What can we expect to see in 2012? I personally do not think that we are going to see any thrilling changes that will surprise us or wow us; however, I would be happy to be proven wrong! To be honest, I have a feeling that more focus is going to be put on tablets and smartphones than laptops.

I think that we can expect the obvious. Laptops are going to get thinner, lighter, faster, and have longer battery lives. The newest laptops are being called “Ultrabooks.” This word was made up by Intel, but it represents a category of ultraportable laptops. Laptops that qualify as being Ultrabook models must be less than 0.83 inches thick, resume from the hibernate mode to keyboard input in less than 7 seconds, have at least 5 hours of battery life, and more.

In short, not much is changing. While these new Ultrabooks will provide an ultraportable laptop, are they going to be powerful, or can you get just as much out of them as you can an iPad? One thing is for sure, it looks like the world of Netbooks is starting to fade away. I am glad that I never fell for that craze. I always like the ability to have a mini laptop; however, when something just as thin and light as a Netbook that has a lot more to offer than a Netbook comes along, I think I would rather go for a 13+ inch screen with a full sized keyboard.

I would like to see laptops advance, but for now, I have a feeling that smartphones and tablets are going to be top priority.

As with most electronic items, monitors have become almost completely customizable. If you know what you are looking for, it is a lot easier to get what you want. If you don’t really care, then go for the price factor as well as advice from reviews or store employees. Be sure to check the warranties!

Once you move away from the CRTs, you will end up with an LCD monitor; however, there are many different “flavors” within an LCD screen. There are three types of panel technologies currently used in LCDs. These are twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA), and in-plane switching (IPS). TN typically offers the lowest price and faster response time, but the color isn’t that great and the viewing angles are narrow. VA offers better quality with good response times at medium prices, but the color shifts if you look at it from extreme angles. IPS puts you into pretty pricey ranges (one 22 inch screen in this category could cost you over $400), but the color is fantastic, and it allows for more viewing angles.

Now, think about what you want. What are you going to use this monitor for? If you’re going to be staring at the screen the whole day, think about what is more ergonomic for you. Do you need a screen that can rotate 90+ degrees or adjust its height? If you have plans to watch a lot of movies on it, you’ll want to look for something with a low black level, a wide viewing angle, and accurate colors. The same goes for photo-editing. As you may have assumed, you will also have to look into the resolution and just how many pixels you can stuff into a square inch (I’d aim for something that gives you 1280 x 960). When you start getting into lots of picture editing, you will have to have a good graphics card as well.

Next you should think about what kind of ports you need. DVI, VGA, HDMI, USB, audio, memory cards, etc. Make sure that you keep those in mind as well, you may need these ports out of convenience or necessity depending on what your intentions are!

Being safe on your computer is important to do on a daily basis; however, on days like Cyber Monday, it is especially important as you are much more vulnerable. If there are lots of sales to pick from and you are frantically clicking around sites to get the deals that you want, it is easy to make a mistake and put your whole computer in jeopardy. Granted, getting a $1000 TV for $200 may be worth damaging your computer, but most of the time this will not be the case.

While Cyber Monday may have passed, these are some tips that you should always keep in mind in order to keep your computer healthy and to protect your own identity.

First of all, be wary of the items with the huge discount. They may be too good to be true. Check out the Better Business Bureau to see if the site you’re visiting is accredited. Another thought to keep in mind is to check CyberMonday.com; they’ll have a listing of all the legitimate websites.  Another tip is to only make purchases on sites that are secure or SSL. How can you tell? Well, look at the URL for the page; does it begin with “https://”? If so, then that “s” means that you are in a secure site. When you do pay, pay with plastic and not a wire transfer or something else. Credit laws are in place so that you can dispute an item that you ordered if it never comes in and you can typically get all of your money back if the bad guy gets caught in the act of taking your money illegally.

Last, but not least, make sure that your software is ready to fight. Make sure that you are up to date, and perhaps put up a few more security features. Also make sure that you are using the latest version of the browser that you are using. Browsers do a pretty good job about protecting computers from malicious things.

Good luck and keep your identity as well as your computer safe!

It looks a lot different from Windows 7. Its main function aspects seem to be motivated by the new touchscreens and tablet hype; however, Windows 8 is not just for tablets; it is for home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, servers, and media center PCs as well. One of the big additions in this OS is its ability to incorporate ARM microprocessors as well as the standard Intel and AMD processors.

Switching from Vista to Windows 7 did not involve too much thinking or learning. From the looks of it, Windows 8 seems like it will be a little harder to get used to. For example, the Windows 8 Start Screen user interface looks pretty cool, but a little less direct. It is a screen that groups your applications all together, and you are able to mix and match what you want to show on the screen. To compete with the Apple store, Windows is going to have an expansive store as well, and they will start to put out more and more Apps. It’s a little late now, but they certainly can try. They have also changed the log-on screen. Instead of typing in a password, you can tap the screen in certain spots to unlock it.

Perhaps one of the biggest bits of information is the concept of Windows to Go. This allows users with Windows 8 to essentially carry around a copy of their Windows 8 on a USB-drive called a Live USB. The Live USB allows users to have an image of their computer that is compatible with both Windows 8 and 7. There are some funny little quirks about this feature. For example, you cannot put a computer like this in hibernation. If you pull out the USB stick, the OS will automatically freeze, but if you put the stick back in within 60 seconds, it will come back to where you left off!

Windows 8 looks like it is going to be an interesting switch for Microsoft users. It is going to be a lot more visual, but that is wanted in touchscreen applications.

We all know about the sleek iMac; however, have you seen the Mac Mini? I did not even know about it until recently. The Mac Mini is an extremely powerful computer.

Here are its specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: 500 GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6630M
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.7

Looking at those figures, would you expect to hear that the Mac Mini (2011) is around 8 x 8 x 1.5 inches? Well, it is. Long story short, it has a super compact design. It is definitely the smallest “desktop” computer out there. Its body is aluminum, it has an SD slot, an HDMI port, and more. Macs are known for their amazing graphic abilities, and the Mac Mini is no exception; its 3D performance rivals a tower PC.

However, even though the Mac Mini’s size is impressive, there is one other thing that may strike your fancy. If you check it out, you will notice that there is no longer any slot-loading optical drive. I am always impressed by the sleekness of Apple’s optical drive, and now they have taken it one step further by getting rid of it all together. Why did they make this move? I  think it is safe to assume that it happened because everything can be downloaded online. From the iTunes Store, Safari, and the Mac App store online, why would you need an optical drive if you own an Apple product?

In my opinion, I am not sure if this was a great decision. A lot of people watch DVDs on their computers and a lot of software is still being downloaded via CDs. There is always the option of having an external optical drive; in fact, that is what I am doing now with my laptop.

One of the biggest cons of this computer is that the hard drive is hard to upgrade. I should probably also mention that the price is around $800.

Until recently, in order to get 1 terabyte of memory internally, you had to have a desktop computer. There were not any options out there to integrate the hard drive in a laptop. The hard drives were just too large to fit in the laptop.

There are now a few options out, but I am going to focus on the one that I would recommend, the Samsung Spinpoint M8. Another option to think about is the Western Digital Scorpio Blue.

The Samsung Spinpoint M8′s dimensions are:
Height: 9.5mm
Width: 69.75mm
Length: 100.3mm

For a hard drive of such capacity and for being a 5400rpm hard drive, it is actually really fast, and the performance is great. Notebookreview.com used CrystalDiskMark to test the speeds. This test was done with a formatted hard drive, and it was used in a laptop that had the ability to hold more than one hard drive. If your laptop cannot hold multiple hard drives, then the results will change a little bit. This is because if there is only one hard drive, then the operation system will probably run bits and pieces off of that drive, and this will cause the hard drive to slow down.

What they found is that the Seq speed went to 106.3 MB/s, the 512K went to 57.90, the 4k went to 0.458, and the 4K QD32 went to 1.

The reason why I chose to focus on the Samsung hard drive was because of its low power consumption. An inefficient hard drive can greatly impact your laptop’s battery life. It all depends on how the hard drive goes through its “states” in order to do what you are requesting from your computer. For example, the start-up of a laptop is going to require a lot of power, while sitting in the idle mode does not. How the hard drive determines when it needs to consume more power and when it does not, affects your laptop’s battery life.

The price of this hard drive can be anywhere between $100 – $150.

HP’s Envy Line

I currently have an Envy 13. The 14 inch and the 17 inch were too big for me, and their Beats Edition was not something I was looking into, because I do not need to have the best of the best when it comes to sound on my laptop. Sure I want to be able to hear it without plugging in speakers, but I do not need all the extra add-ons, like a subwoofer.

My one complaint about the Envy 13 is its lack of optical drive. They did this in order to keep it thin. I will admit that I do not use the optical drive too much, but enough to wish I did not have to go fetch an external drive every time I needed to insert a disk.

However, in the later models of the Envy line, they have solved this without compromising on the thickness too much. At its fattest point, the Envy 14 is 1.09 inches. They have also efficiently placed all the ports so that you do not get yourself in a rut by having on over-sized dongle. Want to know something else that is pretty cool? The Envy 17 is a beast. With customized specifications, this thing can do what you want it to do in terms of multi-tasking. Think about it, gaming on three screens? 100% doable.

The Envy laptops look good. They also feel nice and solid in your hands; the metal material is to thank for that. I definitely feel like I have a sturdy computer. They are still a little heavier than they could be, but hey, like I said before, the price tag makes it all worth it.

HP has done a great job with their Envy line. They look good, and they get the job done. As the owner of an Envy 13, I highly recommend them.

Said modern mini van, loaded with luggage for the trip, is a technological gold mine.  It provides a near perfect view of the amount of technology a modern family has, as well as the amount of technology in the car.

First, let’s look into the car.  Modern cars are controlled by a computer.  The computer is standard equipment in most cars, and functions to operate and regulate the motor.  But, in this car, the computer does much more.  Mounted in the rear bumper is a video camera.  The camera transmits to an LCD screen mounted in the center of the dash board, above the heat/AC controls.  When you are backing up, the camera is activated, and a picture is shown  on the screen.  The video is overlaid with a “safety zone” that provides a distance scale showing how far away objects are.  This screen also controls the XM radio and bluetooth.

Now, the contents of the car are also a technology load.  There are two adults and three kids in the car, to provide a basis.  Inside the mini van are: two laptops, an iPad, an iTouch, an iPod Nano, two Samsung Highlights, a Blackberry, an HTC Evo, and a Garmin GPS device.  For five people, there are ten pieces of technology.  This provides an excellent look into how much technology we carry with us.

In the modern world, we are surrounded by technology.  We have it everywhere, even on vacation.  Technology surrounds us, just don’t take it for granted.

There have been many versions of tablets that have rotating screens that allow you to switch between tablet and functional tablet, but the options really haven’t been that great. I had one from the Tablet PC HP Pavilion TX series, and while the screen rotating function was helpful when working on group projects, I can’t say that I would have ever chosen to write on my laptop instead of type.

About a year ago, Dell came out with the Inspiron duo-branded tablet. It’s definitely sleek and compact. Instead of a rotating screen, you can flip the screen, and the transition between type and touch is almost seamless. The processor of this convertible tablet is an Intel® dual-core Atom™ processor N550.That being said, the processor is good enough for a netbook and the typical activities associated with such laptops. The 2 GB of RAM is acceptable, but it would have been nice to see a little more; however, you can’t get more than the 32-bit Windows 7 Home Edition on there, so more than 3GB would have been useless. I’ve heard of people being able to run an Android OS on there, but I cannot promise you that.

The screen is 10.1 inches. Small, but manageable. It does weigh more than your typical netbook or tablet, but it is still nice and compact. Perhaps one of the biggest complaints is that the battery life runs at about 2.5 hours. In comparison to other netbooks that are more powerful, 3 hours is peanuts.

Overall, I think it’s a great option for someone who feeds the constantly switches between laptop and tablet.

Comparing your standard RGB stripe to Samsung’s PenTile display technology, HD is going to look about two times better on the Samsung screen.

It sounds great right? It does to me, and it seems perfect for something like the iPad, but experts have reasoned that there is only a small chance that this exact screen will be incorporated into to the next generation iPad. The main reason behind this is that the last two iPads measured 9.7-inches and had resolutions of 1024×768. So, Apple would have to adjust their iPad measurements and start working with a whole different animal.

However, the rumors have continued to spread about this new Amoled screen being Apple’s new big thing. This rumor started to churn because Tim Cook, one of Apple’s directors, went to the Samsung factory to make an agreement about implementing Amoled screens into a new iPad. Hmmm, curious. Samsung does currently have something in their Galaxy Tab line that could be used by Apple right now, but I have a feeling that Apple is planning bigger and better things.

If anything, this new screen shows that it is possible to make something that uses a low amount of power, but still produces an image display that rivals the retina display on the iPhones. The screen itself uses 40 percent less battery energy than the current RGB stripe technology.

And the screens don’t stop there. This week I read about another screen that Samsung is designing. This one is a flexible screen.  Still Amoled based, Samsung has come out with bendable screens that could be used in watches and smartphones.

So, will Apple bring Samsung’s new technology into their new technology? We will have to wait and see.