Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

Simple, 25 years in the computer business I saw more machines killed by heat and dirt than any other cause. This little baby has quietly dissipated the heat from my notebook for well over a year with no negative issues. The big three; data protection,power protection and heat protection are not addressed by this unit, just heat and it does it well. If you don't have one, get one! Model R9-NBC-8PBK-GP(Black) Dimension 343 x 266 x58.6mm 13.5” x 10.5” x2.3” Material Aluminum andRubber Weight 582g; 1.3lbs Compatibility Supportsall 14”-15” laptops and up to 17” Fan Dimension 80 x 80x 10mm (two fans included) UPC Code 884102006180(Black) Addendum 2/5/12: I still think this unit does a nice job cooling but I am grossly disappointed in Cooler Master’s customer service. Admittedly the unit does a good job but the original fans now groan like Eagle fans watching old Donovan McNabb throw a bullet to TO’s feet. To me, a major selling feature of the unit was the “easily replaced”...

Now that I am retired, I’m doing a little more traveling. As much as I love the portability of my smart phone, the screen leaves a bit to desire when surfing the Net. So I lug my laptop with me when I travel. It isn’t too difficult to find a wifi connection, most of the time a free connection. Back in the day when I was selling laptops, I always advised my clients to purchase a good laptop carrying case. I have a laptop messenger bag that serves me well. I found a good selection of bags at CSN stores. I particularly enjoyed the ones in the cool messenger bag section . The Ducti bags that feature different caution tapes and the Ed Hardy bags were my favorites. Regardless of what the bag looks like or where you purchase it, I strongly advise a good laptop bag to protect your computer when traveling. This post was not a paid post but I have gotten things from the CSN stores at no charge to review in the past and hopefully will in the future. I always note if they provided me wit...

I got this email recently and checked out the website. It sounds interesting. I am not recommending it since I haven’t tried it. I am passing it along since it sounds pretty good but as always buyer beware and do your research. It doesn’t seem like a scam so I am posting it. Hi, I am submitting a money saving tech tip for your blog readers. ----------------- A New Life To Old Flash Drives Don't throw your old USB flash drive away. Instead, you can use an old flash drive as a laptop alarm to prevent your laptop from being stolen. Here is how. 1. Install free software on your laptop. www.lalarm.com/LaptopAlarm. (free for personal use) 2. Fasten a neck strap to your old USB flash drive. 3. Fasten the other end of the strap to a table. 4. Plug in the USB flash drive into a USB port of a laptop. 5. Lock the laptop by pressing the Windows logo key and L key together. When a thief removes the laptop from the table, the USB flash drive will be dis...

ACER is attacking the laptop industry with renewed aggression. They have released so many new models, I am not even going to address them all. One surprise to me was that ACER owns the Gateway, Packard Bell and eMachine brands. I’ve only been out of the reseller business for 3 years but I was surprised at that. As a reseller we had far fewer problems with the ACER laptops than we had with competing brands. Frankly we always looked a eMachines when they came in for service as disasters waiting to happen. Perhaps they have improved under the ACER umbrella. Take a look at the reviews of the new models here . In my experience even though I no longer sell equipment, the ACER is a good choice. This is not a paid blog.

Notebooks are always a volatile purchase. It is practically inevitable that on the way home from picking up your hot, new, great value notebook, you will see or hear an advertisement for a better, cheaper, sexy notebook. The best compromise deal (balancing features, performance and price) I have found recently is the HP Pavilion dv6-1030us Entertainment Notebook PC at Staples for a final down and dirty price of $599.98. I found the same notebook at Amazon for an additional $200.00. The price involves rebates so be prepared to wait for some of your money back. This notebook is a better value than the one Staples seems to be pushing for $50.00 less which doesn’t have as large hard drive, has no bluetooth and a smaller screen. If you don’t need the size and the DVD burner, I would look at some of the netbooks. They are pretty darn sweet and in the $299.00 range. Specifications Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6400 16.0" Diagonal High Definition(8) HP BrightView Display HP Mesh Imprint fi...