Category Archives: Computers

Antique secretary laptop desk and cool retro PC mod!

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I routinely use my laptop setup in my grandma’s vintage secretary. It is a gorgeous piece of furniture. Every time I sit down at it I think fondly of her. The secretary is very functional with its fold out desktop surface. I would eventually like to build (or have built) a slightly larger version that could accommodate a full PC but keep the old-school antique look. 🙂 Curious about what exactly a secretary desk is?! Secretary desk – Wikipedia, the

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Difference between SATA (II) 3Gbs & SATA (III) 6gbps CABLES? [solved]

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UPDATE #2: I now have a definitive answer to this question (whether you need new cables for 6GB/s SATA)… see below. UPDATE #1: make sure to checkout the first comment to this post, as John posted some great additional info! Q. Hello, I just got a super fast new Intel 510 SSD drive (and I have a C300 too). I’ve got a bunch of old SATA cables (back when SATA I/II 1.5 gbs 3 gbs was the max) and now

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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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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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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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Upgrading a Dell M4400: Dual Hard Drives, 2.8GHz CPU, 4GB RAM

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UPDATE: new post with specific M4400 upgrade questions and tips as a result of questions from commenter David. NOTE: you can also view all the entries in this Q & A series… The Dell M4400 has been my laptop of choice for almost a year. For my birthday I upgraded it to 4GB RAM (from 3GB) and swapped out the P8600 CPU for a T9700. The P8600 is a 2.4GHz dual core chip (25W) with 3MB cache, the T9700 is

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