12 Tips to Save Petrol
1) Pump up your tires.
Keeping your tires inflated is one of the easiest and most important things
Saving petrol means saving money one can do to improve fuel economy. If a
range is recommended by the manufacturer, the higher pressure should be
used to maximize fuel efficiency. Deflated tires run hot and jeopardize
safety. It will also cause the tires to wear out prematurely, affect the
vehicles adversely, and hurt the fuel economy by increasing the rolling
resistance. Tires lose about 1 psi pressure per month due to air loss
caused by the tire hitting holes, bumps and curbs. Therefore, the tires
should be checked at least once a month. Just 1 tire deflated by 2 psi will
result in a 1% increase in fuel consumption.
2) Drive at moderate speed.
Avoiding high speeds on open roads results in safer driving and better fuel
economy. In highway driving, over 50% of the power produced by the engine
is used to overcome aerodynamic drag. Drag and thus fuel consumption
increases rapidly at speeds above 90km/h. On the average, a car uses about
15% more fuel at 100km/h, and 25% more fuel at 110km/h compared to when it
is doing only 90km/h. However, this should not lead one to conclude that
the lower the speed, the better the fuel economy - because it is not. The
fuel consumption of an average car increases sharply at speeds below
50km/h.
3) Clean the air-filter regularly
Clogged air filters increase fuel consumption by restricting airflow to the
engine, and thus should be cleaned/replaced when necessary. Clogged air
filters can increase fuel consumption by up to 10%.
4) Use thinner tires
Tires with thick width will improve the handling of your car. However, it
will also increase your car's fuel consumption. Thicker tires mean more
rolling resistance! , and thus will consume more fuel.
5) Start up the car properly
With today's cars, it is not necessary to prime the engine first by pumping
the accelerator pedal repeatedly. Do not crank the engine excessively This
only wastes fuel. When starting the engine, idle it no more than 30 seconds
to warm it up. An engine will warm up faster on the road. However, avoid
sudden acceleration before the engine has warmed up sufficiently.
6) Drive in high gear (overdrive)
The engine runs most efficiently between around 1,500 and 2,500 rpm. To
maintain these low revs you should change up through the gears as soon as
practical and before the revs reach 2500 rpm. For automatic transmission
cars, you should always switch on your overdrive to help save fuel.
Overdrive will allow your engine to change gears at lower revs. It also
puts your transmission into an "economy" mode and lets it engage the final
"overdrive" gear when cruising to ! keep the rpms extra low, thereby
increasing fuel economy. for more of the below topics please go to : http://mhloke.blogspot.com/)
7) Travel light
8 ) Anticipate traffic ahead
9) Avoid strong acceleration
10) Minimizes aerodynamic drag
11) Don't let your engine idle
12) Use the air-con sparingly
Source: The Pasar Road Shop
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Buying guide for external DVD burner
INTERFACE
External DVD burners connect to your PC differently than internal drives do. While internal burners rely on an IDE or Serial ATA (SATA) interface to connect to your PC, external drives offer USB 2.0 or FireWire connections. Some models (labeled "dual interface") offer both USB and FireWire options.
FORMAT
All new DVD write and rewrite data and video to DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW formats. DVD-R and DVD+R discs can be written to only once, but they offer high compatibility with drives and set-top DVD players. DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs can be written and erased approximately 1,000 times, but they have compatibility problems with older players, some older drives, and even some current DVD recorders. Most new burners today support both +/- formats. Multiformat drives can also read, write, and rewrite CDs, as well as play DVDs. Some drives can record to DVD-RAM discs, although these models are less common. DVD-RAM discs are used primarily for data storage and backup.
DOUBLE-LAYER SUPPORT
"Double-layer" refers to the technology that allows two recording layers to fit on the single side of a DVD, effectively doubling a disc's storage capacity from 4.7GB to 8.5GB. Though it’s perfect for those who need to archive large amounts of data, double-layer burning currently maxes out at 10x speed. The discs may not play in older stand-alone DVD players, but most new players now support the technology. Also, you'll run across two types of double-layer recording. Most double-layer drives support DVD+R double-layer, but some newer ones also support DVD-R double-layer. Look for drives that support both.
LIGHTSCRIBE AND LABELFLASH
Some external drives support LightScribe or the less-popular Labelflash, technologies that enable you to etch your own label or artwork onto the nondata side of the disc. Write speeds of these drives are often slower, however, and you'll need to use more-expensive LightScribe or Labelflash media.
BLU-RAY
The next generation of DVD uses the Blu-ray format, which delivers high-definition video resolution and dramatically increased storage capabilities: 50GB of data on a single disc (25GB per side). External Blu-ray burners are starting to hit the market, but they are priced far higher than other external DVD drives. We recommend that you wait until the format gains wider acceptance (and lower prices) before buying, unless you have a specific need for that amount of storage (and have a full wallet).
Source: Computer Shopper
Writing speed: For high-volume DVD burning, choose an external DVD burner with a writing speed of 16x.
Interface: Choose an external DVD burner with a USB interface for maximum compatibility. For transferring large files, look for a FireWire interface because it has a higher transfer rate. Just make sure your computer has the appropriate ports for your chosen interface.
Dual layer support: To burn large files like videos or photos, choose an external DVD burner that supports dual layer DVD burning. These discs can burn up to 8.5 GB of data.
Source: PickyGuide
External DVD burners connect to your PC differently than internal drives do. While internal burners rely on an IDE or Serial ATA (SATA) interface to connect to your PC, external drives offer USB 2.0 or FireWire connections. Some models (labeled "dual interface") offer both USB and FireWire options.
FORMAT
All new DVD write and rewrite data and video to DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW formats. DVD-R and DVD+R discs can be written to only once, but they offer high compatibility with drives and set-top DVD players. DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs can be written and erased approximately 1,000 times, but they have compatibility problems with older players, some older drives, and even some current DVD recorders. Most new burners today support both +/- formats. Multiformat drives can also read, write, and rewrite CDs, as well as play DVDs. Some drives can record to DVD-RAM discs, although these models are less common. DVD-RAM discs are used primarily for data storage and backup.
DOUBLE-LAYER SUPPORT
"Double-layer" refers to the technology that allows two recording layers to fit on the single side of a DVD, effectively doubling a disc's storage capacity from 4.7GB to 8.5GB. Though it’s perfect for those who need to archive large amounts of data, double-layer burning currently maxes out at 10x speed. The discs may not play in older stand-alone DVD players, but most new players now support the technology. Also, you'll run across two types of double-layer recording. Most double-layer drives support DVD+R double-layer, but some newer ones also support DVD-R double-layer. Look for drives that support both.
LIGHTSCRIBE AND LABELFLASH
Some external drives support LightScribe or the less-popular Labelflash, technologies that enable you to etch your own label or artwork onto the nondata side of the disc. Write speeds of these drives are often slower, however, and you'll need to use more-expensive LightScribe or Labelflash media.
BLU-RAY
The next generation of DVD uses the Blu-ray format, which delivers high-definition video resolution and dramatically increased storage capabilities: 50GB of data on a single disc (25GB per side). External Blu-ray burners are starting to hit the market, but they are priced far higher than other external DVD drives. We recommend that you wait until the format gains wider acceptance (and lower prices) before buying, unless you have a specific need for that amount of storage (and have a full wallet).
Source: Computer Shopper
Writing speed: For high-volume DVD burning, choose an external DVD burner with a writing speed of 16x.
Interface: Choose an external DVD burner with a USB interface for maximum compatibility. For transferring large files, look for a FireWire interface because it has a higher transfer rate. Just make sure your computer has the appropriate ports for your chosen interface.
Dual layer support: To burn large files like videos or photos, choose an external DVD burner that supports dual layer DVD burning. These discs can burn up to 8.5 GB of data.
Source: PickyGuide
Thursday, May 22, 2008
How to choose a hard disk
How to find the best hard drives and external drives
For desktop PCs, 5,400rpm is the lowest you should consider (and even that only at a push, or when buying an exceedingly large drive), while 7,200rpm tends to be the most common. 10,000rpm drives are slowly becoming more commonplace. Drives are available even faster than these, but they require a different kind of connectivity. Incidentally, laptops tend to have slower drives which consume less power and generate less heat, with the premium laptop hard drives currently spinning at 5,400rpm.
Access time is next, which is as explanatory as it sounds. It's the time taken to get data from the drive to your PC, and this is stated in measurements of milliseconds. Towards the budget end of the market, you'd expect to see drives with 8ms access times, and as you spend more you can realistically expect to bring this down to 5 or 6 - even less if you're really willing to shell out.
Then we need to consider buffer size. This is the amount of cache memory that your drive is equipped with, in which is stored data that the drive reckons the system will request next. Clearly, the bigger the buffer, the more data it can hold and thus potentially it can deliver its data quicker. Budget drives tend to have a 2MB buffer, although 8MB is common too. Opt for the latter if you can, as it can make a noticeable difference.
And so we move on to the inevitable question of capacity. Most people determine their hard drive choices by the amount of data they can hold. If you're snooping round the second hand market, you may still find drives with less than one gigabyte of storage space, but these are of little use with today's bloated software, and wouldn't even hold an installation of Windows XP.
No, it's more sensible to set an absolute minimum of 20GB, and then to buy as much storage as you can realistically afford. For a standard family PC, 80 to 100GB should suffice, while for gamers or those involved in multimedia work, 160GB is a decent choice. However, it may actually work out better to buy two drives with 60-80GB capacity each - check out the information on RAID lower down this guide.
Now we've discussed the inner bits of the drives, we need to focus on how they hook up to your system. We'll start with drives designed to be seated inside your system box. Most drives available, particularly in the budget sector, tend to be either ATA100 or ATA133. The 'ATA' bit stands for Advanced Technology Attachment, and the number relates to the speed it can shift data around - either 100 or 133MB per second.
Some motherboards limit support to ATA100, although ATA133 drives are backwards compatible. Drives that use this standard need quite wide cables, and that can have an impact on airflow in a PC case. To the majority, that won't be a big deal, though.
To those it does bother, then Serial ATA has recently arrived. This is currently the format of choice for power hungry PC users, although the fact that it's in its infancy inevitably means some users will meet teething problems. Basically, Serial ATA - or SATA - can, when properly optimised, move data at up to 1.5GB per second.
A motherboard needs to be SATA compatible for maximum impact, although note that some boards have cheated. This means that while they accept a SATA drive, they channel its data through existing technology rather than supporting it natively, meaning you don't get the benefit of its potential extra bandwidth. What you do get the benefit of, though, is the thin cable required to connect a SATA drive up to a motherboard. That's far friendlier for airflow inside the case. Expect the overwhelming majority of desktop PCs to include SATA as standard within the next eighteen months.
One thing worth keeping an eye out for is RAID, which opens up some interesting options if you have more than one drive. RAID stands for Redundant Array Of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, and it allows you to group drives together in one of two ways.
The first allows you to group (or 'stripe') together all of your hard disks as one, so your PC sees them as a single entity. This is known as RAID 0. The advantage here is speed. Your machine will take turns addressing each drive, in order to maximise the data cache on each. You can get some healthy performance gains, but the risk is that if one drive goes down, they all go down. That's because no full file is written to any of the drives, instead they each house fragments of files. Still, it's an economical way of getting, for instance, 160GB of storage, as using two 80GB drives will probably be cheaper and faster.
RAID 1, meanwhile, is a backup tool, as each drive becomes a mirror. This slows things down a little, as each file has to be written to each drive, but if one goes down, the other can quickly step into its place.
There are other versions of RAID, such as RAID 5 (which is basically RAID 0 but with the ability to get things going again should a drive fail) and RAID 10 (which mixes in the performance boost of RAID 0 and the backup facility of RAID 1, but requires four drives), but for home use it's likely to be RAID 0 or RAID 1 that you're interested in. Either way, your motherboard should have RAID support if you want to consider this.
While we're talking about technologies that may not appeal to the home user, we should briefly mention SCSI connectivity. SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) is currently the fastest way of getting data between a computer and a hard drive, but you generally have to pay through the nose for it. Note that technologies such as SATA are closing the performance gap fast, too. You'll find SCSI generally in professional environments, as it tends to be employed by the likes of professional video editors and people making the next Toy Story wannabe.
Let's round things up with a look at external options. An external hard drive is generally the same beast that sits inside your machine, but in a nice case with extra connections on it and a higher price tag. In fact, it's often more economical to take an existing drive and buy a special housing unit for it if you want an external drive, as a complete off-the-shelf solution rarely seems to be a bargain.
Being external, the drive has a tougher job getting data into your machine, and thus the price you pay in performance terms is that data transfers are notably slower. Nonetheless, you do gain an effective storage solution that won't go down if the rest of the inner workings of your PC do.
You should be looking for similar specs with an external drive as those described above, with one additional concern. That's the way that the drive hooks up to your PC. FireWire, or IEEE1394, is the fastest method (although it requires your PC to have a FireWire interface on it somewhere), but USB 2.0 will be fast enough for most. Avoid connecting via USB 1.1 if you can, though, as data transfer will be painfully slow.
Also worth a brief mention are other types of drive, such as USB pen drives (also known as flash drives, key drives, etc.). These again work best on the USB 2.0 interface, and are available in capacities of a gigabyte or more. Some make use of actual miniature hard drives, but most use flash memory that is a bit slower, but has no moving parts. Look for additional features such as built-in encryption that can help prevent your personal data falling into the wrong hands.
Hopefully all of that has given you food for thought. It should be said that, while we've outlined many options to you here, few of them will make a huge difference to your PC. Nonetheless, don't ignore them, and try to go down the routes that will give you a boost, such as SATA.
Source: IT Review, UK.
For desktop PCs, 5,400rpm is the lowest you should consider (and even that only at a push, or when buying an exceedingly large drive), while 7,200rpm tends to be the most common. 10,000rpm drives are slowly becoming more commonplace. Drives are available even faster than these, but they require a different kind of connectivity. Incidentally, laptops tend to have slower drives which consume less power and generate less heat, with the premium laptop hard drives currently spinning at 5,400rpm.
Access time is next, which is as explanatory as it sounds. It's the time taken to get data from the drive to your PC, and this is stated in measurements of milliseconds. Towards the budget end of the market, you'd expect to see drives with 8ms access times, and as you spend more you can realistically expect to bring this down to 5 or 6 - even less if you're really willing to shell out.
Then we need to consider buffer size. This is the amount of cache memory that your drive is equipped with, in which is stored data that the drive reckons the system will request next. Clearly, the bigger the buffer, the more data it can hold and thus potentially it can deliver its data quicker. Budget drives tend to have a 2MB buffer, although 8MB is common too. Opt for the latter if you can, as it can make a noticeable difference.
And so we move on to the inevitable question of capacity. Most people determine their hard drive choices by the amount of data they can hold. If you're snooping round the second hand market, you may still find drives with less than one gigabyte of storage space, but these are of little use with today's bloated software, and wouldn't even hold an installation of Windows XP.
No, it's more sensible to set an absolute minimum of 20GB, and then to buy as much storage as you can realistically afford. For a standard family PC, 80 to 100GB should suffice, while for gamers or those involved in multimedia work, 160GB is a decent choice. However, it may actually work out better to buy two drives with 60-80GB capacity each - check out the information on RAID lower down this guide.
Now we've discussed the inner bits of the drives, we need to focus on how they hook up to your system. We'll start with drives designed to be seated inside your system box. Most drives available, particularly in the budget sector, tend to be either ATA100 or ATA133. The 'ATA' bit stands for Advanced Technology Attachment, and the number relates to the speed it can shift data around - either 100 or 133MB per second.
Some motherboards limit support to ATA100, although ATA133 drives are backwards compatible. Drives that use this standard need quite wide cables, and that can have an impact on airflow in a PC case. To the majority, that won't be a big deal, though.
To those it does bother, then Serial ATA has recently arrived. This is currently the format of choice for power hungry PC users, although the fact that it's in its infancy inevitably means some users will meet teething problems. Basically, Serial ATA - or SATA - can, when properly optimised, move data at up to 1.5GB per second.
A motherboard needs to be SATA compatible for maximum impact, although note that some boards have cheated. This means that while they accept a SATA drive, they channel its data through existing technology rather than supporting it natively, meaning you don't get the benefit of its potential extra bandwidth. What you do get the benefit of, though, is the thin cable required to connect a SATA drive up to a motherboard. That's far friendlier for airflow inside the case. Expect the overwhelming majority of desktop PCs to include SATA as standard within the next eighteen months.
One thing worth keeping an eye out for is RAID, which opens up some interesting options if you have more than one drive. RAID stands for Redundant Array Of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, and it allows you to group drives together in one of two ways.
The first allows you to group (or 'stripe') together all of your hard disks as one, so your PC sees them as a single entity. This is known as RAID 0. The advantage here is speed. Your machine will take turns addressing each drive, in order to maximise the data cache on each. You can get some healthy performance gains, but the risk is that if one drive goes down, they all go down. That's because no full file is written to any of the drives, instead they each house fragments of files. Still, it's an economical way of getting, for instance, 160GB of storage, as using two 80GB drives will probably be cheaper and faster.
RAID 1, meanwhile, is a backup tool, as each drive becomes a mirror. This slows things down a little, as each file has to be written to each drive, but if one goes down, the other can quickly step into its place.
There are other versions of RAID, such as RAID 5 (which is basically RAID 0 but with the ability to get things going again should a drive fail) and RAID 10 (which mixes in the performance boost of RAID 0 and the backup facility of RAID 1, but requires four drives), but for home use it's likely to be RAID 0 or RAID 1 that you're interested in. Either way, your motherboard should have RAID support if you want to consider this.
While we're talking about technologies that may not appeal to the home user, we should briefly mention SCSI connectivity. SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) is currently the fastest way of getting data between a computer and a hard drive, but you generally have to pay through the nose for it. Note that technologies such as SATA are closing the performance gap fast, too. You'll find SCSI generally in professional environments, as it tends to be employed by the likes of professional video editors and people making the next Toy Story wannabe.
Let's round things up with a look at external options. An external hard drive is generally the same beast that sits inside your machine, but in a nice case with extra connections on it and a higher price tag. In fact, it's often more economical to take an existing drive and buy a special housing unit for it if you want an external drive, as a complete off-the-shelf solution rarely seems to be a bargain.
Being external, the drive has a tougher job getting data into your machine, and thus the price you pay in performance terms is that data transfers are notably slower. Nonetheless, you do gain an effective storage solution that won't go down if the rest of the inner workings of your PC do.
You should be looking for similar specs with an external drive as those described above, with one additional concern. That's the way that the drive hooks up to your PC. FireWire, or IEEE1394, is the fastest method (although it requires your PC to have a FireWire interface on it somewhere), but USB 2.0 will be fast enough for most. Avoid connecting via USB 1.1 if you can, though, as data transfer will be painfully slow.
Also worth a brief mention are other types of drive, such as USB pen drives (also known as flash drives, key drives, etc.). These again work best on the USB 2.0 interface, and are available in capacities of a gigabyte or more. Some make use of actual miniature hard drives, but most use flash memory that is a bit slower, but has no moving parts. Look for additional features such as built-in encryption that can help prevent your personal data falling into the wrong hands.
Hopefully all of that has given you food for thought. It should be said that, while we've outlined many options to you here, few of them will make a huge difference to your PC. Nonetheless, don't ignore them, and try to go down the routes that will give you a boost, such as SATA.
Source: IT Review, UK.
How to choose an LCD Projector
Buying an LCD projector is not an insignificant investment, so you'll want to think carefully about how you're going to use the projector so you can match the features you need with the best price point. For instance, an LCD projector's brightness is a key buying factor, but if you're not planning to frequently give presentations in large conference rooms or classrooms, you may not need high performance in this area.
These key buying factors will help you choose an LCD projector.
LCD Projector Resolution
SVGA (800 x 600), XGA (1024 x 768), SXGA (1280 x 1024), or UXGA (1600 x 1200)? The higher the projector's resolution, the higher the price. If you will use your LCD projector mainly for PowerPoint presentations, the SVGA resolution will be fine, while XGA is a good choice for displaying numerical data. You'll only need the higher resolution LCD projectors if you need fine details to be accurately displayed.
LCD Projector Brightness
The higher the ANSI lumens rating, the brighter the LCD projector's light output. Projectors of less than 1000 lumens may not put out enough light for your needs. Projectors of 1000-2000 lumens put out enough light for normal business or classroom situations, while projectors of 2000-3000 lumens produce enough light to illuminate images without washout in large conference rooms and classrooms.
LCD Projector Contrast
Projector contrast is expressed as a ratio between the brightest and darkest areas of the image. Look for LCD projectors with contrast ratios of 400:1 or higher so that graphics and video images are clear. You'll want to choose an LCD projector with a very high contrast ratio if you plan to frequently project images with the lights on.
LCD Projector Weight
Projector weight is a portability issue; if you're going to be carrying the projector around a lot, making presentations in different locations, the lighter the better. There are now many LCD projectors available that weigh less than 5 pounds, which can lighten your load considerably if you're a mobile presenter. However, generally, the lighter the projector the more it costs.
LCD Projector Connectivity
When you buy an LCD projector, you'll choose one that connects with the computer you use, of course. But will you always use the same computer? You may need a separate connector cable or adapter in some cases. Check as well to see if the LCD projector has multiple computer ports, in case you want to connect multiple computers or video sources to the projector at the same time.
LCD Projector Lamp Life
Another factor you may want to consider when buying an LCD projector is the listed lamp life, as replacement lamps cost hundreds of dollars. A listed lamp life of 2000 hours is excellent. Some projectors come with mode choices, such as "eco-mode" that allow extended lamp life, and cut down on operating costs.
More reading... here
These key buying factors will help you choose an LCD projector.
LCD Projector Resolution
SVGA (800 x 600), XGA (1024 x 768), SXGA (1280 x 1024), or UXGA (1600 x 1200)? The higher the projector's resolution, the higher the price. If you will use your LCD projector mainly for PowerPoint presentations, the SVGA resolution will be fine, while XGA is a good choice for displaying numerical data. You'll only need the higher resolution LCD projectors if you need fine details to be accurately displayed.
LCD Projector Brightness
The higher the ANSI lumens rating, the brighter the LCD projector's light output. Projectors of less than 1000 lumens may not put out enough light for your needs. Projectors of 1000-2000 lumens put out enough light for normal business or classroom situations, while projectors of 2000-3000 lumens produce enough light to illuminate images without washout in large conference rooms and classrooms.
LCD Projector Contrast
Projector contrast is expressed as a ratio between the brightest and darkest areas of the image. Look for LCD projectors with contrast ratios of 400:1 or higher so that graphics and video images are clear. You'll want to choose an LCD projector with a very high contrast ratio if you plan to frequently project images with the lights on.
LCD Projector Weight
Projector weight is a portability issue; if you're going to be carrying the projector around a lot, making presentations in different locations, the lighter the better. There are now many LCD projectors available that weigh less than 5 pounds, which can lighten your load considerably if you're a mobile presenter. However, generally, the lighter the projector the more it costs.
LCD Projector Connectivity
When you buy an LCD projector, you'll choose one that connects with the computer you use, of course. But will you always use the same computer? You may need a separate connector cable or adapter in some cases. Check as well to see if the LCD projector has multiple computer ports, in case you want to connect multiple computers or video sources to the projector at the same time.
LCD Projector Lamp Life
Another factor you may want to consider when buying an LCD projector is the listed lamp life, as replacement lamps cost hundreds of dollars. A listed lamp life of 2000 hours is excellent. Some projectors come with mode choices, such as "eco-mode" that allow extended lamp life, and cut down on operating costs.
More reading... here
Friday, March 14, 2008
How to choose a laptop?
HOW TO CHOOSE A LAPTOP
This article is to help those to know what kind of notebook that they need/want or just to enforce what they have already decided.
These days with just RM3,000 for budget of a new laptop, you can get a decent mobility system for document editing, minor imaging, database reference, and definitely capable of watching VCD's and DVD's. And then for those with budget of RM5'000 could probably get a good (better than average) multimedia system, it probably appeals to gamers or those who need a performance to handle their graphics programs. But it is not just about the bargain & stuff, there are a lot of things you need to know about a laptop before you can truly be fully utilizing it.
To Give You An Idea of Mobility:
Mobility, a word that is growing & ever expanding on the horizon of the 21st century. It is without doubt that more & more people are switching from cumbersome desktop to PDA to notebook. This is especially true when more people are using notebooks as a desktop replacement.
Why Not Last Time?
Ages ago, notebooks are expensives and probably heavy and with performance that users would probably better just using it for business applications like documents editing & database referencing. There was no general WiFi or bluetooth available at that time.
Why Now?
With the advancement of technology, notebooks are equiped with better performance that allows user to do multitude of things without straining their 2.0kg +/- mobile unit. Another plus side is notebooks are getting cheaper due to competiition in the market and the plce of technology advancement. With the ever growing WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, and GPS, more people are opting for mobility as the advantages are mountainous. Data transfer are an ease, one touch gateway to the mega-information-highway, a mobile messaging & email center, video conferencing system, and as many people prefers: a multimedia station on the move. Multiumedia Station means music, games, videos at your fingertips wherever whenever you are. Even CEO's would enjoy games once in awhile.
Why Should You Choose A Laptop?
Should you choose a laptop or notebook as your next computer system to replace the non-mobile, and aging platform desktop? you should and here's why...
* with wireless connectivity poping up here and there, you can be connected at almost anywhere & anytime, stay connected with friends from anywhere.
* your personal mobile business center.
* your movable gaming rig.
* being mobile means you can transport your data / collection / media files / photos / to anywhere & can be viewed anytime at your convenience.
you don't have to suffer viewing any files or sites using a small and tiny screen.
the technology in laptop and notebook has almost catch up desktop PC, therefore it won't be lacking in performance in many aspect.
* it is cool to have a laptop, you are part of the future.
* basically, it is an "all-in-one" station. it is a mobile HDD, DVD player, speakers, webcam, and a LCD screen. Definitely won't trouble you with jungle of wires.
What Should Be Consider First?
Budget and Need, these should be yuour first concern & priority. As many in the world of IT, price usually reflects the performance of a notebook and compromization of your need as well. There are notebooks which range from RM2,500 to RM15,000.
Budget of:
RM2,500 to RM3,500 : low performance, good for & as a business tool.
RM3,500 to RM6,000 : probably can get you a decent medium class notebook that can utilize for business to entertainment to gaming without much compromise. Even good for those who are doing graphics or arts or imaging.
RM6,000 and Above : If it were based on cars, example would be like having a Mitsubishi Evo or Toyota Supra and eve more expensives ones like, Ferrari. Pretty High End, probably for someone who intended to have a desktop replacement notebook with the "OmpHH!".
Notebook are not as easy upgradable as a desktop unit so when you are choosing one, don't just choose/grade/based on your current need but as well as the need in the coming future. Surely you wanted to have a notebook that can last for your need at least 2 years or more (if you are a high performance user), right?
A medium to high performer would most probably to have specifications like below:
- Intel Core2 Duo 2.0Ghz , 667Mhz FSB , 4MB L2 Cache
- 1GB DDR2 Ram
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 , 256MB Ram
- 80GB SATA Hard Disk
Specifications of a Laptop:
01.0 - CPU (Central Processing Unit)
02.0 - GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
03.0 - Screen Type
03.1 - Panel Type
03.2 - Color Depth
03.3
03.4
03.5
03.6
03.7
04.0 - Size & Weight
05.0 - RAM
06.0 - HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
07.0 - Optical Drive
08.0 - Battery & Charger
09.0 - Warranty & Service
10.0 - Misc
11.0 - Laptop Brands
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01.0 - CPU (Central Processing Unit)
This is the heart of the laptop. Currently at the time of writting, the best processor to choose from would be the new Intel Core2 Duo as it boast to have lower power consumption & better performance due to 64bit & a dual processor capability.
Intel motherboard usually comes in two type, the Intel 945GM & Intel 945PM. The 945GM is for laptop that uses integrated graphics while the 945PM uses dedicated graphics.
02.0 - GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
Please visit this page for more details on GPU: click here
An important note, that is Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista operating systems draws heavily on the graphics subsystem in a computer. Without an adequate graphics card, you won't get the some of the fanciest new features of the interface. Your graphics card should have at least 128MB of dedicated memory - of course 256MB would be the best.
03.0 - Screen Type
The screen size usually comes in a few standard types such as 12", 14", 15", and 17" inches. The bigger is of course better but it also entails a heavy laptop & higher power consumption. But the difference is, consider that a person who used to a PC who have a 17" screen confortably at 1280 x 720 resolution & decided to get a 12" laptop because of weight & size. Now that person who enjoy a 1280x720 resolution have use the same resolution on a smaller screen unless he reduce the resolution which means lesser desktop space for open windows.
Sometimes, you see the laptop being offered with the LCD screen are like Dell Truelife, Acer GridVista, Toshiba TruBright, Compaq BrightView, Sony XBRITE or as most other laptop brands would offer but yet all same from one technology. These few technologies has one much praise with its high-gloss, sharp contrast finish. It is believe that once you have seen this technology with your own eyes, you will not believe the difference it makes. It is even more impressive for DVD and gaming uses.
These technology is recently introduced anti-reflective LCD screen technology (anti-reflective technology). It was initially introduced to the Japanese market in Fujitsu notebook computers in the beginning of 2003 and later brought to the mainstream via Sony’s marketing of its own XBRITE™ brand. This technology was an instant success because of its super crisp images and its vibrant colors. This new anti-reflective technology has sharper contrast (the difference between the deepest black and lightest white pixels), produces clearer and more colorful images, absorbs most external ambient light and has wider viewing angles than traditional notebook screens. All laptop screens have a polarizer which is a thin sheet of film laminated to the outside layer of glass of the laptop screen used to filter light waves produced by the LCD screen to create an image. The difference between a traditional notebook screen and an anti-reflective notebook screen is the type of polarizer film.
The polarizer of a traditional notebook screen has a rough matte finish. This rough matte finish is not visible to the naked eye. The matte finish causes outer ambient light to disperse or reflect off of the traditional polarizer at different angles which reduces the intensity of the glare reflected directly back to the observer’s eye. This ambient light reflection is reduced in intensity due to the diffusion of light, however, the drawback is the reflection shows up as a large hazy object which obstructs the images on the screen. Other side effects include distorted images, a lower contrast ratio, inferior viewing angles, less vibrant colors and eye fatigue.
The polarizer of an anti-reflective screen has a smooth high-gloss finish which has been chemically-treated. The chemically-treated finish of the polarizer reduces the reflection of external ambient light by absorbing much of the external light instead of dispersing it at different angles. Since the external light is mostly absorbed instead of being reflected at different angles, the polarizer does not need a rough matte finish and therefore a smooth finish can provide crisp, brilliant-colored images with the most direct internally derived light from the LCD.
In general, the observer sees light from two light sources: 1) light produced by the LCD itself and 2) external ambient light which is reflected off the surface of the LCD. The objective of an anti-reflective polarizer is to improve the image quality generated by the LCD while minimizing the reflection of external ambient light.
Benefits of such technology:
- Wider viewing angles
- Reduced eye fatigue
- Crisper images
- Sharp contrast
- Brilliant colors
03.1 - Panel Type
Without other than browsing and research on brands and OEM of the LCD panel, you won't know what type they are using to make the LCD panel. There are a few reknowned LCD panel maker, such as:
LP Display (formerly LG.Philips) famous for their S-IPS
AU Optronics (belongs to Acer)
Chimei Vision (CMV, mostly on low cost LCD Panel)
Samsung (Samsung also the OEM for Dell)
The best of all panel class would be for LP Display S-IPS (Super In Plane Switching) for wide viewing angle and 8-bit color depth. Samsung now do produce 8-bit panel as well but using different technology which is just as good as S-IPS.
The hierarchy goes lower with other brand like AU Optronics and so forth...
03.2 - Color Depth
There's something that most people never realized that despite that you can set your graphic card to reproduce 32-bit True Color, your LCD display might not be displaying the complete set of dynamic range. One of the main reason is the HARDWARE LIMITITION; the LCD panel weren't capable at doing that.
LP Display had produced panel with pixels producing 8-bit of color depth, for a long time. Samsung started to do that a few years back for their high-contrast series panel but uses 6-bit for other higher response rate and smaller panel size for budget range (cut edges). Perhaps you might not notice it when u are on ONE panel at a time, if u walk around IT center displaying a myriads of LCD panel that display one single image using monitor splitter would shows you the different in color depth; 8-bit panel looks much more realistic. But mine you, some crappy monitor spillter or loose cable connection leads to bad output on other LCD panel could be a reason why it looks crappy on an 8-bit panel as well...
03.3 - Response Rate, GtG and T,on-T,
'Ghosting' is the type of UNWANTED motion blur you won't want for your LCD during fast paced action gaming or movies. It's more obvious on a moving bright object over a dark background. You may even test it with your mouse cursor in wide over a desktop in pure black and all icons hidden. To counter this product, the LCD panel TFT (thin film transistor, or small switches) that switches the plane of the LCD pixel must perform a good job in switching fast enough (from ON to OFF or partially at an angle for different tone depth).
Basically, the faster it gets, the lesser ghosting will appear but beware, there are some new marketing ploy and standard to benchmark this. In fact, ghosting itself is more than just about switching time. For this, you really should drop by Tomshardware for an indepth review on LCD panel tech on what truly governs ghosting elimination on LCD panel. Say, if the response rate is 12ms, it means 8ms to turn ON, 4ms to turn OFF. Some provides 6ms/6ms ratio. Depends on which brand, panel and setup, it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, the best rule of thumb is to test it out at the shop running a battery test like DVD test, gaming test and dead-pixel test. Now there's something new in gauging this panel is Gray-to-Gray. Their notion is that most pixels on the screen will switches from Gray-to-Gray more often than from Pure White to Pure Black. This specification seems to makes their LCD spec looks more nicer, say like GtG at 2ms !!! Wow... that's quick, again, it's different than Black-to-White ways of gauging, but now they show both spec on the box to avoid or to FURTHER confuse customer.
03.4 - Contrast Ratio
This is the part where a nice display and bad display truly outshines. If you are a CRT user prior to this, you would realized that display on the CRT is much more realistic than LCD. This is partially due to the Contrast Ratio of the panel itself. You may percept Contrast Ratio as part of the color depth as well as how much Colors can your panel reproduce to provide equivalent tone of the Real World. At moment, the ACTUAL contrast ratio is governs by the panel bit-depth. but this can be further boosted with smart backlighting and software tweaking which can boost a panel contrast ratio all the way to 2000:1 (LP Display). Well, it definitely looks pleasing to our eyes but mine you, you can't tell the difference until u test it with some LCD calibrator which most of us won't do unless u are a digital photography manipulator where true to life color reproduction is a must. Some latest technology HDTV LCD TV comes with close to 10,000:1 contrast ratio for wide color gamut. A small contrast ratio display gives you flaky, water color-like image output, which will makes u want to change back to CRT.
03.5 - Native Resolution
Unlike CRT, each LCD got its native resolution, say like for an XGA Panel, it comes standard at 1024x768 resolution but this type of spec is too old to be available in the market this days except for 15" panel. If you like a more modern example, take a 15.4" WSXGA, it has a native resolution of 1680x1080. This can pose an issue/problem to buyers whose graphic card are onboard or low performance GPU where outputting 3D graphics at that resolution will gives serious lag and choppy output.
Then when you are thinking of scaling down to 800x600? the image will go small in the middle like a special edition collector stamps in the middle of an LCD screen. Stretching it to the screen size will also make the image becomes so blocky and pixellated. It is a lot worse that CRT. The best alternative is probably to get a decent screen size like 14" or 15" , not burdening your weight but not too small that you need to squint your eyes everytime.
03.6 - Output Ports: D-SUB (VGA), DVI (DVI-D, DVI-A, DVI-I) or HDMI
Now this part is the type of connectors u use to connect your LCD to your GPU. I believe most GPU comes with a DVI connection and a D-Sub output. But take note on the LCD monitor instead. Most comes standard with a D-Sub cable and a D-Sub port but those that comes with both D-Sub and DVI port might not comes with a DVI cable. The cable you might have to provide it yourself.
More so, with DVI cable, you have to option of tweaking the screen settings from the PC rather than pressing the small function button on the monitor panel UI. Also, some LCD though comes with DVI port, it might be a DVI-A (DVI Analog) port, which means it comes in DVI port format but it's still the same old Analog u get from D-Sub. And they don't give you a cable either. Some better brands or latest design now comes with a DVI-I port which is DVI Integrated where both the pins that responsible for Analog output and Digital output both available to the TMDS controller in the LCD panel. Some bigger and wider LCD panel comes with HDMI port that works with GPU with HDMI output to display HDCP content, say from a BluRay or HD-DVD titles. It's marketing gimmick anyway as there are some successful story of those who were able to playback HDCP content with just D-Sub and CRT.
03.7 - Screen Ratio: Widescreen 16:9/16:10 or Normal Aspect Ratio 4:3
This is a question of choice and tradeoffs. Some say Widescreen is SMALLER than NA ratio. That would depends on where you look and how you measure it. Assume that you are having both a 19" NA and 19"WXGA panel at hand. The WXGA at 16:9 or some 16:10 offers more viewable area than the NA counterpart while viewing 16:9 contents by more than 25% area. Turn it back to view NA content, you find that a WXGA panel is capable of displaying content in a PILLAR-BOXED mode where the content is less than NA panel where the area viewable reduced by more than 30%.
Of course, with a widescreen, you may display 2 A4 size document at the same time but at 19" WXGA, the letters might not be legible. If you are viewing a single page at the display width, you find that the number of lines viewable is a lot less and scrolling is more often though the size of the text increases. A normal CRT user will not get use to this scenario. But a widescreen movie experience would be far more enriching than on a 4:3 screen, because more movies comes in that format, no more letter-boxing. For a worthy widescreen upgrade, gets 22" inches and beyond. For comparison, a 22" WXGA panel HEIGHT (panel height) is same as the 19" NA panel HEIGHT. So there's no loss in the vertical plane but an increase in horizontal plane, good for VISTA with lots of Widgets and SideBar.
03.8 - Dead Pixel Policy
This is the part where you weight the laptop on the brand reputation and sales after service. Though most comes with a Zero Dead Pixel warranty, there are those who implement a minimum of 3 dead pixels (Dell, 5 dead pixels policy) to be accountable for a defect and qualifies for warranty exhange in a certain period of time. So you rate it among brands prior to purchase to have a clear understanding on how the policy works in case the LCD that you've tested finally shows it dead pixel later on.
Dead pixel are those pixel which are not able to reproduce color on the panel, which is a defect and makes your nice screen, well, defect. At least a 1 years minimum warranty period is needed for a reputable brand or more. But user feedback is important too. A 3-year warranted brand might not necessary means that they are more inferior to a 5-year warranted brand, the 5-year part might broke down/dead pixel earlier/more often than the 3-year counterpart.
04.0 - Size & Weight
This section is still under construction.
05.0 - RAM
This section is still under construction.
06.0 - HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
This section is still under construction.
07.0 - Optical Drive
Nowdays, most laptop comes with a COMBO drive standard which is a compliments as a CD burner, CD reader, as well as a DVD reader.
It depends on what you really wanted & how will you utilize your data. If you are those who download tons of stuff & fill up your HDD in a flash, then having a DVD Dual Layer Burner will definitely benefit you as you can store 4.5GB of data on a DVD-R that just cost you less than RM2 per DVD-R. It would also help those who use for business that they would like to store data of their daily or monthly sales.
Burning out your data into a DVD-R or CD-R could be said as much more permanent that storing in the HDD asit is known that the HDD has a limited lifespan.
08.0 - Battery & Charger
Laptop battery comes in two forms, the six-cell and nine-cell. The six-cell on normal usage mode can usually last a person 2-3 hours. Normal usage like wifi-on, listening to songs, chatting through the internet. While a nine-cell will probably give you 3-5 hours.
09.0 - Warranty & Service
Warranty is very important, it sort of gives your laptop an insurance cover just in case anything happens. Most brands offer their warranty 1-2 years but the best warranty available is from Dell with its "3 years complete cover" which covers all except fire, theft, loss, and lightning. It is important to read what the laptop brand warranty covers before you make a purchase so you know what it doesn't cover.
Source: MobilityX
This article is to help those to know what kind of notebook that they need/want or just to enforce what they have already decided.
These days with just RM3,000 for budget of a new laptop, you can get a decent mobility system for document editing, minor imaging, database reference, and definitely capable of watching VCD's and DVD's. And then for those with budget of RM5'000 could probably get a good (better than average) multimedia system, it probably appeals to gamers or those who need a performance to handle their graphics programs. But it is not just about the bargain & stuff, there are a lot of things you need to know about a laptop before you can truly be fully utilizing it.
To Give You An Idea of Mobility:
Mobility, a word that is growing & ever expanding on the horizon of the 21st century. It is without doubt that more & more people are switching from cumbersome desktop to PDA to notebook. This is especially true when more people are using notebooks as a desktop replacement.
Why Not Last Time?
Ages ago, notebooks are expensives and probably heavy and with performance that users would probably better just using it for business applications like documents editing & database referencing. There was no general WiFi or bluetooth available at that time.
Why Now?
With the advancement of technology, notebooks are equiped with better performance that allows user to do multitude of things without straining their 2.0kg +/- mobile unit. Another plus side is notebooks are getting cheaper due to competiition in the market and the plce of technology advancement. With the ever growing WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, and GPS, more people are opting for mobility as the advantages are mountainous. Data transfer are an ease, one touch gateway to the mega-information-highway, a mobile messaging & email center, video conferencing system, and as many people prefers: a multimedia station on the move. Multiumedia Station means music, games, videos at your fingertips wherever whenever you are. Even CEO's would enjoy games once in awhile.
Why Should You Choose A Laptop?
Should you choose a laptop or notebook as your next computer system to replace the non-mobile, and aging platform desktop? you should and here's why...
* with wireless connectivity poping up here and there, you can be connected at almost anywhere & anytime, stay connected with friends from anywhere.
* your personal mobile business center.
* your movable gaming rig.
* being mobile means you can transport your data / collection / media files / photos / to anywhere & can be viewed anytime at your convenience.
you don't have to suffer viewing any files or sites using a small and tiny screen.
the technology in laptop and notebook has almost catch up desktop PC, therefore it won't be lacking in performance in many aspect.
* it is cool to have a laptop, you are part of the future.
* basically, it is an "all-in-one" station. it is a mobile HDD, DVD player, speakers, webcam, and a LCD screen. Definitely won't trouble you with jungle of wires.
What Should Be Consider First?
Budget and Need, these should be yuour first concern & priority. As many in the world of IT, price usually reflects the performance of a notebook and compromization of your need as well. There are notebooks which range from RM2,500 to RM15,000.
Budget of:
RM2,500 to RM3,500 : low performance, good for & as a business tool.
RM3,500 to RM6,000 : probably can get you a decent medium class notebook that can utilize for business to entertainment to gaming without much compromise. Even good for those who are doing graphics or arts or imaging.
RM6,000 and Above : If it were based on cars, example would be like having a Mitsubishi Evo or Toyota Supra and eve more expensives ones like, Ferrari. Pretty High End, probably for someone who intended to have a desktop replacement notebook with the "OmpHH!".
Notebook are not as easy upgradable as a desktop unit so when you are choosing one, don't just choose/grade/based on your current need but as well as the need in the coming future. Surely you wanted to have a notebook that can last for your need at least 2 years or more (if you are a high performance user), right?
A medium to high performer would most probably to have specifications like below:
- Intel Core2 Duo 2.0Ghz , 667Mhz FSB , 4MB L2 Cache
- 1GB DDR2 Ram
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 , 256MB Ram
- 80GB SATA Hard Disk
Specifications of a Laptop:
01.0 - CPU (Central Processing Unit)
02.0 - GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
03.0 - Screen Type
03.1 - Panel Type
03.2 - Color Depth
03.3
03.4
03.5
03.6
03.7
04.0 - Size & Weight
05.0 - RAM
06.0 - HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
07.0 - Optical Drive
08.0 - Battery & Charger
09.0 - Warranty & Service
10.0 - Misc
11.0 - Laptop Brands
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01.0 - CPU (Central Processing Unit)
This is the heart of the laptop. Currently at the time of writting, the best processor to choose from would be the new Intel Core2 Duo as it boast to have lower power consumption & better performance due to 64bit & a dual processor capability.
Intel motherboard usually comes in two type, the Intel 945GM & Intel 945PM. The 945GM is for laptop that uses integrated graphics while the 945PM uses dedicated graphics.
02.0 - GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
Please visit this page for more details on GPU: click here
An important note, that is Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista operating systems draws heavily on the graphics subsystem in a computer. Without an adequate graphics card, you won't get the some of the fanciest new features of the interface. Your graphics card should have at least 128MB of dedicated memory - of course 256MB would be the best.
03.0 - Screen Type
The screen size usually comes in a few standard types such as 12", 14", 15", and 17" inches. The bigger is of course better but it also entails a heavy laptop & higher power consumption. But the difference is, consider that a person who used to a PC who have a 17" screen confortably at 1280 x 720 resolution & decided to get a 12" laptop because of weight & size. Now that person who enjoy a 1280x720 resolution have use the same resolution on a smaller screen unless he reduce the resolution which means lesser desktop space for open windows.
Sometimes, you see the laptop being offered with the LCD screen are like Dell Truelife, Acer GridVista, Toshiba TruBright, Compaq BrightView, Sony XBRITE or as most other laptop brands would offer but yet all same from one technology. These few technologies has one much praise with its high-gloss, sharp contrast finish. It is believe that once you have seen this technology with your own eyes, you will not believe the difference it makes. It is even more impressive for DVD and gaming uses.
These technology is recently introduced anti-reflective LCD screen technology (anti-reflective technology). It was initially introduced to the Japanese market in Fujitsu notebook computers in the beginning of 2003 and later brought to the mainstream via Sony’s marketing of its own XBRITE™ brand. This technology was an instant success because of its super crisp images and its vibrant colors. This new anti-reflective technology has sharper contrast (the difference between the deepest black and lightest white pixels), produces clearer and more colorful images, absorbs most external ambient light and has wider viewing angles than traditional notebook screens. All laptop screens have a polarizer which is a thin sheet of film laminated to the outside layer of glass of the laptop screen used to filter light waves produced by the LCD screen to create an image. The difference between a traditional notebook screen and an anti-reflective notebook screen is the type of polarizer film.
The polarizer of a traditional notebook screen has a rough matte finish. This rough matte finish is not visible to the naked eye. The matte finish causes outer ambient light to disperse or reflect off of the traditional polarizer at different angles which reduces the intensity of the glare reflected directly back to the observer’s eye. This ambient light reflection is reduced in intensity due to the diffusion of light, however, the drawback is the reflection shows up as a large hazy object which obstructs the images on the screen. Other side effects include distorted images, a lower contrast ratio, inferior viewing angles, less vibrant colors and eye fatigue.
The polarizer of an anti-reflective screen has a smooth high-gloss finish which has been chemically-treated. The chemically-treated finish of the polarizer reduces the reflection of external ambient light by absorbing much of the external light instead of dispersing it at different angles. Since the external light is mostly absorbed instead of being reflected at different angles, the polarizer does not need a rough matte finish and therefore a smooth finish can provide crisp, brilliant-colored images with the most direct internally derived light from the LCD.
In general, the observer sees light from two light sources: 1) light produced by the LCD itself and 2) external ambient light which is reflected off the surface of the LCD. The objective of an anti-reflective polarizer is to improve the image quality generated by the LCD while minimizing the reflection of external ambient light.
Benefits of such technology:
- Wider viewing angles
- Reduced eye fatigue
- Crisper images
- Sharp contrast
- Brilliant colors
03.1 - Panel Type
Without other than browsing and research on brands and OEM of the LCD panel, you won't know what type they are using to make the LCD panel. There are a few reknowned LCD panel maker, such as:
LP Display (formerly LG.Philips) famous for their S-IPS
AU Optronics (belongs to Acer)
Chimei Vision (CMV, mostly on low cost LCD Panel)
Samsung (Samsung also the OEM for Dell)
The best of all panel class would be for LP Display S-IPS (Super In Plane Switching) for wide viewing angle and 8-bit color depth. Samsung now do produce 8-bit panel as well but using different technology which is just as good as S-IPS.
The hierarchy goes lower with other brand like AU Optronics and so forth...
03.2 - Color Depth
There's something that most people never realized that despite that you can set your graphic card to reproduce 32-bit True Color, your LCD display might not be displaying the complete set of dynamic range. One of the main reason is the HARDWARE LIMITITION; the LCD panel weren't capable at doing that.
LP Display had produced panel with pixels producing 8-bit of color depth, for a long time. Samsung started to do that a few years back for their high-contrast series panel but uses 6-bit for other higher response rate and smaller panel size for budget range (cut edges). Perhaps you might not notice it when u are on ONE panel at a time, if u walk around IT center displaying a myriads of LCD panel that display one single image using monitor splitter would shows you the different in color depth; 8-bit panel looks much more realistic. But mine you, some crappy monitor spillter or loose cable connection leads to bad output on other LCD panel could be a reason why it looks crappy on an 8-bit panel as well...
03.3 - Response Rate, GtG and T,on-T,
'Ghosting' is the type of UNWANTED motion blur you won't want for your LCD during fast paced action gaming or movies. It's more obvious on a moving bright object over a dark background. You may even test it with your mouse cursor in wide over a desktop in pure black and all icons hidden. To counter this product, the LCD panel TFT (thin film transistor, or small switches) that switches the plane of the LCD pixel must perform a good job in switching fast enough (from ON to OFF or partially at an angle for different tone depth).
Basically, the faster it gets, the lesser ghosting will appear but beware, there are some new marketing ploy and standard to benchmark this. In fact, ghosting itself is more than just about switching time. For this, you really should drop by Tomshardware for an indepth review on LCD panel tech on what truly governs ghosting elimination on LCD panel. Say, if the response rate is 12ms, it means 8ms to turn ON, 4ms to turn OFF. Some provides 6ms/6ms ratio. Depends on which brand, panel and setup, it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, the best rule of thumb is to test it out at the shop running a battery test like DVD test, gaming test and dead-pixel test. Now there's something new in gauging this panel is Gray-to-Gray. Their notion is that most pixels on the screen will switches from Gray-to-Gray more often than from Pure White to Pure Black. This specification seems to makes their LCD spec looks more nicer, say like GtG at 2ms !!! Wow... that's quick, again, it's different than Black-to-White ways of gauging, but now they show both spec on the box to avoid or to FURTHER confuse customer.
03.4 - Contrast Ratio
This is the part where a nice display and bad display truly outshines. If you are a CRT user prior to this, you would realized that display on the CRT is much more realistic than LCD. This is partially due to the Contrast Ratio of the panel itself. You may percept Contrast Ratio as part of the color depth as well as how much Colors can your panel reproduce to provide equivalent tone of the Real World. At moment, the ACTUAL contrast ratio is governs by the panel bit-depth. but this can be further boosted with smart backlighting and software tweaking which can boost a panel contrast ratio all the way to 2000:1 (LP Display). Well, it definitely looks pleasing to our eyes but mine you, you can't tell the difference until u test it with some LCD calibrator which most of us won't do unless u are a digital photography manipulator where true to life color reproduction is a must. Some latest technology HDTV LCD TV comes with close to 10,000:1 contrast ratio for wide color gamut. A small contrast ratio display gives you flaky, water color-like image output, which will makes u want to change back to CRT.
03.5 - Native Resolution
Unlike CRT, each LCD got its native resolution, say like for an XGA Panel, it comes standard at 1024x768 resolution but this type of spec is too old to be available in the market this days except for 15" panel. If you like a more modern example, take a 15.4" WSXGA, it has a native resolution of 1680x1080. This can pose an issue/problem to buyers whose graphic card are onboard or low performance GPU where outputting 3D graphics at that resolution will gives serious lag and choppy output.
Then when you are thinking of scaling down to 800x600? the image will go small in the middle like a special edition collector stamps in the middle of an LCD screen. Stretching it to the screen size will also make the image becomes so blocky and pixellated. It is a lot worse that CRT. The best alternative is probably to get a decent screen size like 14" or 15" , not burdening your weight but not too small that you need to squint your eyes everytime.
03.6 - Output Ports: D-SUB (VGA), DVI (DVI-D, DVI-A, DVI-I) or HDMI
Now this part is the type of connectors u use to connect your LCD to your GPU. I believe most GPU comes with a DVI connection and a D-Sub output. But take note on the LCD monitor instead. Most comes standard with a D-Sub cable and a D-Sub port but those that comes with both D-Sub and DVI port might not comes with a DVI cable. The cable you might have to provide it yourself.
More so, with DVI cable, you have to option of tweaking the screen settings from the PC rather than pressing the small function button on the monitor panel UI. Also, some LCD though comes with DVI port, it might be a DVI-A (DVI Analog) port, which means it comes in DVI port format but it's still the same old Analog u get from D-Sub. And they don't give you a cable either. Some better brands or latest design now comes with a DVI-I port which is DVI Integrated where both the pins that responsible for Analog output and Digital output both available to the TMDS controller in the LCD panel. Some bigger and wider LCD panel comes with HDMI port that works with GPU with HDMI output to display HDCP content, say from a BluRay or HD-DVD titles. It's marketing gimmick anyway as there are some successful story of those who were able to playback HDCP content with just D-Sub and CRT.
03.7 - Screen Ratio: Widescreen 16:9/16:10 or Normal Aspect Ratio 4:3
This is a question of choice and tradeoffs. Some say Widescreen is SMALLER than NA ratio. That would depends on where you look and how you measure it. Assume that you are having both a 19" NA and 19"WXGA panel at hand. The WXGA at 16:9 or some 16:10 offers more viewable area than the NA counterpart while viewing 16:9 contents by more than 25% area. Turn it back to view NA content, you find that a WXGA panel is capable of displaying content in a PILLAR-BOXED mode where the content is less than NA panel where the area viewable reduced by more than 30%.
Of course, with a widescreen, you may display 2 A4 size document at the same time but at 19" WXGA, the letters might not be legible. If you are viewing a single page at the display width, you find that the number of lines viewable is a lot less and scrolling is more often though the size of the text increases. A normal CRT user will not get use to this scenario. But a widescreen movie experience would be far more enriching than on a 4:3 screen, because more movies comes in that format, no more letter-boxing. For a worthy widescreen upgrade, gets 22" inches and beyond. For comparison, a 22" WXGA panel HEIGHT (panel height) is same as the 19" NA panel HEIGHT. So there's no loss in the vertical plane but an increase in horizontal plane, good for VISTA with lots of Widgets and SideBar.
03.8 - Dead Pixel Policy
This is the part where you weight the laptop on the brand reputation and sales after service. Though most comes with a Zero Dead Pixel warranty, there are those who implement a minimum of 3 dead pixels (Dell, 5 dead pixels policy) to be accountable for a defect and qualifies for warranty exhange in a certain period of time. So you rate it among brands prior to purchase to have a clear understanding on how the policy works in case the LCD that you've tested finally shows it dead pixel later on.
Dead pixel are those pixel which are not able to reproduce color on the panel, which is a defect and makes your nice screen, well, defect. At least a 1 years minimum warranty period is needed for a reputable brand or more. But user feedback is important too. A 3-year warranted brand might not necessary means that they are more inferior to a 5-year warranted brand, the 5-year part might broke down/dead pixel earlier/more often than the 3-year counterpart.
04.0 - Size & Weight
This section is still under construction.
05.0 - RAM
This section is still under construction.
06.0 - HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
This section is still under construction.
07.0 - Optical Drive
Nowdays, most laptop comes with a COMBO drive standard which is a compliments as a CD burner, CD reader, as well as a DVD reader.
It depends on what you really wanted & how will you utilize your data. If you are those who download tons of stuff & fill up your HDD in a flash, then having a DVD Dual Layer Burner will definitely benefit you as you can store 4.5GB of data on a DVD-R that just cost you less than RM2 per DVD-R. It would also help those who use for business that they would like to store data of their daily or monthly sales.
Burning out your data into a DVD-R or CD-R could be said as much more permanent that storing in the HDD asit is known that the HDD has a limited lifespan.
08.0 - Battery & Charger
Laptop battery comes in two forms, the six-cell and nine-cell. The six-cell on normal usage mode can usually last a person 2-3 hours. Normal usage like wifi-on, listening to songs, chatting through the internet. While a nine-cell will probably give you 3-5 hours.
09.0 - Warranty & Service
Warranty is very important, it sort of gives your laptop an insurance cover just in case anything happens. Most brands offer their warranty 1-2 years but the best warranty available is from Dell with its "3 years complete cover" which covers all except fire, theft, loss, and lightning. It is important to read what the laptop brand warranty covers before you make a purchase so you know what it doesn't cover.
Source: MobilityX
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
How to Improve Your Finances
From Zen Habits by Leo
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." - Woody Allen
We had the Parent Hacks earlier this week, and I was thinking it would be fun to do the same with finances — ways to trick yourself, to get around obstacles, to boost your accounts, without it hurting.
Improving your finances improves your happiness, in general, so I thought it would be important to share stuff that's worked for me.
I'm in the best financial shape in my life, despite quitting my job and my wife recently quitting hers too. A lot of that is thanks to you guys, the readers, but it's also thanks to frugality, to eliminating debt, to saving as much as I can. To these hacks.
Here's what works for me — please avoid flaming me, as I'm not saying they'll work for everybody. Share your tips and tricks in the comments!
Use cash. Instead of charging things to credit cards or debit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas, groceries. Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there's an added advantage of knowing when you're out of cash, instead of spending more than you
Small weekly savings transfers. I got this idea from my friend Trent at The Simple Dollar, who automatically deducts $20 a week from his check to savings. I decided that I could live with $40/week without really feeling it — it's a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about $2,000 a year on top of my larger bi-weekly savings transfers.
Stay home. Going out makes you more likely to spend unnecessarily. You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, stop at the gas station for snacks. It's hard to avoid spending when you're on the road. Instead, stay home, and find free entertainment. It's also a great way to bond with your family.
Don't get catalogs. Or emailed announcements from companies trying to sell you stuff. Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very tempting to buy something you don't need. Instead, stop the catalogs and emails from ever getting to you in the first place, and you'll spend less.
Keep a 30-day list. If you have an impulse to buy something you don't absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list. You can't buy anything but necessities — everything else goes on the list, with the date that it's added to the list. When the 30 days are up, you can buy it — but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.
Cook at home. I know, it seems more difficult than eating out. But it doesn't have to be hard. Throw together a quick stir-fry with frozen veggies and either boneless chicken or (my favorite) tofu with soy sauce or tamari. Make home-made pizza with a ready-made crust, some sauce, cheese and veggies. Put some spices on something and throw it in the oven while you cook some brown rice. Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, but it's healthier.
Exercise. Staying healthy is the best way to avoid costly medical bills later.
Use the envelope system. It's the same idea as using cash for spending, but in addition you use envelopes to split your spending cash into categories. My non-bills categories are groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending. Three envelopes, and when they're empty, I've spent my allotment.
Talk with your SO weekly. It's important that you and your significant other be on the same page. You should have the same financial goals, and from there you should agree on a general spending plan and a policy for impulse buying that won't have either of you wanting to choke the other. Make sure you both know what bills have been paid, what your balances are, etc. A weekly meeting of just 20 minutes accomplishes that. Communication is key.
The spreadsheet tracker hack. There are expensive programs like MS Money, Quicken, and the like that will do amazing things with your financial information. There are even free ones, on your desktop or online, that can do all kinds of things. Trouble is, I don't need all that. All I want is a way to track my money easily, with no other bells and whistles, and a way to access that online so that I can view it from anywhere. The best way I found to do that is through Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I created a simple spreadsheet to track my bank accounts, that does everything I used to do with MS Money. It has the date of each transaction, the title and amount, a little field for memos, and a running balance. What more do I need? Keep it simple. Update: View a sample I put online here.
Pay savings and debt first. When you sit down to pay your bills (I do them all online), make the first bills you pay be your savings transfer and your debt payments. If not, if you pay them last … you'll often end up shortchanging them. But if you pay them first, you'll make sure you still pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and gas … so you'll just cut back on other spending.
Exercise at home. Some of you will disagree with me on this, which is OK — everyone should do what works for them. But I've saved a lot of money that I used to spend on gyms by just running at the local track or on the roads in my neighborhood, and buying some simple weights and a chin-up bar. I do a lot of body-weight exercises (pushups, Hindu squats, lunges, pullups, dips, etc.) and I don't need a gym for those things.
Cut out cable TV. I'm not saying I don't watch TV — I watch DVDs, so that I'm sure that what I'm watching is something great, rather than the useless stuff you find on TV most of the time. And there's a lot of it online for free if you look. Not a huge savings, but it adds up.
Declutter. By getting rid of all the excess stuff in your home, you not only make your life much simpler and more peaceful, but you make it harder to buy stuff that will just clutter things up again. Once you've simplified your home, you won't want to go back.
Lend and borrow. Give books and clothes and toys you don't need anymore to your friends and family. If you need something, send out an email asking if anyone has it. Chances are, they'll give it to you for free if they don't use it anymore.
Barter. It's a lost art, but lots of people will take your services or goods instead of money, especially if you're friends or at least know each other. Get into the habit of offering to barter, and you'll find yourself saving a lot of money. My website design was done through the barter system, so I saved well over $1,000 there, for example.
Use online savings. I use Emigrant Direct, but IMG Online is also popular, as are a bunch of other online banks. Not only do you earn like twice the interest of a normal bank savings account, but if you don't get the ATM account it's not as easy to withdraw money … making it less likely that you'll get money out on an impulse. Read more at Get Rich Slowly.
Try frugal gift-giving. Giving people gifts is one of the most wonderful traditions, as it shows generosity and caring. Until it becomes commercialized. Then it's just really really expensive. Instead, try giving the gift of spending time with someone. Try giving them something you baked or made yourself. Try giving them services they'd appreciate. It doesn't have to cost a lot to be generous.
Teach your kids about advertising, saving, earning, and gift-giving. If you have kids, educating them about money will save you a lot of money in the long run. If they know about how advertising influences them in tricky ways, they'll be less likely to demand (OK, beg and plead for) the latest fad toys. If they know about saving and earning money, they'll respect the money that you earn, and that you are trying to save. If they know that gift-giving doesn't have to be about spending a lot of money (see above), they won't necessarily want expensive stuff.
Find happiness in life, not spending. Many times people buy stuff because they think (subconsciously perhaps) that it will bring them happiness. They just HAVE to have the latest gadget or shoes or cars. It's so fun! And yet, you buy that stuff, and you're only happy for a day or two at most. Then you just need to buy more. It's a never-ending cycle. Instead, learn to love life. Find joy in nature! In the people around you! In doing something you love! In exercise and meditation! There's so much in life to make us happy, there's no need to find it in spending.
"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." - Pablo Picasso
If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us or on Digg. I'd appreciate it. :)
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." - Woody Allen
We had the Parent Hacks earlier this week, and I was thinking it would be fun to do the same with finances — ways to trick yourself, to get around obstacles, to boost your accounts, without it hurting.
Improving your finances improves your happiness, in general, so I thought it would be important to share stuff that's worked for me.
I'm in the best financial shape in my life, despite quitting my job and my wife recently quitting hers too. A lot of that is thanks to you guys, the readers, but it's also thanks to frugality, to eliminating debt, to saving as much as I can. To these hacks.
Here's what works for me — please avoid flaming me, as I'm not saying they'll work for everybody. Share your tips and tricks in the comments!
Use cash. Instead of charging things to credit cards or debit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas, groceries. Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there's an added advantage of knowing when you're out of cash, instead of spending more than you
Small weekly savings transfers. I got this idea from my friend Trent at The Simple Dollar, who automatically deducts $20 a week from his check to savings. I decided that I could live with $40/week without really feeling it — it's a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about $2,000 a year on top of my larger bi-weekly savings transfers.
Stay home. Going out makes you more likely to spend unnecessarily. You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, stop at the gas station for snacks. It's hard to avoid spending when you're on the road. Instead, stay home, and find free entertainment. It's also a great way to bond with your family.
Don't get catalogs. Or emailed announcements from companies trying to sell you stuff. Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very tempting to buy something you don't need. Instead, stop the catalogs and emails from ever getting to you in the first place, and you'll spend less.
Keep a 30-day list. If you have an impulse to buy something you don't absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list. You can't buy anything but necessities — everything else goes on the list, with the date that it's added to the list. When the 30 days are up, you can buy it — but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.
Cook at home. I know, it seems more difficult than eating out. But it doesn't have to be hard. Throw together a quick stir-fry with frozen veggies and either boneless chicken or (my favorite) tofu with soy sauce or tamari. Make home-made pizza with a ready-made crust, some sauce, cheese and veggies. Put some spices on something and throw it in the oven while you cook some brown rice. Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, but it's healthier.
Exercise. Staying healthy is the best way to avoid costly medical bills later.
Use the envelope system. It's the same idea as using cash for spending, but in addition you use envelopes to split your spending cash into categories. My non-bills categories are groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending. Three envelopes, and when they're empty, I've spent my allotment.
Talk with your SO weekly. It's important that you and your significant other be on the same page. You should have the same financial goals, and from there you should agree on a general spending plan and a policy for impulse buying that won't have either of you wanting to choke the other. Make sure you both know what bills have been paid, what your balances are, etc. A weekly meeting of just 20 minutes accomplishes that. Communication is key.
The spreadsheet tracker hack. There are expensive programs like MS Money, Quicken, and the like that will do amazing things with your financial information. There are even free ones, on your desktop or online, that can do all kinds of things. Trouble is, I don't need all that. All I want is a way to track my money easily, with no other bells and whistles, and a way to access that online so that I can view it from anywhere. The best way I found to do that is through Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I created a simple spreadsheet to track my bank accounts, that does everything I used to do with MS Money. It has the date of each transaction, the title and amount, a little field for memos, and a running balance. What more do I need? Keep it simple. Update: View a sample I put online here.
Pay savings and debt first. When you sit down to pay your bills (I do them all online), make the first bills you pay be your savings transfer and your debt payments. If not, if you pay them last … you'll often end up shortchanging them. But if you pay them first, you'll make sure you still pay your rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and gas … so you'll just cut back on other spending.
Exercise at home. Some of you will disagree with me on this, which is OK — everyone should do what works for them. But I've saved a lot of money that I used to spend on gyms by just running at the local track or on the roads in my neighborhood, and buying some simple weights and a chin-up bar. I do a lot of body-weight exercises (pushups, Hindu squats, lunges, pullups, dips, etc.) and I don't need a gym for those things.
Cut out cable TV. I'm not saying I don't watch TV — I watch DVDs, so that I'm sure that what I'm watching is something great, rather than the useless stuff you find on TV most of the time. And there's a lot of it online for free if you look. Not a huge savings, but it adds up.
Declutter. By getting rid of all the excess stuff in your home, you not only make your life much simpler and more peaceful, but you make it harder to buy stuff that will just clutter things up again. Once you've simplified your home, you won't want to go back.
Lend and borrow. Give books and clothes and toys you don't need anymore to your friends and family. If you need something, send out an email asking if anyone has it. Chances are, they'll give it to you for free if they don't use it anymore.
Barter. It's a lost art, but lots of people will take your services or goods instead of money, especially if you're friends or at least know each other. Get into the habit of offering to barter, and you'll find yourself saving a lot of money. My website design was done through the barter system, so I saved well over $1,000 there, for example.
Use online savings. I use Emigrant Direct, but IMG Online is also popular, as are a bunch of other online banks. Not only do you earn like twice the interest of a normal bank savings account, but if you don't get the ATM account it's not as easy to withdraw money … making it less likely that you'll get money out on an impulse. Read more at Get Rich Slowly.
Try frugal gift-giving. Giving people gifts is one of the most wonderful traditions, as it shows generosity and caring. Until it becomes commercialized. Then it's just really really expensive. Instead, try giving the gift of spending time with someone. Try giving them something you baked or made yourself. Try giving them services they'd appreciate. It doesn't have to cost a lot to be generous.
Teach your kids about advertising, saving, earning, and gift-giving. If you have kids, educating them about money will save you a lot of money in the long run. If they know about how advertising influences them in tricky ways, they'll be less likely to demand (OK, beg and plead for) the latest fad toys. If they know about saving and earning money, they'll respect the money that you earn, and that you are trying to save. If they know that gift-giving doesn't have to be about spending a lot of money (see above), they won't necessarily want expensive stuff.
Find happiness in life, not spending. Many times people buy stuff because they think (subconsciously perhaps) that it will bring them happiness. They just HAVE to have the latest gadget or shoes or cars. It's so fun! And yet, you buy that stuff, and you're only happy for a day or two at most. Then you just need to buy more. It's a never-ending cycle. Instead, learn to love life. Find joy in nature! In the people around you! In doing something you love! In exercise and meditation! There's so much in life to make us happy, there's no need to find it in spending.
"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." - Pablo Picasso
If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us or on Digg. I'd appreciate it. :)
Friday, February 29, 2008
How to choose the right bra?
An estimated 70% of women do not know their proper bra measurements. Without knowing these measurements, it can be very difficult to buy fashionable and well fitting clothes. Many women's clothing items use bra or cup size measurements to distinguish differences in fit, so these measurements can be extremely important. This section will arm you with the knowledge you need for these crucial measurements.
Additionally, a woman's breasts change significantly over time, particularly during and after pregnancy. Weight loss, gain and monthly cycle variations can also have an effect on the fit of your bra. It is advised that you check your bra size once or twice a year or as necessary due to significant weight changes.
Determining your Bra/Band size
(ribcage circumference measurement)
1. Measure around the chest directly under the breast at a constant height with the cloth measuring tape. Add 5 inches to that measurement. This dimension is your bra/band size (If the bra size works out to an ODD number go up one inch to the next EVEN number.) This should equal the circumference around the chest, directly above the breasts/under the arms.
2. Now measure around the chest at the height of the fullest part of the breast. The measuring tape should be held horizontal, flat on your back, and your arms should be down. Make a note of that measurement (only used for comparison) and compare it to the Bra Size from step 1.
Determining your Cup size
(projection of breasts from chest wall)
3. To determine the proper Cup Size, find the difference between step 2 and step 1 (step 2 - step 1.) Use the chart below to determine your Cup Size.
Difference & cup size
Half inch - AA
One inch - A
Two inches - B
Three inches - C
Four inches - D
Five inches - DD or E
Six inches - F
Seven inches - G
Note: 1 inch ~= 2.5 centimeters
Example:
Step 1: Underbust measurement is 37". Add 5 inches. Bra Size is 42.
Step 2: Full bust measurement is 45".
Step 3: 45 - 42 = 3" difference. Cup size is C.
Result: Buy a 42C bra.
Additionally, a woman's breasts change significantly over time, particularly during and after pregnancy. Weight loss, gain and monthly cycle variations can also have an effect on the fit of your bra. It is advised that you check your bra size once or twice a year or as necessary due to significant weight changes.
Determining your Bra/Band size
(ribcage circumference measurement)
1. Measure around the chest directly under the breast at a constant height with the cloth measuring tape. Add 5 inches to that measurement. This dimension is your bra/band size (If the bra size works out to an ODD number go up one inch to the next EVEN number.) This should equal the circumference around the chest, directly above the breasts/under the arms.
2. Now measure around the chest at the height of the fullest part of the breast. The measuring tape should be held horizontal, flat on your back, and your arms should be down. Make a note of that measurement (only used for comparison) and compare it to the Bra Size from step 1.
Determining your Cup size
(projection of breasts from chest wall)
3. To determine the proper Cup Size, find the difference between step 2 and step 1 (step 2 - step 1.) Use the chart below to determine your Cup Size.
Difference & cup size
Half inch - AA
One inch - A
Two inches - B
Three inches - C
Four inches - D
Five inches - DD or E
Six inches - F
Seven inches - G
Note: 1 inch ~= 2.5 centimeters
Example:
Step 1: Underbust measurement is 37". Add 5 inches. Bra Size is 42.
Step 2: Full bust measurement is 45".
Step 3: 45 - 42 = 3" difference. Cup size is C.
Result: Buy a 42C bra.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Financial freedom
Key to financial freedom...
1. How to cut credit card debt
2. How to save money/budget
3. How to improve your finances?
1. How to cut credit card debt
2. How to save money/budget
3. How to improve your finances?
Friday, January 11, 2008
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