Laptops To Own Or Not To Own?
I have owned a laptop off and on for a number of years. Due to battery life and accessibility, they have just not been a cost-effective solution for work or pleasure. That is until recently.
Last fall, I purchased a Dell Inspiron 700m laptop primarily for work. It has been the best computer investment I have ever made and I have five computers in my home (Note: I am writing this sitting in the passenger seat of our family SUV after visiting Grandma.).
This is not a commercial for Dell. This is about laptops in general and the minimum specifications you should look for if considering a purchase. Keep in mind, advances are constantly occurring and the technology here will be outdated soon. Use this guide as a minimum starting point.
To me, the biggest concern or problem with a laptop has been its portability portability meaning the battery is needed. You absolutely have to have a computer with Centrino Mobile Technology. The Centrino technology allows my battery to power my notebook for up to four hours! Four hours!
With four hours of computer time, you need to be able to access the Internet (Thank you Al Gore). That is where WiFi comes in. Of course you want your laptop to have the modem and cable adaptors, for online hookup, but it would be an absolute crime if you didnt get WiFi capability. WiFi is nothing more than having a wireless Internet connection, thus no cables or plugs for the laptop.
Third, you want to have as light weight of a laptop as you can without sacrificing keyboard size. This makes it that much easier to carry around and you will find yourself carrying it around more frequently.
Fourth, you want a CDDVD recorder on board and at least two USB ports. The CDDVD player allows you to watch movies or backup important information. The USB ports allow you to hook up peripherals such as cameras, printers, etc.
Last, but not least, are the other things you need to make your laptop perform as good as its big brother. You want at least 256 RAM (I recommend 512), a 30 GB hard drive (I recommend 60 GB) and a screen and keyboard size that fits you.
Good luck!
Laptop Screen Inverter
The small piece of circuit board, which is usually located underneath the plastic shell of your laptops screen casing, is probably the cause of one of the most common problems related to screen failure and, more specifically, dimness, or darkness to the screen itself.
The main purpose of the inverter is basically to give power to the backlight. The way it works is simple, it takes power from the laptop itself by a small inverter lead that runs from the motherboard of the laptop, sometimes it is a direct lead on its own, other times this lead can be connected into the inverter through the LCD cable (the lead that runs from the motherboard to the back of the screen itself), giving the screen its visual display.
At one end of the inverter, usually the left end, the lead that gives it power is plugged into a small white socket and from the other end, usually the right side, the backlight lead from the screen is plugged into another white socket. The backlight is a very small, thin, long, very delicate light bulb that runs along the very bottom or sometimes the side of the screen.
The problems related to the inverter is dimness or darkness to the screen in most cases or flickering of the backlight. Sometimes it can stop the screen form working at all but not usually. A common fault with laptop screens is a dark or dim screen, generally it is assumed that it is the backlight that is at fault, sometimes this may be correct, however more often or not it is simply the inverter not working, or not giving the backlight the power it needs. The inverter is usually cheaper to replace than the backlight, as the backlight is very fragile and can be easily broken. On some occasions a repair of the inverter is possible, although usually labour charges on fixing the inverter can sometimes lead up to being more expensive than simply replacing it.
When it comes to purchasing an inverter most companies will require the part number which is usually printed on a bar code on the outside of the inverter but sometimes you may need to look carefully to find it. If your lucky then you may get away with just stating what your laptop make and model is, for example I have an IBM Thinkpad T22 and I need an inverter, we try our hardest to locate the inverter with just these details, however sometimes you will need to provide the part number; here is an example of a part number from the inverter for an IBM Thinkpad T22, (10L1402). This inverter is also compatible with the IBM T21, and T20 all three laptops as a whole are basically the same apart from the processor.