Category Archives: computer tips

Dell laptop keyboard backlight control & timer [solved – ControlPoint download]

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Q. I recently did a clean install of Windows 7 on my Dell laptop. I love the fresh and clean feel, but I can’t find where to adjust the duration on my keyboard backlight. Can you help?! A. Sure! Backlit keyboards are one of  my favorite options on Dell laptops. My previous Dell M4400 had a nice one and now my Dell M6500 (pictured has one too). I will hardly purchase a laptop unless it has a backlit keyboard, they

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Best StarCraft 2 Gaming Keyboards

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UPDATE: 2011.09.17 Corsair enters the gaming keyboard and mouse arena:   AnandTech – Corsair Enters the Gaming Keyboard & Mouse Market with Vengeancehttp://www.anandtech.com/show/4815/corsair-enters-the-gaming-keyboard-mouse-market-with-vengeanceThe MMO/RTS targeted products are called the Vengeance K90 and M90. The K-series are for keyboards while the M-series refer to mice. The K90 is backlit with over 90 individual… […] . It uses Cherry MX mechanical red switches for each key which have a 2mm actuation travel (4mm total travel). UPDATE 2011.06.24: evaluating two new keyboards that arrived.

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Small always on green RAID system for NAS

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Our family is looking to upgrade our “always on” network storage. Criteria include: energy efficiency, data protection, unobtrusive design, cost. Here is our past and future setup… Currently we use a Linksys NSLU2 with a 16GB USB flash drive. Pros: +super-low power usage (nice since we live off the grid) +compact size +simplicity +SSD (flash drive) for reliability +silent +cheap Cons: +SLOW Planned upgrade: Thecus N4100 Pro (2) 750GB 2.5″ 7200RPM SATA laptop hard drives Upgrade to 1GB RAM (supposed to

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Dell M6500 USB 3.0 drivers download: Windows 7 x64 & 32-bit x86

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Recently I purchased a Dell M6500 from the Dell Outlet for an astoundingly reasonable price. One of the nicest perks, which I did not expect, was that I received one of the upgraded M6500 systems with two USB 3.0 ports on the left hand side. They are the USB ports with blue on the inside connector portion. However,  Windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition did not have the drivers for the NEC USB 3.0 controller. Download USB 3.0 Drivers for Dell

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Can Android video player play 1080p MKV files? [YES!]

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UPDATE: 2011.06.19 thanks to commenter juami I added Galaxy Tab to list of Android devices capable of 1080p MKV, woot! Scroll down to the green box to see the COMPLETE list… Background info on MKV/Android Tek3D has a nice post on playing MKV Files on Android devices: Play MKV Files on Android Deviceshttp://tek3d.org/play-mkv-video-androidI often rip my DVD and Blu-ray disks to MKV files so that they have the highest video quality. Of course, the video format is not supported by the default

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AMD Fusion Llano Laptops, Notebooks, Motherboards, and CPUs! [Lynx/Prices]

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UPDATES: 2011.09.11 DELL releases nice new Vostro 3555 laptop Llano laptop starting at $459… Dell launched the AMD Llano Fusion based Vostro 3555 business laptop | Laptop Computer Planet Bloghttp://laptop-computer-planet.com/blog/2011/09/10/dell-launched-the-amd-llano-fusion-based-vostro-3555-business-laptop/Dell launched the AMD Llano Fusion based Vostro 3555 business laptopPosted on 10. Sep, 2011 by LaptopMan in Laptops, LaptopsThe Dell Vostro 3555 looks like much like the other… 2011.09.06 (33) sweet new BLACK unlocked edition Fusion APUs near release!!! AMD Fusion Black Edition APUs will come in 2 flavours | KitGuruhttp://www.kitguru.net/site-news/highlights2/jules/amd-fusion-black-edition-apus-will-come-in-2-flavours/Arguably the

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i5-470UM vs i3-380UM, differences? [SOLVED]

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Question. Hello. I am looking at a new Dell Vostro V130. I see that they are now shipping with either of the following two Intel® Core™ Series Processors: i3-380UM (3M Cache,1.33GHz,800 MHz FSB) -or- i5-470UM (3M Cache, 1.33GHz, 800 MHz FSB) They are both already ULV (ultra low voltage) processors, so what is the difference?! Answer. Great question! Basically, the i5-470UM has turboboost enabled while the i3 does not. This means that the i5 CPU can dynamically overclock one of

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My Dell M6500 and Performance Upgrades

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This month I’ll be switching over from a Dell M4400 to a Dell M6500. Samantha is rocking it out with a Dell Vostro V130. They are all three excellent machines, but for my purposes the M6500 is nearly perfect. Specifically, it is: bargain priced (since the M6600 is out now) especially if refurbished via Dell Outlet (w/3 year warranty) high-enough performance (dual core 4 threads HT is enough and should minimize heat compared to quad core 8 threads) up to

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