

If you are dependent on your laptop whether for work, study or for any other reason always take care good care of it. Following these tips will help you save money and the frustrations over a dead battery.

Before laptops implemented the use of rechargeable batteries they used AA and lead based batteries. Sound weird but it’s true. That system was very wasteful and inefficient so manufacturers sought for a better alternatives.

The first batch of commercially successful rechargeable  laptop batteries were made of NiCad (Nickel-Cadmium). This battery type was considered good during its time but had many shortcomings. It cannot store large amounts of power and it had a flaw called the “memory effect”. This happens when you repeatedly charge a battery even if it is not fully drained it. The battery will remember a level lower than full as its maximum charge.

NiMh (Nickel Metal Hybride) was the successor of the NiCad batteries and  is better than NiCad in terms of power capacity. It possessed power  up to 3 times more than its predecessor  and is more resilient to the memory effect but it has a higher self-discharge rate especially when it is used in a high-temperature environment.

The current generation of laptops  mostly use Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) and Li-Poly (Lithium Polymer) batteries.  This type can store more  energy  than the NiMh  and can be recharged at a faster  rate  too. In other words these to type of batteries are the most efficient ones out in the market today. One bad side of this type though is that Li-Ion batts have the tendency to explode if exposed directly to sunlight or if used at high-temperature environments.

Even with the advancement of technology current laptop batteries are still long ways off to being perfect but still you would have to admire the fact that batteries have evolved from really crude pieces of equipment into really sophisticated works of art. Who knows by the next few years batteries would be the size of a peanut and may store power enough to run for a week with only 1 charging but for now we have to settle for the Lithium-Ions.

There is just no way to describe the frustration you get from a jumpy cursor when you are on a middle of a really important typing job but when it comes to technology there is always another way around a situation. So don’t smash your notebook yet just try to disable the touchpad and enjoy the feeling of continuous and undisturbed typing.

Long battery life

Ok, let’s start with battery life because this is the main reason I wanted to get a MacBook Pro in the first place. I like to have the freedom to work anytime anywhere and hate being curtailed by the absence of an AC socket and a dead battery.

The vaunted 7-hour battery life works as advertised. However, since I open at least 20 Web pages simultaneously (including at least 3 on Google Docs), hook up to the Internet via WiFi, and constantly maintain one download in the background, that number goes down to 5 or even 4 hours.

Still, that’s pretty impressive and exactly what I was looking for. Well, you could actually bring the hours back to 6 or even 7 if you only open a couple of Web pages but that would defeat the purpose of spending $1,400 on a laptop, right?

Impressive 13-inch screen

All right, I’m sure some of you folks are wondering why – since I value battery life so highly – I didn’t just get a netbook instead. First of all, I’ve got poor eyesight and even if I wore my glasses, peering into a dull, low-contrast, 10-inch display would force my eyes to give up before the battery would run out.

When netbooks first came out, I instantly believed the perfect ultra-portable laptop was finally born – lightweight, small form-factor, long battery life. But then that was before I actually came face to face with their diminutive displays.

In contrast, this MacBook Pro’s 13-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen (up to 1280×800 resolution) is way more than “just right”. Characters on the screen are clearly defined, videos and images are crisp and sharp. and colors are unbelievably bright. Combine that with the laptop’s overall size and battery life, and you’ve got the ultra-portable laptop you never even dreamed of.

Performance

The first two factors I mentioned earlier easily gave this laptop a head start over the competition. But what really allows this MacBook Pro to pull away even farther is its unwavering high performance. This MacBook Pro has already been with me for 2 weeks and the only times I had to restart it was when 1) I wanted to know how a restart on a Mac would look like, and 2) I wanted to see if restarting would help me detect a shared folder on a Windows-powered laptop.

But mostly, it ran 24/7 (downloading while I slept or ate). As mentioned earlier, I always work with a lot of windows. Watching online videos, reading PDFs, viewing Flash-enabled websites, and opening multiple Web pages simultaneously is all part of my daily routine. In fact, having 50 windows opened at the same time is not far fetched.

But despite what seems to be a CPU and RAM-intensive daily operation, never did I find it necessary to restart nor did I ever notice any lag. Well, just to nitpick, the system may have slowed down a wee bit a few instances but it certainly didn’t reach the point of requiring a reboot or premature closing of windows.

Credit for this awesome performance of course largely goes to the internal hardware. This 13-inch MacBook Pro runs on a dual-core 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5 backed by 4 GB of RAM.

Here’s some Summary and System Info of my system courtesy of Geekbench:

Highly efficient user interface

For the user interface, I’d like to focus more on the multi-touch trackpad because, prior to owning a MacBook Pro, I always relied on a mouse to fast track certain tasks.

Some of my commonly employed mouse gestures include: using the mouse’s scroll wheel to scroll up and down a page; pressing the CTRL button and turning the scroll-wheel to zoom in and out; right-clicking to bring up context menus; and click and dragging to view portions of a large image or virtual map.

With the MacBook Pro’s multi-touch trackpad, I can do the same tasks without taking my hand off the laptop. In addition, all tasks could be performed with just one hand (zooming with the mouse requires pressing the CTRL key).

Here are some illustrations to give you a better idea:

To scroll, just use two fingers. Flick upwards or downwards. If there’s a horizontal scroll bar, you can do a similar horizontal gesture. The trackpad’s inertia scrolling feature and quick response makes scrolling so soft and easy. You can use the same gestures to view different portions of a large document, image, or map.

To zoom out, just draw two fingers together (known as a pinch). Draw them apart to zoom in.

To bring up a context menu, just tap on the trackpad using two fingers.

Here’s another nifty feature. Want to rotate an image? Just use two fingers, twisting clockwise or counterclockwise to rotate accordingly.

Yes, all those are so easy, I even let my 3 year old kid demo for me. But since it costs so much (at least for me), I won’t dare let her near it after that.

Review by John Carl Villanueva