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Tech News & Commentary
Melanie in Carey, North Carolina listens on 680 WPTF asked: “I’m interested in getting a laptop that’s small like a tablet. I’m not so sure the surface is worth the money. I was also interested in the Yoga. Anything that can run Microsoft Office. I don’t do a lot of super-powered things, but I do need to do Excel spreadsheets and type documents. iProducts are out and I was wondering what the best thing for me to have a small laptop or tablet.”
Pretty much any of the smaller Ultrabooks will be a laptop about as small as a tablet, so you shouldn’t have too hard a time finding one.
You mentioned the Yoga, there are different Yogas… the Lenovo Yoga is a tablet, an Android tablet, it is definitely not what you’re looking for. The Lenovo IdeaPad or ThinkPad Yogas are full fledged laptops, that also happen to flip and become tablets. Those will do what you need.
The Yoga line comes with in 11” and 13” models that won’t be too far from the size of a tablet’s screen, and they’re fully functional as both tablets and laptops and will certainly be able to handle the Excel spreadsheets that you need to work with.I personally use the Yoga 11S and I absolutely love it.
You could also look at a Surface Pro, it would be able to handle Excel, however, to be able to use Excel adequately you’ll need a mouse and keyboard, which you can use with a surface, but it would mean you’d end up carrying more bulk than you would if you just bought an IdeaPad, and you’ll likely end up paying about the same.
For the price, you might as well get the full device you need, rather than to assemble the pieces separately.
Another laptop you can look into is the new Acer Aspire 2-in-1, where you can have it set up as both a laptop and tablet. It runs perfectly well with Microsoft office and is ultraportable when you are on the go. Built in 1 terabyte hard drive, which is plenty of memory space.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
“Into Gaming Update” Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager
David from Windsor, Ontario Canada listening via 800AM CKLW The Information Station asked: “I want to build a Budget PC for $250-$300. What motherboard would you recommend and what RAM?”
The ASRock FM2 series of motherboards by AMD will cost you around $49, it supports up to 16GB of RAM, which is a lot for a $300 system. MSI sells their A55M series for around the same money, you can also install 16GB of RAM on them, and we’ve heard they allow for good overclocking options, though we haven’t really tested that ourselves.
As for RAM, you probably need to decide how much RAM you can afford to put on your inexpensive computer, considering you still have to buy a processor, a power source and who knows how many other relatively expensive parts, your budget for RAM memory is probably pretty low.
For $69 you can get 8GB of RAM in 2 4GB modules, from Crucial, but that may be more than you even need, if you’re working on such a cheap build.
Buying 4GB for Kingston will drop the price to below $50, so that may be worth considering… keep in mind you still don’t have a processor or any kind of storage, and at this point you’d already be spending about $100 of your $250 dollars.
It’s hard to tell you exactly what to look for without know more about what you want to use your computer for, but if all you’re looking for is savings, you should probably stick to cheaper parts and be realistic about your needs, if you think you can get by with a 250GB hard drive, but having a terabyte drive would be nice, try to stay closer to the 250GB option, otherwise your cheap project will turn very expensive very quickly.
You might also want to look at pre-built discounted systems if your budget is that low. We’ve found systems running Windows 7, Windows 8 and various flavors of Linux all selling for under $300, some below your $250 mark as well.
For example. $279 can buy you a 64-bit Windows 8 desktop, with 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and a dual-core AMD processor. Not bad, for such a low price, and it may top what you can build for that little.
By the way, the ASRock FM2 motherboard that we saw for $49.99 featured on board AMD Radeon HD 7000 graphics and a Hudson D2 socket for the AMD Athlon X4 processor. What all that tech speak means is, this will be a pretty snappy performer despite its very low price. It won’t be an Intel Core series CPU, but it won’t cost like an Intel Core series CPU, either.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Joshua from Sparta, Tennessee listening via Supertalk 997AM WTN asked: “As technology as yall are why no smartphone web page?”
Mostly because mobile pages have been unnecessary since the first iPhone came out… the whole “it does the real web” thing is still true.
Mobile pages are full of compromises, content has to be limited to fit the screen, users tend not to see as much all for the sake of having bigger buttons to tap rather than double tapping and zooming in.
Websites, to be useful as mobile websites, have to contain fairly little information, otherwise the mobile layout is just more annoying and typically less powerful.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Tom Sumner, Sr. Vice President – Yamaha
“IFA History Feature” brought to you by Messe-Berlin
The size of picture tubes was limited because of costs and weight, but flat panels were just a dream for many years. At IFA in 1977 the first miniature LCD screen was shown, 3 by 4 inch, with about 9,000 pixels. No wonder that Eduard Rhein, inventor, author and millionaire offered the incredible award of one million Deutschmark for the first real TV display for the wall. It took nearly two more decades until the first prototypes were shown at IFA in 1995, a 22 inch LCD and a 42 inch plasma. The first real product premiered at IFA in 1997. It was a 42 inch Plasma, only standard definition, costing about 15,000 US $.
Marion from Anchorage, Alaska listening via 700AM KBYR Alaska Listens Here asked: “Other laptops and PCs won’t connect to the WiFi in my apartment. It’ll connect to a few places but not mine. Wondering if perhaps a new operating system might help, but I’m not sure.”
If you can connect in other places, but not your apartment, and if others can’t connect in your apartment either, then the problem is most likely with your wireless connection at home.
If that’s the case, installing a new operating system won’t achieve anything, you may be better off trying to replace your wireless router or access point instead.
Routers are very temperamental devices, and consumer level ones are typically pretty bad, so if you haven’t already, try unplugging it and plugging it back in, and maybe even restoring it to factory settings.
If that doesn’t change anything and can connect in other places, you may need replace it.
If you can only connect to “a few” other networks, and not yours, then maybe Windows is to blame, but if you only have trouble at home, then your router is probably to blame.
Let’s also explore what you mean by “other” laptops and PCs. Does that mean YOUR computer or devices will connect, but if a friend brings their computer over, that computer will not connect? That could be as simple as you have a security setting on your router that requires them to have a network security key, but you don’t know what the key is to give it to them.
If someone else set up your router, they might be the ones to tell you whether that’s the case. Also, it may be that for some reason we can’t explain, the router was set up with a very limited pool of IP addresses it will hand out. If these “other” computers and laptops are CONNECTING but simply can’t USE the network, check their IP addresses and see whether they appear similar to the one on your computer (the computer that IS working). It’s also possible these additional devices just can’t get an IP address.
Some Internet providers who sell you wireless service for “up to a certain number of devices” will use that technique to limit how many devices can connect at once. In such cases, unfortunately, some router reprogramming is called for.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
Jenny in London Ontario, Canada and listening via the Podcast asked: “I just have a question about home theater projectors. A couple of my friends are getting married and several of us want to get together and buy them a home theater projector. We were thinking about spending $1600-$1800. Are there any good websites to go for reviews for reliable information about the projectors? As well as, if you guys have any tips or suggestions as to what are the key points to look for. Thank you so much.”
There are plenty of sites with reasonably reliable reviews of projectors. PCMag,com, a regular contributor to our TechNewsLetter, has a section dedicated solely toprojector reviews.
So doesCnet, though you might be wise to remember what happened at CES between them and Dish when judging their objectivity.
ProjectorReviews.com andProjectorCentral.com specialize on projectors, so they might be good places to go to find reviews from people who know their stuff, rather then by jacks-of-all-trades.
HomeTheater.com also has a section on projectors, and since you’re looking to buy them a home theater projector rather than a working office projector, they may be a site with some useful pointers that fit your specific needs.
If you’re interested in specific models, then maybe Amazon.com is a good place to look too, you’ll find reviews from current owners that may clue you in to day to day problems with the devices that wouldn’t be evident after short term testing.
For more information, tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast.
If you have any questions about any of this week’s show info, please email us here.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Covington Creations: Earbud yo-yos “A clever solution to tangled earbuds”.
C.Crane: Senta Ally Portable Bluetooth Stereo Speaker with built-in FM radio and SD & USB reader.
Yamaha: Pro 300 Hi Fidelity, over-the-ear Headphones.
Nite Ize Innovation: Connect Case and Connect Cradle for iPhone – Hard case with belt clip, vehicle mount and desk stand.
“Into Tomorrow”:Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!