Posts Tagged Apple

The Dell Laptop That Was Injured During An 8hr. Sleepover

by James Valle

Do you use a laptop or netbook? If you do, we do not recommend using a laptop or netbook on your bed or sofa because they can overheat due to poor circulation, but most importantly you might accidentally sleep on it like what happened to this notebook.

This Dell Latitude D630 laptop suffered an 8 hour ordeal of getting rolled over several times which finally ended by falling off the bed and landing on a hard wood floor. Which in return, cracked the screen and left side of the LCD bezel. The right hinge, one key, and also the right side of the power button hinge cover all broke. We were able to safe this notebook and it is now back into service, working 100%.

Take a look at the damage:

Here is a time lapse of the repair:

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How to Replace A Dell Latitude E6400 LCD Screen

We got several request on how to replace an LCD screen in a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop.

Here you go:

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Xi3 5 Series Modular Computer Review

by James Valle

This 5 Series is a unique cube-like computer with a classic motherboard that has been divided into three interconnecting boards, the CPU board and two I/O boards.

The model of this 5 Series is the X5A-5342US00, running Windows 7 and it is powered by an AMD Ahtlon Dual-core 64-bit 3400e processor. It comes with a 64GB Solid State Drive and 2GB of DDR2 RAM.

Features.
 Useful life of 6 – 10 years
 Low energy use (20 Watts)
 Significant TCO (total cost of ownership) savings vs. standard PCs
 Easily upgradeable & modifiable
 Very small footprint
 Boots Windows 7 in under 25 seconds
 Runs x86-based Operating Systems and Software

In the package, it contains the computer, power adapter with cord, start-up guide and the limited warranty booklet.

The modular computer has a nice brushed aluminum housing with vented chromed sides. On the front you have the Xi3 logo, nothing on the other two sides and on the backside is the I/O panel.

Starting on the top left and going down, you have the Ethernet port, Sound in Sound out and the Mic inputs. To the right of the Ethernet port, you have two video connectors, the Display Port and the Dual Link DVI+VGA connectors which both support dual displays. Here you have the power adapter port and the power button. Below that, you have 6 USB 2.0 ports, one is dedicated for the keyboard and two eSata ports.

The things we liked about this computer are:
– The AMD Athlon processor
– Solid state drive
– Supports dual displays
– Upgradable and modifiable
– Supports multiple operating systems like Linux

There were very few things we didn’t like about the Xi3. We didn’t like that the maximum amount of RAM you can have is 2GB and we weren’t too fond of the price which was about $600.

This would be a great computer for the industrial control market, medical industry, computer labs, retail service kiosk, or even at home as a basic computer or multimedia computer.

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Samsung Series 7 Gamer Laptop Review

by Mark Valle

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer is an ultimate gaming laptop designed to offer the hardcore gamer a customized, versatile and powerful gaming machine.

The model of this gaming laptop is NP700G7C-S01US and it is powered by a third generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM Processor running at 2.3Ghz that can be turbo boosted up to 3.3Ghz in gaming mode. It comes with two 750GB hard drives totaling 1.5TB with 8GB of ExpressCache. It comes with 16GB of DDR3 RAM which is the maximum allowed in this laptop. Viewing content is displayed on an amazing full HD 1920×1080 SuperBright Plus display with a brightness of 400nit, powered by an NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M with 2GB of graphical memory. Sound is powered by Dolby Home Theater v4 surround sound speakers. It comes with a 101 backlit keyboard with u shaped keys. 2.0 megapixel web cam. On the right side you it has a Blu-Ray/Super Multi Dual Layer DVD drive and two USB 2.0 ports. On the left side it has the Kensington Lock Slot, the power port, the LAN port, VGA port, HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, the 7 in 1 multi card slot, mic in jack and the headphone out jack.
For connectivity you have a 802.11 a/b/g/n and the RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet. It also comes with Bluetooth version 4.0.

The laptop has a professional brushed black metal look. It has light enhancements when laptop is turned on at the touchpad, keyboard and the top control panel. On the top control panel, you have controls for the volume, mute, wi-fi, the backlit keyboard and the power. Here on the right side is the 4 mode dial switch which gives you different power plans. The first is the Eco mode which gives you the maximum battery life. The second is the library mode where mutes the speakers, brightens the display and the fans are turned off. The third is the balance mode which is the every day mode. All components are balanced to give you great everyday laptop experience. And the last is the gaming mode which turbo charges the CPU and the graphics card for optimization for the latest games.

On the back, you have two vents which blow out the hot air by two huge fans. Watching blu-ray movies on the Full HD SuperBright Plus display is very amazing with every detail you will notice. The sound from the 2 way Dolby Home Theater v4 surround sound system is loud, clear with no distortion and it is also customizable. Even though there is a sub-woofer built-in, the low end frequency is lacking.

While gaming, the battery is not sufficient for extreme games, you will notice a drop in frame rate. It is recommended to keep the ac adapter plugged in.

This is a great gaming laptop/desktop replacement. Not a laptop to carry around since it weights close to 9lbs. For a gaming laptop with all the great features, it is price at $1900.00 which is good deal.

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Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard Review

by James Valle

We have seen a lot of wireless keyboard and mouse combos like Adesso, IBM and many others. We were really impressed with the Logitech K400 wireless touch keyboard because it is lightweight, compact and performs well.

The K400 wireless touch keyboard comes with a USB unifying receiver, USB extender, comes with two AA batteries and the getting started instructions. The K400 wireless touch keyboard is a lot smaller than an average sized laptop keyboard which has a built-in touchpad with left and right click buttons. Also has another left click button at the top left corner of the keyboard, media hot keys, and an on/off switch to conserve the batteries.

These are the things we liked about the keyboard:
– Lightweight
– Compact
– Easy to store, space-saving
– Compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac with some limitations
– Touchpad included, no need for a seperate mouse
– Extra left click button
– Plug and play
– Tiny USB unifying receiver can connect up to six compatible unifying wireless devices
– Low-profile keys
– Media hot keys
– Batteries included
– On/off switch
– 2 year warranty
– Up to 12 month battery life depending on usage
– Wireless range up to 33 feat
– Good price of $34.99 from Newegg.com

The things we disliked about the keyboard:
– No low battery indicator
– Flimsy and fragile
– No Apple Mac drivers
– No 3 or 4 finger swipe commands for Mac computers
– Keyboard size smaller than an average laptop keyboard.

Over all, it’s a great keyboard to own especially if your using it for entertainment purposes.

Here is our video review. Enjoy!

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Raspberry Pi Overview and Raspbian Installation

by James Valle

The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The Raspberry PI has a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip which includes a 700MHz processor, videocore IV GPU, and 256MB of RAM. The Raspberry Pi does not include a built-in hard disk, but uses an SD card for booting and long term storage. You can also install a hard disk via USB. There are two Raspberry Pi versions available, the Model A which is priced at $25.00 and Model B priced at $35.00. Model A comes with one USB 2.0 port and no ethernet port. Model B comes with two USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100 ethernet (RJ45) port, a HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack output and a composite RCA output.

To power the Raspberry Pi, you will need a micro USB cable and a minimum 700mA – 1200mA, 3.5w, 5v USB AC adapter. The Motorola USB phone chargers are the best ones to use because most have a rating of 700mA – 1500mA. If you are running resource intensive applications or plugged in peripherals that draw more current, make sure the mA rating is enough to support it.

Today, we will be installing Raspbian, which is the newest version of Debian, optimized for the Raspberry Pi. Applications run faster on Raspbian than other distribution of Linux ported to the Raspberry Pi. You can download Raspbian from the Raspbian’s website.

Before proceeding, you will need a USB keyboard/mouse combo, SDHC/micro SDHC memory card with a minimum of 4GB to install Raspbian. A monitor that supports either HDMI or composite RCA video cable is needed.

Here is our video. Enjoy!

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus Event in Baltimore, Maryland

by James Valle

We had the honor to be invited to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Event on May 8th, 2012 at the Power Plant Live in Baltimore, MD. The event was to launch and introduce the Galaxy Nexus smartphone for Sprint’s 4G LTE network.

The Galaxy Nexus is an amazing phone with many cool features like face unlock, type with your voice, android beam, zero shutter lag, single-motion panoramic mode, 1080 HD video, snap still shots while recording video, google wallet and many more features.

Checkout our video from the event. Enjoy!

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