It’s been 15 years, and computer stores haven’t changed much
In the early 1990s, I learned how to fix computers because I got tired of long waits and shoddy repairs from computer stores. Last month I took a friend to go buy a computer. I didn’t want her to get...
View ArticleAre Black Friday computers a good deal?
Black Friday is going to be here before we know it. And historically, that’s been a good day to snag a deal on consumer electronics. But does that hold for computers? I’ve studied many Black Friday...
View ArticleWays to speed up an aging laptop
Yesterday Lifehacker did a feature on laptop tweaks and upgrades, that basically came down to reinstalling the OS, adding memory, and upgrading to an SSD. All of those are good things to do of course,...
View ArticleSSDs and pricing
Mainstream SSDs cost around $2 per GB to buy right now. I was curious, so I decided to try to relate historical SSD pricing to the historical pricing of conventional hard drives. It didn’t take long...
View ArticleUpgrade and repair diary: IBM Thinkpad T30
I picked up an IBM Thinkpad T30 this week. People ask me occasionally to keep an eye out for an inexpensive used laptop, and Thinkpads from 2005 or earlier are a good choice because they’re generally...
View ArticleTom’s Hardware asks: Is an SSD the best upgrade for a slightly old PC?
Not surprisingly, they find the answer is yes. Specifically, that a PC equipped with an SSD gets about a 30% across-the-board performance increase. I don’t agree with everything they say in the...
View ArticleHow about hard drives that vary their speed based on workload?
Facebook wants hard drives that slow down when the data they hold isn’t in high demand. They estimate that slowing a drive from 7200 RPM down to 3600 RPM could cut its power usage from 7W to 3W. We...
View ArticleMilestone: Enterprise SSDs are cheaper than enterprise HDDS
Partly due to flooding in Thailand pushing up disk prices, and no doubt partly due to the natural progression of new technologies driving down the prices of flash memory and related components,...
View ArticleYes, SSDs are “finally worth the money.”
Slashdot asked today if SSDs are “finally worth the money.” I’m wondering since when they haven’t been. I’ve been buying SSDs since 2008. The justification for the question is the observation that an...
View ArticleIs this a good computer for the money in 2013?
My realtor sent me some computer specs this past week and asked for my opinion on it, since I get paid to keep up with this stuff these days and he doesn’t. I thought my critique of the system might...
View ArticleNot your father’s Celeron
I picked up a Celeron G1610 CPU last week and I’m using it to build a Linux box. Yeah, it’s a Celeron. But it performs like a 2011-vintage Core i3 or a 2010-vintage Core i5, consumes less power than...
View ArticleSSDs might be getting less interesting, but that’s not necessarily bad
Ars Technica has a story about SSD news coming out of CES. Basically, they’re predicting that the big news this year will be consolidation and lower prices. That may be bad news for someone who writes...
View ArticleWhen will SSDs be cheaper than hard drives?
When will SSDs be cheaper than hard drives? Based on history, it's possible to make an educated guess, and I think the time is coming relatively soon. The post When will SSDs be cheaper than hard...
View ArticleUpgrade and repair diary: IBM Thinkpad T30
I picked up an IBM Thinkpad T30 this week. People ask me occasionally to keep an eye out for an inexpensive used laptop, and Thinkpads from 2005 or earlier are a good choice because they’re generally...
View ArticleTom’s Hardware asks: Is an SSD the best upgrade for a slightly old PC?
Not surprisingly, they find the answer is yes. Specifically, that a PC equipped with an SSD gets about a 30% across-the-board performance increase. I don’t agree with everything Tom’s Hardware say in...
View ArticleHow about hard drives that vary their speed based on workload?
Facebook wants hard drives that slow down when the data they hold isn’t in high demand. They estimate that slowing a drive from 7200 RPM down to 3600 RPM could cut its power usage from 7W to 3W. We...
View ArticleMilestone: Enterprise SSDs are cheaper than enterprise HDDS
Partly due to flooding in Thailand pushing up disk prices, and no doubt partly due to the natural progression of new technologies driving down the prices of flash memory and related components,...
View ArticleYes, SSDs are “finally worth the money.”
Slashdot asked today if SSDs are “finally worth the money.” I’m wondering since when they haven’t been. I’ve been buying SSDs since 2008. And their price has been falling at a rate faster than hard...
View ArticleSSDs might be getting less interesting, but that’s not necessarily bad
Ars Technica has a story about SSD news coming out of CES. Basically, they’re predicting that the big news this year will be consolidation and lower prices. That may be bad news for someone who writes...
View ArticleIs this a good computer for the money in 2013?
My realtor sent me some computer specs this past week and asked for my opinion on it, since I get paid to keep up with this stuff these days and he doesn’t. I thought my critique of the system might...
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