Category Archives: Hardware

Choosing a Touch Screen Monitor for a Windows Computer

The advent of Windows 7 and, latterly, Windows 8 has seen renewed interest in touch screen monitor technology, not least because the new operating systems include a variety of touch screen features. This article highlights what you need to look for in a touch screen monitor.

What is a Touch Screen Monitor Anyway?

A touch screen monitor is simply a pressure-sensitive computer display that allows direct input. Users touch pictures or words on the screen with a finger or a special, pen-shaped device, known as a stylus, to interact with the computer. Touch screen monitors are a fairly recent development, so if you have an older computer running an earlier version of Windows, such as Windows XP or Windows Vista, you’ll need to upgrade your hardware and/or your operating systems. Some early touch screen monitors did come with drivers for Windows XP, but they were largely unsuccessful. read more

Do Laser Printers Use Ink?

I received the question “Do Laser Printers use ink?” via email a few days back and figured I would deliver a quick answer via a blog post. The quick answer is that they do not use ink necessarily, but they use something similar called toner.

For laser printers, the ink toner comes in powdered form and can be found in the printer cartridge. The laser printer uses an electrostatic charge to make the toner stick to the paper in the areas where you want it to print, then rolls it over a heated drum to fuse the powdered toner to the surface. So, just like an ink printer would use ink, a laser printer uses this powdered toner. read more

CPU Temperature Guide

All electronic devices, when at work, produce some amount of heat. Some devices produce more heat than others. One such such electronic that produces a good amount of heat is a computer CPU. The heat that is formed is generally very high, usually well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and should be checked specifically in computers which are used for long periods time or computers that are under heavy load.

The heat that is produced in a processor needs to properly dissipated. Heat has a damaging effect on the circuits of hardware and can cause decreased performance of the system. read more

What You Should Know About Home Automation

In the last couple of years home automation has become quite popular because of its affordability. It is no longer a dream for people to have a fully automated home where all their devices are connected to a control pad and can be operated with the touch of a button. With home automation the possibility of connecting and operating your devices are simply unlimited. There are several things that can be controlled with home automation software, but first you need to get an idea what home automation can do and then move on from there. read more

Think Your Tablet Can’t Handle Demanding Applications? Think Again

The popularity of tablet PCs is rapidly increasing for a number of reasons. One has to do with portability. Another is related to interfaces that are effortless to use. Perhaps one of the more surprising reasons for this trend is the diverse number of ways a tablet can be used. Interestingly, many people on the go are taking their tablet instead of a laptop.

Tablets Becoming the Primary Computing Device

Those who think that tablets can’t handle demanding applications might be surprised to find out that their storage capacity and processing power rivals that of the laptops in the not so distant past and according to Forrester Research, tablets are poised to become the primary computing device within a few short years. They project sales of tablets to be 375 million annually by 2016 compared to 56 million in 2011. As the sales of tablets increase, many predict that laptop sales will decrease. Gartner is forecasting that tablets will outsell laptops and desktops combined by 2015. read more