Gadgets and Tech | J.D. Hodges

Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech

Antique secretary laptop desk and cool retro PC mod!

Wednesday, 2011.06.22 J.D. H. Leave a comment

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

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

Wednesday, 2011.06.22 J.D. H. 12 comments

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

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

Monday, 2011.06.20 J.D. H. 19 comments

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

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

Sunday, 2011.06.19 J.D. H. Leave a comment

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

Official OLYMPUS Battery Charger for XZ-1 the LI-50C

Sunday, 2011.06.19 J.D. H. Leave a comment

SUMMARY: Normally the XZ-1 charges via USB but Olympus also makes an official plug-in battery charger for the XZ-1 AND it is available via Amazon with Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping 🙂 Amazon.com: Olympus CHARGER LI-ION LI-50C: Camera & Photohttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017GSPN0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pixensity-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0017GSPN0Item Weight: 13.6 ounces Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Shipping: ASIN: B0017GSPN0 Item model… Item price, approximately $23.57 USD BACKGROUND INFO: The Olympus XZ-1 is a wonderful little camera. My wife makes extensive use

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

Saturday, 2011.06.18 J.D. H. 23 comments

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

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

Wednesday, 2011.06.15 J.D. H. One comment

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

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

Tuesday, 2011.05.31 J.D. H. Leave a comment

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