The PC Informant » Hardware

SDHC memory cards

Vic Laurie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:37:32 +0000

If you have a digital camera, you are familiar with flash memory cards. These little cards are also a way to add memory to a PC. While thumb drives can also act as secondary memory in PCs, they stick out and can be awkward. Memory cards, of course, go into a slot and are barely visible.

Like thumb drives, memory cards vary widely in their speed and it is worthwhile to know exactly what you are getting. Tom’s Hardware has provided benchmarks for SDHC cards that will give you a better idea of what kind of performance to expect from a card before you buy it.

More about USB 3.0

Vic Laurie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:11 +0000

New PCs should soon have the faster interface called USB 3.0. I have made several posts on the subject but there is some more information at Computerworld.

Can Windows run well on tablets?

Vic Laurie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:09:38 +0000

HP has announced a Windows 7 based tablet (or slate, if you prefer) PC that it claims will be much better than Apple’s iPad. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes says there is a big problem with touch-based Windows systems:

HP has released a few teaser details of its upcoming iPad, um, I mean Slate device. While the company is betting the farm on Adobe Flash and AIR support being enough to give it the edge over the iPad, I can already see the device’s biggest weakness – Windows 7. Or more specifically, the problems of taking a cursor-based desktop OS user interface (UI) and expecting the Windows paradigms, complete with little icons, small click areas, scrollbars and so on, to work well without a mouse.

Another look at how touch works as an interface for PCs is from David Pogue at the New York Times. He tries out some touch screen systems and concludes:

Multitouch regular PCs, however, are a long way away from being usable or pleasant. Until the consistency and design problems go away, multitouch will only complement, not replace, the mouse.

About some mobile devices

Vic Laurie — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:56:54 +0000

Are you curious about what some of the new smartphones look like? CNET has a gallery of photos of some of the latest offerings.

Also from CNET is a new FAQ about the Apple iPad, which is scheduled to appear in early April.

The PC is dying-here come the mobile platforms

Vic Laurie — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:49:57 +0000

The mismatch between ponderous Windows systems and consumer needs is finally catching up with the PC. Thanks to the example of the Apple iPhone and to the Asian OEMs who pushed the netbook, the technology industry has awakened to what consumers really want. Predictions are popping up all over that the PC will be replaced by mobile platforms in a few years. Here is a selection of what people are saying about mobile platforms:

PC World
“Gartner reported that mobile PCs accounted for 55 per cent of all shipments in 2009 and it predicted that by 2012 they will account for nearly 70 per cent of shipments.”
Matt Asay at CNET
“Microsoft’s desktop future may look like a phone.”
Wall Street Journal
“Quarter of Americans Get News on Cellphones.”
InformationWeek
“Social Network Use By Smartphones Jumps.”
InternetNews
“Over 150 Million Smartbooks by 2015.”
Siliconrepublic
“In three years desktops will be irrelevant – Google sales chief”
Technologizer
“How Long Do You Give the Desktop?”

Tablet PCs unpopular?

Vic Laurie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:21:01 +0000

The announcement of the iPad and other devices in tablet form has spurred speculation that tablet PCs (also called “slates”) would be a big seller in coming days. Not so, says Lenovo. According to CNET, Lenovo says its customers don’t like the tablet or slate idea, especially the lack of a keyboard:

Lenovo refreshed its tablet-capable business laptop on Tuesday and made a very conscious decision not to bring out a slate device, saying customers don’t want it.

CNET quotes Mika Majapuro, senior worldwide product marketing manager at Lenovo:

The most prominent example of a pure slate device is the Apple iPad, which has a virtual keyboard. Majapuro said the response from customers to slates was a surprise. “It was amazing to me. At first I didn’t want to believe (our customers) but the keyboard was such a big need for them,” he said.

USB 3.0 given test in actual practice

Vic Laurie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:41:42 +0000

The interface of the future for peripherals called USB 3.0 is theoretically supposed to be something like ten times faster than USB 2.0. Sometimes theory and practice don’t gibe, however. Recently, Michael J. Miller at ExtremeTech posted a real-world study of how fast USB 3.0 connections actually are. The results showed USB 3.0 to be faster but nothing like the reputed order of magnitude improvement. The graphic below shows Miller’s results:

Check out your CPU capabilities

Vic Laurie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:13:40 +0000

Steve Gibson often comes up with free little utilities that do some useful task. With the trend to 64-bit computing, you might want to see if your CPU can handle 64-bits. Another CPU feature worth checking is to see if the security feature called hardware DEP is supported. Gibson provides a free program called SecurAble that will tell you about the features supported by your CPU.

In addition to checking if your CPU is 64-bit and if it supports DEP, the program will tell you if hardware virtualization is supported. This might be of interest to prospective Windows 7 buyers who want to know if the virtual support for running Windows XP in Windows 7 is present.

Routers being attacked by botnet

Vic Laurie — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:14:14 +0000

Many of you probably have a router. Did you ever change the default password or are you still using “admin” or whatever came with the router? These default passwords are well known to everybody and not changing them is an open invitation to hackers. PC World looks at a recent exploit from what is called the Chuck Norris botnet, which is attacking routers:

Security experts say that various types of botnets have infected millions of computers worldwide to date, but Chuck Norris is unusual in that it infects DSL modems and routers rather than PCs.

It installs itself on routers and modems by guessing default administrative passwords and taking advantage of the fact that many devices are configured to allow remote access. It also exploits a known vulnerability in D-Link Systems devices, Vykopal said in an e-mail interview.

Give your router a strong password.

The shape of things to come

Vic Laurie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:59:29 +0000

I think that the whole area of personal computing is in transition. I believe the old model PC is dying as the platform for personal computing. Or should we call it personal electronics? After all, computing isn’t what most people mostly do with their devices. In any event, developments like the iPhone, the netbook, and all the various mobile devices are transforming the scene. What will the PC of the future look like? Maybe something like the Lenovo model demonstrated in this video clip. (This is not an endorsement from me. I haven’t seen one of these gadgets and I pass this along only as an indication of things to come.)

Thanks to Sol Libes for pointing the clip out.