Those of you out there in the wonderful world wide web that own Apple Macbook's may just be in for a fantastic little treat today. Recently, I upgraded my Macbook and I thought it would be of some value to document the process so other people could learn from my mistakes. I took some notes during the whole ordeal and after all was said and done I had a much better laptop, all in all.

A Little Backstory

Last year, I purchased a Macbook. This fancy little machine was the answer to my prayers. It quickly became 2007's most significant purchase, excluding my fiance's wedding ring. Before I purchased the Macbook, however, I had some thinking to do.

I considered the options available, and ended up choosing the right Macbook for my needs at the time. It was around this time that I wrote my guide to buying your new Macbook or Macbook Pro. That article is a little bit out dated now, but it provides some of the reasoning behind my purchase.

I bought the cheapest Macbook available. I could not justify spending an extra three or four hundred dollars to get a DVD burner, an extra bit of RAM, and an insignificant amount of hard drive space. Apple seems to gouge the hell out of hardware prices. It was then and there that I decided I would upgrade a bit later when the time was right, instead of forking out the cash immediately.

Specs Before Upgrading my Macbook

• Macbook (13.3") Core 2 Duo @ 2.0 GHz
• 80 GB Hard Drive
• 1 GB RAM

Specs After Upgrading my Macbook

• Macbook (13.3") Core 2 Duo @ 2.0 GHz
• 250 GB Western Digital Scorpio 5400 RPM 8 MB Cache (~$135)
• 4 GB Crucial RAM Kit DDR2 @ 667 MHz ($100)

These parts were all ordered from NCIX, the only company that I order from online. They have always had great customer service to go hand in hand with their great pricing. I recommend you give them a look if you buy computer parts on any kind of regular basis.

How to Upgrade Your Macbook

The first and most important step is to make sure you have your data backed up. This can be accomplished several different ways, but I opted to simply copy my internal 80 GB drive to the 250 GB drive before installing it. This way, when I install the drive and start my computer, it recognizes everything and I don't have to worry about losing anything.

Step 1
Put the new hard drive into some kind of USB or firewire enclosure that will allow you to access it from your Macbook. I used a Vantec Nexstar SATA 2.5/3.5 inch Hard Drive Docking Station, which did the trick quite well.

Step 2
Download Carbon Copy Cloner. This software is amazing for creating a bootable backup of your Macbook. It took just under one hour to back up approximately 50 GB. You create a bootable backup onto the new drive, so that when you put it in your Macbook, you will still have all of your data.

Step 3
Format the new drive to Mac OS Extended (Non Journaled). If you do not do this, the storage device probably will not show up in your Carbon Copy Cloner application.

Step 4
Do the backup. At this point, it's about as simple as choosing "bootable backup" and hitting backup now. If you have any trouble just let me know in the comments and I will see if I can help. I don't claim to be an expert, but I will do what I can.

Step 5
Replace the hardware. Obviously the trickiest of the steps. Make sure you have a Torx bit around to take the encasement off of the hard drive. I did not have one and was forced to use a wrench. I don't recommend this however, as it does not leave the prettiest looking equipment.

Step 6
Party!

Note: There are some important asides I wanted to make about this installation process. The first of which is that you should follow Apples PDF. You can locate it here. This pdf does not explain every single aspect in detail, but it should show you enough of the basics to get a good understanding of what it is you are doing.

The RAM on the Macbook is extremely tricky to insert. You must push evenly on both sides, with stronger force than you would probably deem necessary, in order to make the RAM seat correctly. Use this guide to learn how to install the memory specifically.

The hard drive is very easy going. You take off the L-bracket, pull the hard drive out using the tab, and then slide it back in when you are done. Be careful not to do this upside down, as I spent about twenty minutes trying to put the hard drive in the wrong way.

I believe that is it! You should be ready to go with your upgraded Macbook. If you have any questions, comments, etc. make sore to leave them here for me.

Note: Following the advice on this site is done at your discretion. I caution you to look to other resources before attempting these installs. If you do not feel comfortable with the install, I'd suggest finding someone to help you who knows a little bit more about these things.

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Technorati Tags: mac, upgrade, hardware, os x, macbook, apple, ram, hard drive,

[photo: discoweasel]

Are you sick and tired of filling out registration forms? Typing your name, email, and website url in comment forms on blogs? Perhaps you find yourself writing the same sentence over and over to people on some kind of instant messaging platform?

You can make your life easier by downloading a fancy little program for Windows XP called MemoKeys. It allows you to save strings of text, and bind them to certain keys for later use.

I use MemoKeys on a daily basis for a comment posting aid. I have my name, email address, and website URL save to various keys on my keyboard. This allows me to write this information into forms quickly, cutting back the amount of time it takes me to quickly get an idea on to that post.

This application really saves a whole lot of time in the long run, and I recommend it to anybody who performs similar actions throughout their daily web or computer experience.

If you know of any more similar applications, I would love to give them a try. Let me know in the comments.

Your motherboard is probably the single most important item in your computer. It handles all of the communication between all of your devices. Everything is connected to the motherboard in some way or another.

There are some important things to take into consideration when determining the motherboard you would like to use. I will go through some of the most important things in a list below, and hopefully it will help you better understand what you need with your motherboard, and maybe even save you some hard earned cash.

One quick note before we get into the details of your motherboard. Always try to allow yourself room for upgrading to newer technologies if possible. Because the motherboard is the component that interfaces all of your other pieces, if at any time later you want to upgrade a specific component of your machine (new CPU for instance), you may encounter problems. Your new chosen CPU may not fit in your old motherboard, which causes you to upgrade. At that point, some of your other components (RAM for example) may not work with the new motherboard. You've now had to shell out money for three separate components rather than one.

Socket

The socket on your motherboard is where your CPU sits. Visit my article on how to choose your processor for some more information on that topic. The socket is important because it lets you know what CPU will fit with your chosen motherboard. It is also important to know how old the type of socket is, to ensure it will last you in years to come. For instance, when I first built my desktop computer, dual core processors were just coming out and were very expensive. I chose to go with a socket 939 motherboard, as it supported the new dual core chipsets that were hitting the market with their steep prices. Initially I went with a single core AMD Athlon 64 3000+, and later, after prices dropped I transitioned to an AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+ dual core.

RAM Slots

This is where your computers memory fits in. You can read more about choosing your RAM on another post in this series. RAM is very important to the overall system performance, so you should always try to get the best you can for the amount of money you are spending.

PCI-Express, AGP or PCI slots

PCI-Express and PCI slots can be used for various devices, and are located on the top of your motherboard. AGP slots are used for graphics acceleration, but is considered old technology now. If you do any gaming, a PCI-Express card and compatible motherboard is recommended. PCI slots act as expansion bays for other devices, such as sound cards and network cards, to name a few.

Integrated Peripherals

These are components of your computer that are important, and can sometimes be included on your motherboard. These are also considered "on board peripherals". Some of the items that can come on your motherboard natively are a sound card, video card, network card, USB, firewire, bluetooth, SATA disk controllers, and perhaps some more. It is important here that you determine what you need to have on there, so you purchase a motherboard that has the features you need, and lacks the features you do not. For instance, when I purchased my motherboard I wanted one that had no video card on it. This is because I already had a video card, so I had no need for the on board video card. These types of sacrifices on your motherboard can drastically reduce the price you pay for the component, without lessening the experience. You can check out my post on choosing your video card as well as choosing your network card to help you determine if you need those separate to your motherboard or not.

What is the BIOS

BIOS stands for a couple different things, but my preferred usage of the term is for a Basic Integrated Operating System. What the BIOS does is initiate all of the hardware components required to use and load the programs on your computer. The process in which this is done, is called the POST (power-on self test), and eventually transfers control over to what is known as a boot loader. The boot loader then chooses the operating system to start, and up comes the windows XP loading screen, Mac OS X Apple, or a Linux loading screen.

Some important changes can be made in the BIOS. Before the POST, the user can enter the BIOS settings and change various properties, such as the boot sequence. Be careful doing this, as it can cause major problems if done incorrectly. The BIOS runs everything before you get into the operating system you chose, so if it breaks you have a major problem.

This concludes the series on Choosing the Right Computer for you. If you have any questions, feedback, etc. Don't hesitate to send an email to thetechjuice@gmail.com or post a comment here.

Previous: Choosing the Right Network Card

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We're getting close to the end of the series on How to Choose the Best Computer for you, and we're at the lovely subject of storage. When I say storage, I am referring to the media on which you store your every day files. Generally speaking this will be on a hard disk drive, and will be inside your computer.

With that in mind, I would like to go into some of the various things to consider when purchasing a hard drive, or comparing different drives to each other.

RPM (Revolutions Per Minute)

This is one of the main factors determining the speed of your drive. This is what essentially translates into the data transfer rate of your hard drive. Most hard drives for desktop computers sit at the 7200 RPM range, but can go as high as 15,000 RPM. The higher RPM drives, such as the Western Digital Raptors, are faster, but have a significantly higher price tag on them.

Hard Disk Cache

This, as explained before in my article on CPU's, is essentially the buffer between the CPU and the hard drive. The cache stores frequently accessed data as well as fetched data so that the CPU can access it much faster. Cache memory is extremely fast, and is used to help speed up the process of getting data from the hard drive to the CPU.

SATA versus ATA

This is the interface that connects the hard drive to the motherboard. SATA is essentially an ATA drive with a serial connection, which increases the bandwidth available to the card to transfer data. If your computer supports SATA it is recommended that you get a SATA drive instead of a ATA (previously known as IDE), as there is a noticeable speed increase in SATA drives.

Solid-State Hard Drives

A recent advancement in technology, and probably the most significant advancement in hard drives in many years, is the development of solid-state technology. This is a hard drive that has no moving parts. A typical SATA or ATA hard drive has moving head that reads and writes to the disk, and thus is limited to the speed at which it can physically move inside of the component. A sold-state drive on the other hand, is only limited to the bandwidth that is provided to it. What this gives you, is a hard drive that gives you near instant random read/write access, with a faster startup time as no moving parts are needed. SSD's are completely silent, as their are no moving parts. Another benefit to solid state hard drives is the fact that there is a constant speed across all sectors on the drive. This means that file fragmentation has little effect on the performance of the drive. One of the only major concerns for solid-state drives are their write limitations. Flash memory typically has 300,000 - 500,000 maximum write sequences that it can perform, before it essentially breaks. You can see some more information on this here.

Overall Capacity

The capacity of the drive is measured in Gigabytes, and varies from around 40 or 60 GB at the economist levels, up to 1000 GB. You can purchase 1000 GB external drives, but many times what the manufacturer has done to save money, is put two 500 GB drives into the enclosure, and connected them together. What this means is that the performance on the split drive is hindered. Determining how much space you need is relatively easy. For average users, storing music, images, word documents, and perhaps some movies, anything at around 60 GB or greater should suffice. If you play a lot of games, download torrents, and generally install many applications, it might be wiser to bump up as high as you can go in your price range. A good medium for desktop computers right now is around 250 GB, and on laptops 80 GB. If at any point you need to bump this space up, or would like some kind of back up solution, you can pick up a 500 GB external drive for relatively cheap.

Hopefully this has cleared up some of the concern about the storage space in your computer. If you have any more detailed questions email me or leave a comment.

Next: Choosing the Right Network Card

Previous: How to Choose your CPU

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The CPU is the workhorse of the computer. It takes all of the information that requires processing, and processes it. This makes it one of the most important components to your computer, and you should definitely think about which CPU is right for you. Here I will attempt to explain some of the properties that CPU's have, so you can make a more informed decision.

CPU Clock Speed

The CPU clock speed is the number of cycles that the CPU does per second. Lately, this is measured in gigahertz, and is an important number when it comes to your CPU. Faster clock cycles means that the CPU can process things quicker. It is important to note that when you are comparing CPU cycles, you should know that two different CPU architectures cannot directly be compared. If the architecture is the same, a CPU with a clock speed of 2.0 GHz will be twice as fast as a CPU that is clocked at 1.0 GHz.

Cache

Cache is used to lower the access time of frequently used memory by the CPU. It is smaller and faster than RAM and is very good at speeding up the CPU. There are two levels of cache, one is the L1 cache and the other is the L2 cache. L1 cache is used directly by the cores of the CPU while L2 cache is a buffer in the Bus Interface. Generally speaking, when comparing two processors of the same type, the higher the cache is the better. This does not mean however that an AMD processor with 2Mb of cache versus an Intel processor with 1Mb of cache is better. The processors should be compared directly to the chips of the same family.

What is Multi Core Processing? (Dual Core, Quad Core, etc.)

This is when the CPU has multiple cores on one die (the term for the chip). It allows for each core to handle threads concurrently. This means that although a multiple core system is better for multitasking, it may not necessarily be faster when given a single task. Much of this speed increase or decrease can be attributed to the software, and whether or not it takes advantage of multi threading applications. A thread is a given process that the CPU has to finish. When the term multi-threading is used it is referring to the ability to have a program split up threads into different chunks, and allow one processor to handle one thread while the other handles another thread. A dual core processor with both cores at 2 GHz can possibly perform as well as a single core that is clocked at 4GHz, however like I stated before, this is dependent on the software and how the processing is handled.

So Which CPU do I Choose?

Well, this really depends. As of late, CPU manufacturers have been spewing out cheap dual cores that have small amounts of cache. This is because cache is so expensive, making it the easiest way to cut corners on production cost. This means that although you may see a dual core processor with 2.4 GHz on that laptop you want to buy for $799, it is highly likely that the manufacturers have decreased the cache size in order to drop the hefty price tag down. I don't want you to think I am saying not to purchase this machine, I merely want you to recognize that you get what you pay for, as with most things in life. If a CPU appears to be drastically more powerful than all of the others in it's price range, I'd venture on the side of caution.

I hope this information was beneficial to you and helped to clear up some of the areas concerning CPU decisions. If this helped you (or didn't) feel free to let me know in the comments.

Next: How Much Hard Drive Space do you Need?

Previous: Choose the Best Operating System For You

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The other day my fiance asked me if I could help her download a video from youtube for a presentation she had to do. After taking a look around I came across a great (and free) solution to this problem. It is called Orbit Downloader, and by golly it's great.

Orbit Downloader works by catching the incoming stream from the video, and saving that file to your hard drive. So with that in mind, I'll write a short guide on the subject.

How to Download Youtube Videos

First of all, this method should work on most streaming media that come from players that are embedded into a web site.

1. Download and install orbit downloader.
2. Open Orbit Downloader
3. Find a video you wish to download
4. When the video begins playing, a small "get" button should appear on the video itself. Click this.

You should now have downloaded a video from youtube or other various video sites. If the get button does not appear, you can try enabling grab++ from the menu bar and then restarting the video. It will probably save the file as a .flv which is a flash video file, and some people may have problems viewing these. If that is the case, I recommend using VLC Media Player, which you can get here.

If you have any comments or questions let me know in the comments.

Operating systems are an important aspect of your computer. They handle the user accounts, the processing algorithms, as well as the general handling of almost everything you do on your computer. It is important when you are choosing your next computer that you consider the various options available for you when it comes to operating systems.

This article will cover some of the key differences between Apple's OS X, Linux, and Windows. It is not meant to try to examine which operating system is the best, but rather takes on the project of explaining the differences and how to determine which is the best operating system for you specifically.

Microsoft Windows

This is by far the most popular operating system. Whether or not it is right for you is a different question. Windows is a good operating system. It is relatively stable, is regularly updated, and has decent customization options. Some of the problems with Windows lies in the realm of viruses and spyware. Windows has more of a chance of picking up spyware and viruses than the other operating systems for a couple reasons. The most notable reason being that the account you are using tends to be the administrator account. This means that system changes can be changed by you at your discretion. This also means that programs that are run by you (with or without your knowledge) also can have this access to critical system files. It is important to recognize that Windows Vista has attempted to alleviate some of this problem by adding UAC (user account control) to the interface, asking you to enter your password if anything important is being changed. Having said that, Windows is by far the best platform for computer gaming, and is the standard for most businesses. These trends may change in the coming years, as Mac computers are getting an increasing share in the market.

All in all, Windows is a good operating system. It is relatively simple to use and set up, and is generally the most familiar to newer users as it has been relatively unchanged for several years. If you do not mind the hefty price tag or do not want to spend the time to learn a new operating system, windows is probably the best choice for you.

Mac OS X Leopard

OS X is designed with the average user in mind. It makes everything very simple and easy to use. Having said that, there are still advanced options and various things that can be done to manipulate the environment to make it more tailored to an advanced user. OS X is much more secure than Windows, but is not as widely used. Another important aspect of OS X is that it is proprietary to Macintosh computers. This means that only Apple computers are legally allowed to use OS X as their operating system.

Leopard is the newest installment of the operating system, and has some significant upgrades since the last version, Tiger. One of the most notable features is the automatic backups which is called Time Machine. It lets you specify a drive to back up your data to, and asks what you want backed up, and it is ready to go.

It is important to note that if you play games, Mac OS X is probably not the way to go. It does not yet have even close to the library that Windows has.

Linux

Linux is another operating system that you could use. It is generally free, and comes in many different shapes and flavors. These flavors are called distributions. Because Linux is open-source, it means that anybody who would like can edit the code and manipulate the system to fit their personal needs.

Currently, Ubuntu is the most widely used distribution of Linux that is available. It is easy to set up, and has a good range of compatible components to it. You can get Ubuntu here, and if you would like to give it a try without messing up your current configuration of Windows, feel free to check out my guide on how to install Ubuntu using Wubi.

Linux is probably the most secure operating system of the three, but lends itself to more experienced users a bit better. That is not to say that new users cannot use it, just that it sometimes requires some fiddling with to get everything to work properly.

Whatever You Choose

Remember that all of these operating systems are good options. Windows has its high level of compatibility, games, and is the standard. Apple's Mac OS X is easy to use, powerful, and very pretty. Linux is free (generally), a little bit harder to use, but can be the most powerful and prettiest of the three with some customization.

Having said that, the only thing that really pushes these operating systems apart from each other is games for the computer. There are ways around this and it may change in the future, but Windows right now is hands down the best operating system for gaming. Virtually everything else can be accomplished using Linux, OS X, or Windows.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me or comment below.

Next: How to Choose a Processor (CPU)

Previous: How to Choose a Video Card

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A video card is the pinnacle of your computer hardware when it comes to gaming and graphic design. A good video card takes the load off of the CPU and uses it's own built in GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) to process all of the graphics necessary. It is important to realize that even though the graphics card is probably the most important component in your computer as far as gaming is concerned, computer components tend to work on the theory that a chain is only as good as its weakest link. If you have a fantastic graphics card, but the rest of your computer is mediocre, the system will bottleneck and the graphics card won't be able to fulfill the duties it is assigned as completely.

Many motherboards come with a built in video card that provides basic graphics processing using some shared system resources. This will definitely suffice for users who don't plan on playing games or doing any extensive graphics or video editing. These on board video cards are great for people who browse the internet, check their email, do their word processing tasks, or generally don't do anything extensive graphically.

Shall we get in to the important aspects of video cards? We shall.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

The GPU is the workhorse of the graphics card. It is measured in MHz, as well as how many pipelines it has. The higher the clock rate is, the faster the GPU. The more pipelines it has, the more bandwidth the GPU can handle. This is typically what determines how fast the card is able to run without taking into account the speed of the memory.

Video Memory

Video memory is important because it determines how much textures and graphics can be stored at one time without having to load more from the hard drive, as well as how fast these are transferred to and from the GPU to be processed. A high amount of video memory does not necessarily mean a card will be faster. The video memory speed is measured in MHz, and as usual the higher the number the faster the memory is. Video memory works similar to the systems RAM, and you can find some more information about that here.

Maximum Resolution

This is the maximum output that the video card can do. It can not output higher than your monitor, so it is important to know the maximum of both. Check out How to Choose a Monitor for some more information about that.

PCI-Express versus AGP

PCI-Express is a relatively new interface for video cards. It is the slot in which your video card fits on your motherboard. When you are choosing your video card, it is important to remember that AGP is old technology, and is slower than PCI-Express. Ensure your motherboard supports PCI-Express before purchasing a PCI-Express video card. It is also important to know that many computers that come previously assembled have an open PCI-Express slot, but use on board video memory. This allows them to sell the computer a little bit cheaper, and provide the user a chance to upgrade video capabilities if they decide to.

What is SLI?

SLI is an acronym for Scalable Link Interface. It allows the installation and use of up to four separate video cards. These cards are used simultaneously to handle all of the graphics processing. SLI is great for those who can afford it, but keep in mind that not all games are optimized for SLI.

What if I Want Two Monitors?

If you want two monitors, all you have to do is make sure that the video card you purchase has two VGA or DVI outputs on the back of it. Then you can refer to this page to help you pick the two that you want. Two monitors are absolutely great for multi-tasking. They have many different uses and applications. My favorite program to use to control both monitors is UltraMon. It is simple, and allows for on the fly customization as well as hot keys.

I hope that helps clear up some of the more relevant issues that are associated with purchasing a new video card for your computer, or comparing video cards inside two computers you are choosing between. If you have any questions send me an email, or leave some comments!

Next: How to Choose the Best Operating System for You

Previous: How to Choose RAM for Your Computer

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RAM is one of the most important components in your computer when it comes to general speed and every day use. RAM allows for you to have applications open, which are stored in your RAM (Random Access Memory).

RAM is significantly faster than your hard disk drive, which is the drive that stores your operating system and files. It is also considered what is referred to as volatile memory, meaning it clears on shut down of the device.

So, now you can see that upgrading your RAM will increase the amount of applications that you can run simultaneously, as well as diminish the need for programs to swap data in and out of RAM to make use of the limited space.

Do I Need More RAM?

First, you must determine if you actually need more RAM. If you look at your task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del), and check out the performance tab, you can see the current amount of memory you have, as well as the memory available to be used. If you are consistently using 75% or more of your RAM at your peak usage, I would recommend an upgrade.

What Does the Speed of the RAM Mean

The speed of the RAM is measured in MHz, and refers to the speed of the clock cycle. The faster the better. Having said that, it is important to reference your mother board's manual to determine the speed that is compatible with your computer.

What is Dual-Channel?

Dual channel RAM is essentially RAM that uses two 64-bit data channels to the CPU. This results in twice the bandwidth that allows for data to be transmitted to the RAM. Dual channel is definitely better, so if your motherboard supports it (again, check the manual) you should make sure you are taking advantage.

What Does the Amount of Pins Mean for RAM?

RAM comes in different sizes. RAM for laptops is a different size than the RAM for a desktop computer. Again, you must check your manual to make sure you get the correct pins associated with your motherboard.

There you have it. I hope this was of some help to those looking to buy a new computer, picking up some new RAM, or comparing different sticks of RAM to each other.

If you see anything here that is inaccurate, or needs a change, let me know in the comments.

Next: How to Choose a Video Card

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First, let me say that an appropriate monitor for what you do is important. You have to stare at it all day long, and it should make your desk or workspace aesthetically pleasing.

If however, you want to choose a monitor based on a little bit more information than that, read on for some of the specifications of monitors and what they mean exactly.

Maximum Resolution or Native Resolution

This is the maximum number of pixels that a monitor can produce, presented horizontally and vertically. This is important for several reasons. The higher the resolution, the higher the overall image quality of the picture is. It is also important because you generally want to run everything at your monitor's native resolution. Running software at resolutions lower than the native resolution causes images and text to appear blurry. If you plan on playing games, or doing some kind of graphic design a higher resolution is better.

Keep in mind running games at high resolutions puts more strain on the graphics card. If you have a great monitor but a terrible graphics card, you simply won't play the latest games at your monitor's native resolution. For instance, I run my 21.6" Samsung LCD at 1680x1050. I also have an EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS as my video card, so I don't run into issues with this resolution (yet).

Contrast Ratio

The contrast ratio of a monitor can be summed up as the ratio of the lightest colour to the darkest color. What this means, is that the higher your contrast ratio is, the brighter brights will look, and the darker darks will look. Because this is also impacted by the lighting of the room you are in, it likely does not have as much of an impact as the resolution does. The only time you will generally notice a difference between higher and lower contrast ratio's on monitors is if you compare them side by side.

Response Time

This is the time in which it takes a pixel in the monitor to turn from black, to white, to black again. It is measured in milliseconds, which by most standards is pretty fast. The faster the response time is, the less likely it is you will notice trails on images or other visual artifacts. I recommend you try to stay clear of monitors that have a response time higher than 8 ms, as you may notice trails and artifacts. If a monitor has G2G or GTG response time, it is the same as explained above, but goes from gray, to white, to gray, and is a more accurate measurement of typical usage.

Refresh Rate

An LCD monitor is not effected by refresh rate, as they have LED back lighting and do not exactly "refresh" as older CRT monitors did. This specification is outdated, and I would not pay any particular attention to the refresh rate of a given monitor.

I believe that covers most of the questions that one would ask when purchasing a new computer. If this helped you (or didn't) please let me know in the comments.

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Next: How to Choose RAM for your Computer

The prices of desktop and laptop computers are dropping. There is not a better time to go out and pick up a brand new computer than right now. Having said that, sometimes it can be pretty confusing, even for technical people, to determine what the distinct differences are between two or more computers.

It is important to realize that in this article (and the other articles in the series) I will be referring to premade computers. If you want to learn about building your own computer, perhaps I will write a series on that. For now though, I'll focus on premade and put together computers from manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Sony, Apple, etc.

The topics I will cover in this series are:
(links will be provided as they are published)

Monitors
RAM
Video Cards
Operating Systems
Processors
Storage Devices
Network Cards
Motherboards

If you feel I missed something, or have any comments about anything written here, leave a comment or drop me an email at thetechjuice@gmail.com

I recognize that some people are a little bit hesitant to try out a brand new operating system. Having said that, change can be an important part of life. I'm sure many of you were considering installing Ubuntu, but got a little bit scared of the change it would present in your digital day.

Those who felt this fear can rest easy knowing there is a way to install Ubuntu without directly modifying your current partition set up, and lucky for you (and me) it is extremely simple.

Installing Ubuntu Hardy Heron With Wubi

First, download the Ubuntu Hardy Heron beta from here. Once you have the .iso downloaded, burn it to a CD or DVD, or use your favourite disc image mounting software like Alcohol 120% or PowerISO. Insert or mount the disc/image and it should run automatically. Click on "Install Inside Windows" and you should be presented with the wubi install screen.



Choose the drive you would like to install to, the installation size (I would recommend 15 GB so you have room to play), environment (Ubuntu should be the only choice), language, and username/password.

Click install and you are on your way. The next time you restart your computer, you will be prompted to choose which operating system to load. Choose Ubuntu, and wait for the login screen. Log in with the username and password you chose earlier in the installation.

That's it, you're done!

Additional Help: check out the Ubuntu forums as there is always a plethora of advice and people to help you out should you have any trouble. Keep in mind you are using beta software and are doing so at your own risk.

Recently, my fiance asked for help to download music on to her new laptop. I pointed her to Limewire and told her just to search for what she wanted and download the songs that match her search criteria.

Little did I know that the p2p networks had been stuffed full of viruses and other malware. I was on her machine not to long ago and was going to listen to some music on when I noticed there was about 10 to 15 songs that weren't songs at all. They were image files, and each one (although they had different titles) was the exact same size. I realized very quickly that these files were not at all what she wanted, and more specifically, they were exactly what she did not want on her computer.

I've written this in an effort to help people that are relatively new to the idea of peer to peer clients understand what they are doing, and how to do it safely.

These tips are in no particular order.

Make sure you have some kind of virus scanner.

I recommend AVG, as it doesn't burn a hole in your pockets like some of the other tools available. You can visit this site to download the latest version. It will always start up with your machine, and will automatically check for updates to the virus library it stores.

Use a filter to hide results that are less than a certain size.

Most of the p2p tools available have settings in the options that allow you to hide a file size that is below a threshold of your choice. I would suggest setting this threshold to less than 2 Mb. Of course, this means that if there happens to be a relatively short song that you want to download, it may be filtered out. Keep this in mind when you are searching for songs. Alternatively, pay close attention to the size and name of the files that turn up in your search. If some of the results are less than 2 Mb and seem to be the same exact name and exact file size, it is likely they cannot be trusted.

Note: This is not ALWAYS the case. Some of the files that fit this description are perfectly fine. If you are not sure, I would probably just avoid it. However, if you do decide to download the file I would definately recommend scanning it before you try to play it.

Make sure you keep your windows updates caught up.

Microsoft sends these updates out for a reason. Install them. They fix security exploits that hackers and virus makers use to infiltrate systems. I know they are annoying, and I know they can be