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Posts filed under 'Computers'

The Inner Makings of a Computer

By now, computers should be an intricate part of your life. But many people may not know how a computer works from the inside. I will try to explain the basics of a home computer so some people can get a basic grasp of how a personal computer works. When you buy a computer, it comes in a neat little box that looks sleek and stylish. The screen is in pristine condition and the keyboard and mouse feel like they?ve never been touched by human fingers.
This is all well and good, but what about inside that little box that has been shrinking ever since the personal computer made its debut. The box used to be huge and the monitor would take up almost your entire desk. Now some computers don?t even have that box since the technology can be fit inside the thin and light flat screen monitor. The printed circuit board that used to be three times the size is now a tiny thin piece of technology. A PCB, as they call it, has all the fine tuned wiring and electrical that is needed for the computer to work. It also contains all the things that you are hopefully familiar with. The motherboard is the most important piece of the computer and that is also on printed circuit boards.
There are three other major components you should know about that make up the interior of a pc. Memory is one of those things. At this point, memory on a standard pc ranges from one gb to eight gb. This is what makes your computer go faster or slower. It also determines the amount of programs you can run without the computer slowing down or freezing too much. The higher the number, the more things you can do at once. Memory can also be found on flexible circuit boards on the inside of the personal computer.
The next component is the hard drive. These make up the space in the computer. You can store movies, files, pictures and everything else you desire. It also allows you to install programs that also take up space. The last major component is the CPU. This is a chip on the motherboard and the flexible PCBs that works as the brain of the computer. This is the chip that makes everything work. It sends the signals to everything else just like the human brain.
Hopefully this basic guide will help those who are a little behind the times to understand the pc.

in Computers on February 22 2010 » 0 comments

Economic computer service

Growth of computers has observed lot of twists and turns. The finding of vacuum tubes to super computers is simply attractive.

Also one could have bunch of ideas going by when he / she thinks of computers. Now those computers have taken almost all fields of life. One can surely tend to have lot of problems working on this magic gadget. People in software industry do rely chiefly on system throughout their work schedule. This makes this mighty gadget to occupy very significant position. Repairs in computers can be of any type starting from software to hardware breakdown. To have effective computer repair, one needs to have professionals or experts to carryout repair work. Generally pc repair service can be covered under service package as drafted by the servicing company. One needs to encounter problems like slow computer functioning wherein total software package can be modified to institute repair work or some hardware malfunction can be diagnosed to find out cause for slow functioning. Experts do have planned algorithm to be typed on the operating platform to detect the problem associated with slow computers.

This can also be used to check precision in functioning of associated hardware. Many service providers present all over the world provide cheap computer service.

in Computers on February 02 2010 » 0 comments

Getting the Best Value on a Monitor

A computer monitor, or simply a monitor, is the screen on which you view things from your computer. As you are reading this, you’re probably reading it on a monitor – either on your laptop, your desktop, or even a mobile phone or PDA. In any case, the monitor has a very important job. A good monitor should see you through several computer upgrades, so it is important to choose a good one.

There are several types of monitor – cathode ray tube (or CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display (or LCD).

CRT.

CRT monitors work by an electron gun shooting electrons down the CRT to the screen, where the electrons cause the phosphor coating lining the screen to glow. On the coating there are dots, one of each colour (red, green and yellow) – each dot is called a pixel.

CRT monitors are large and bulky but cheap. They generally need slightly more room than their screen size, so a 17″ monitor will need 18-19 inches deep (size is measured diagonally).

They are not as common these days, with the more advanced LCD monitors becoming the choice for people updating their systems.

LCD.

LCD works by blocking light – specifically, they are made of two pieces of polarised glass, with a liquid crystal material between them. A light is passed through the first piece of glass, and at the same time, electrical currents cause the molecules of liquid crystal to align, allowing varying levels of light to pass through to the second substrate, creating the colours and images that you see.

Thin Film Transistor LCD (or TFT-LCD) is a type of LCD that works by arranging tiny transistors and capacitors in a matrix on the glass of the display. To turn on particular pixel, the proper row is switched on, and then a charge is sent down the correct column. Since all of the other rows that the column intersects are turned off, only the capacitor at the designated pixel receives a charge. The capacitor is able to hold the charge until the next refresh cycle.

Generally speaking, no matter how big a screen on a LCD monitor, they are usually only an inch or two deep. However, the angle at which the monitor is positioned can make it difficult to view due to fading.

Other things to consider are:
? The refresh rate, as it can help reduce eye strain – at least 60 Hz is recommended, 75Hz is ideal. This does not apply to LCD screens, as they turn each pixel off individually.

? Resolution is the amount of pixels on a screen, and together with refresh rate they decide picture quality. See what the highest resolution is at 85Hz to give you an idea of how good the picture will be. Something to note is that when resolution increases, the writing on a screen will decrease. LCD monitors only display well at the resolution at which they were designed – this is called the native resolution.

? Dot pitch is the distance between adjacent pixels – around 0.26 for a 17″ monitor is good.

? Controlling the picture quality is essential – check to see how easy they are to use, so you know how to adjust contrast, brightness and alignment.

? Warranty – how long is it and do they offer an extended warranty?

? “Dead Pixel Policy” – what do they allow for? Look carefully before you decide to buy a monitor. You don’t want to be stuck with a monitor full of dead pixels that disturb your viewing on the monitor.

Knowing what you want is only half the battle of getting a good bargain on a monitor – knowing what’s what so you can go in well-armed with knowledge is the other half.

in Computers on October 16 2009 » 0 comments