Category Archives: Computers

The BeBox: One of the Most Beautifully Overbuilt Computers of the 1990s

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Late 2000. There is a grey and blue tower PC on my dorm-room desk like nothing anybody who walks into the room has ever seen. The Be logo on the front, a 3.5″ floppy peeking out the bottom of the drive bays, and the vertical grille that hides two columns of green LEDs (blinkenlights) dancing with the CPU load.  This was a dual-PowerPC workstation running an operating system you didn’t see in the wild. I was studying computer science at

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MacBook Neo Review: A18 Pro CPU, 8GB Reality, and the Thermal Wall

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I have not been paid by Apple or anyone else to write this. The Short Verdict The MacBook Neo is the fastest single-core laptop you can buy for $599 or even lower at $499 educational pricing! It also drops to phone-class performance after about 60 seconds of sustained CPU load. Both of those things are true at the same time, and thankfully even (Apple) phone class performance is still quite speedy. I ran 30

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RTX 5080 vs. RTX 3090: Is It Time to Upgrade in 2026?

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Is the Upgrade Actually Worth It? The internet loves a clean upgrade narrative: Old card bad, new card good, spend money. But the reality of the NVIDIA RTX 5080 era is messier and more interesting. If you are currently rocking an RTX 3090, you’re still packing serious heat. That card remains a 24GB monster. The big question: Is the 5080 a meaningful leap forward, or just high-end hardware FOMO? Let’s break down the data. Raw Gaming Performance: Faster, but is

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Comparison list of various laptops and PCs

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Updated for 2024 Random PCs and laptops I have used in the past for work and play: Lenovo T14 Gen4 Processor AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 7840U Processor (3.30 GHz up to 5.10 GHz) selected upgrade Operating System Windows 11 Pro 64 selected upgrade Operating System Language Windows 11 Pro 64 English selected upgrade Microsoft Productivity Software  None Memory 32 GB LPDDR5X-6400MHz (Soldered) selected upgrade Solid State Drive 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal selected upgrade Display 14″ WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 400 nits, 60Hz,

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Lenovo X230 Memory Upgrade to 16GB [HOWTO] [VIDEO]

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[Scroll to the bottom for a quick video of the upgrade process!] The Lenovo X230 (and its predecessor the X220) are absurdly easy to upgrade. Here is the X230 memory upgrade process: Power off laptop (fully OFF, not hibernate) Remove battery Remove two screws from memory access panel Remove existing RAM by releasing retention clips Securely install new upgrade RAM Replace cover & screws Replace battery and power ON! For the upgrade, I chose Crucial’s excellent 16GB DDR3 RAM kit

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Dell Latitude E7450 1080p IPS

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The Dell Latitude E7450 is a capable 14″ Windows laptop. Heavier than an ultrabook, less capable than heavier workstations… it strikes a fairly good balance between portability and performance. My favorite feature is the E-Dock compatibility, allowing for easy multi-monitor use when docked at a desk. The laptop’s keyboard backlight is also very handy when working at night 🙂 Least favorite aspects are limited battery life and only decent keyboard/trackpad/trackpoint. I find that I prefer my classic X220 for typing

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Dell XPS 13 vs E5450

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Dell makes some of the best bang for the buck laptops, especially if you buy refurbished or used. Whereas a 2013 Apple laptop will still be very highly priced for the specs, Dell laptops depreciate rapidly. Thus, for $400-$800 you can get a very nice Dell. Likewise, Dell maintenance and upgradeability is also very good. SSD, RAM and WiFi upgrades are generally a piece of cake. I understand that Apple makes a premium product and that they have very high

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Dell M2010 (luggable) SSD upgrade and video card fan fix

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Here are some disassembly photos from a Dell M2010 upgrade. Two upgrades were performed: #1 SSD installation #2 “Always on” fan mod (this alleviates the ATI Radeon X1800 GPU death issue) Enjoy 🙂 Top Search Terms:dell luggable (1)dell m2010 (1)dell m2010 video card (1)dell m2010 video cards (1)dell xps m2010 2016 (1)m2010 dell upgrade (1)m2010 video fix (1)m2010 video upgrade (1)xps m 2010 ssd (1)

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