In a recent study by J.Gold Association they noted that companies actually save more in a three year period when investing on SSDs compared to standard disks. A computer with a standard disk would cost around $970 USD in warranty support and repair compared to a $715 USD savings on computers. The savings translate to over $214 USD is savings for a three year period.

While the numbers are fine, I think companies would save more by raising their employee’s awareness on taking care of their laptops to make sure the life of the hardware reaches it’s full depreciation period. The SSD savings is no guarantee as the SSD’s reputation might actually lessen the employee’s awareness of taking care of their hardware because they know how durable their product is.

Image from the here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Companies Save Money from SSDs

Quoting from his article

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is the best of the tier-one commercial notebooks, full stop. My two complaints — that the SD card sticks out of its slot and the USB ports remain too close together — are overshadowed by the new display, seven-hour battery, faster CPU, and the fact that there is an SD card slot. There are cheaper notebooks, but I’d challenge you to find one that’s faster, quieter, and better built than MacBook Pro.

MacBook Family, Image Courtesy of Apple Inc.

I have personally been using the first gen of the 15″ Unibody MacBook Pros and apart from the battery life I’m quite happy with it. It’s truly one of the best built laptops I’ve owned. With the new models, my battery complaints have most likely been answered.

I honestly think that the MacBook Pro is quite possibly the best notebook around, be it PC or Mac. Sure there are faster, more powerful notebooks. Alienware comes to mind but non as refined and well rounded as the MacBook Pro. It simply looks and performs well.

Check out Tom’s InfoWorld article here.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Best NoteBook

MacBook Pro Family, Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

According to Walt Mossberg who had the chance to test both the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro and put it through the paces of his own battery test, both laptops performed well. The 13 inch lasted a slighty below the 5 hour mark while the 15 inch was 21 minutes above the 5 hour marker. This says well considering no power saving feature was turned on and the screen brightness was cranked up. In normal usage, expect battery life to be even slightly higher.

I for one was at first skeptical of the notion that I can’t replace the battery of my laptop. However looking back, ever since I’ve owned a laptop, I’ve never bought a spare battery. Hmmm… I guess I just like the thought that I could replace it if I wanted to. Mossberg cites in his article that only less than 5% of consumers actually buy spare batteries. This figure was from NPD, a research firm. I would believe that this figure is close to the truth.

I guess we just need to let go of our need to control things and trust that technology works. Apple was able to increase battery size and life in its MacBook Pro line of computers without adding weight or heft. I guess its a decent trade-off to the fact that you can’t replace it yourself. Apple also claims that their batteries will last up to 5 years. So by the time it’s time to change batteries it’s also time to change computers.

So we’ll see in the days to come if indeed sealed batteries are the way to go.

Post from: EveryJoe

MacBook Pros Sealed Batteries Perform Well

As per announcement:

Intel recently added two dual-core CPUs into its CULV platform targeting entry-level ultra-thin notebooks – the Celeron 740 and SU2300, according to sources at notebook makers.

The Celeron 740 and SU2300 CPUs feature core frequencies of 1.3GHz and 1.2GHz, respectively, while both share the same 1MB L2 cache, 10W TDP and 800MHz FSB.

The dual-core Celeron CPUs expand Intel’s CULV lineup from originally three levels into four – single-core entry-level, dual-core entry-level, single-core performance and dual-core performance.

The sources said single-core and dual-core entry-level CPU-based ultra-thin notebooks will have a chance to drop NT$2,000-3,000 (US$61-91) starting August, while the ASP of single-core Celeron 723-based models will be able to reach market expectations for ultra-thin notebook priced at NT$20,000-22,000.

This is good news as the next step is to bring dual core to the netbooks market. Smaller computers are going to get powerful and hopefully cheaper.

News from Intel adds dual-core Celeron CPUs into ultra-thin notebook lineup. Image from Intel.

Post from: EveryJoe

Dual Core coming to Ultra-thin Notebooks

After checking a variety of websites I ended up at DuracellDirect.com and purchased a replacement battery for my laptop. After receiving my battery, on the paper that was included with the packaging it gave me some tips on prolonging the life of my new battery. Among those tips were to not charge it unnecessarily. It recommended that when computing on direct power by being plugged into the wall, to remove the battery from the laptop.

I began to think that would be a great idea. That was quickly followed by asking why there wasn’t a software switch within my operating system to disconnect my battery from being charged when the computer was plugged-in. After typing that sentence I thought to myself why this couldn’t be automatic when the computer knows it’s plugged-in.

Does anybody know if this is an option at some point on some system in the future? If it really helps batteries, why wouldn’t that be a standard feature these days?

Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/83534

Post from: EveryJoe

Battery Management Functions on Laptops

Milo discovered a product especially useful for enterprises of all sizes called Nightwatchman, a good news that Microsoft didn’t lay off anybody in the Vista team. I knew that they didn’t touch the Silverlight team, but frankly I’m surprised about this because Vista hasn’t been very profitable to Microsoft. Or has it? One bad news is the Windows 7 minimum requirements. It may not be a good experience to try it on my netbook which just meets the minimum requirements and my laptop which is old enough to even miss the minimum. But if anyone is interested, you can get the Windows 7 look into Windows XP. He also found a couple of amusing videos, one called “how to say i love you.” and another a confirmation of love, a marriage at Taco Bell. Recession, aye?

Jason found a few websites that can assist you in unique ways: one for helping educate your kids, one a calendar to help others, and another to scan your computer online. He covered a lot of Windows Powertoys, a mobile media browser and found another reason to continue loving Zune. He also has a couple of how-tos for selecting non-linear text in a word document and sharing Outlook calendar availability. One bad news, I mean another one, is that Microsoft is shutting down MSN Groups.

Claire thought out loud about the gap between Linux and mainstream users, learnt something new about less (which all you Cygwin users may find useful), discovered a wonderful browser called Kidzui which attempts to make the Internet a more kid-friendly place.

Juan wonders whether the Mac is not invincible anymore and whether Apple really needs to make a netbook. He is glad to find a symbol cheat widget and an app that can save his day with a bunch of drawings. The latter isn’t my cup of tea. He along with Jayvee found out about Apple’s stand on piracy.

Post from: EveryJoe

A Massive Tech Channel Roundup

The laptop had been docked, but the power supply unplugged due to some neighbourly reasons. When I restarted the laptop, it simply shutdown. When I powered it again, it brusquely answered with a series of flickers across three of its LEDs (power supply, battery life and something else that I don’t remember now) in a most NSFW manner. The laptop won’t start. I had read it as a signal to get a new laptop.

Upon undocking the laptop, going home, and powering it on again, it worked! Was my laptop for once being helpful? Enabling me to idle away my time in the office?

I was naturally suspicious. Upon further investigation, the following has been established: A docked laptop uses the power provided through the docking station while booting and won’t use the battery power. An undocked laptop, and a docked non-booting laptop can use the battery power.

Do you have more light to shed about this issue? Do you think it is a sweeping generalization?

Post from: EveryJoe

Power Policy With Laptop Docking Stations

Think about the easy of someone to walk out with their laptop and have it lost on the train (with not encryption)… Or someone with P2P software on their machine (that is sharing out their entire C drive)… Or worse yet, wifi (without separating it from the rest of the network) that isn’t secured with WPA2… Oh the horror!

1. USB Flash Drives
2. Laptops
3. P2P
4. Web Mail
5. Wi-Fi
6. Smart Phones
7. Collaboration Tools
8. Social Networks
9. Unauthorized Software Updates
10. Virtual Worlds

What are some of the other security risks you can think of that companies face?

Post from: EveryJoe

Easy steps can sometimes be the most helpful

When I started at Rohm and Haas, I was without a phone, desk, computer or login accounts for 3 days. This was one of the strangest feelings I’ve had since learning to drive a car, or the first time I partied too hard in college. It wasn’t fun. Sure, I wasn’t stuck over a toilet or driving like a granny, trying to not go over the speed limit, but it was almost painful.

I’m used to being connected to anyone and everyone at the push of a button. Now, I had to pre-plan what route I was going to take (no Google Maps), who I might need to call (no company directory at hand) and what I had to do (no Blackberry connected to my datebook). I think in the end though, it was good for me. I learned over the past couple months to not always stare at my email, respond to them in near real-time and to live on the Internet (especially Twitter) day in and day out.

With this, I ask you, do you have nomophobia? If so, what do you think you should do about it? Face your fears or live with it?

Related News:
CrunchGear: Do you suffer from nomophobia?
thisislondon.co.uk: Nomophobia is the fear…

Imaged provided by: kb35 on flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Nomophobia — Do you have it?