Softwares

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We already discussed about the Hardware parts in a Laptop. Today let us have a glance on Software part.

The importance of software is increasing day by day.  One should wonder, what is the role of software in our laptops. How is it useful for us.   Basically there are two types of softwares. 1. System Software 2. Application Software

System Software:  It is  a set of programs that coordinates activities and functions of the hardware and various other programs. This software is always protected by a vendor with authorised license key and comes along when we buy a new laptop. Windows is the best example for this category.

• It is an interface or buffer between hardware and application software. 
• Controls the computer hardware and acts as interface with application programs.
• Performs common computer hardware functions.
• Provides a user interface which allows users to access and command laptop.
• User interface might be a text commands(Unix, dos) or icons or menus (Windows, Mac)
• This is hardware independent and manages System memory, processing tasks and files
• It provides network compatibility and controls access to system resources.
• Operating system/system software is changed when hard ware is changed.

Application Software:  It is a set of program that help users  solve particular computing problems.

• Proprietary software - Designed to solve unique and specific problem 
• In-house - Development of Application software using the company's resources
• Contract - Developed for a particular company
• Off-the-shelf -  An existing software program that can be used without considerable changes   expected.
• Customised packages - Blend of External and internal software development.

There are plenty of application softwares available in the market which help  for the daily or business activities. Some of them are Turbo Tax, Quicken (Spell checker), MS Office, Utility tools like paint, Enterprise application softwares like Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft etc.

The Application software made our life easier by involving in development of various products and application automations. The best example for this is supply chain management system automation

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online vs In Store laptop purchase

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Welcome to my new post. So far we understand, how to choose a laptop and internal and External components of a Laptop . The next step is where should i buy. 

 Also they have opened a franchise in many locations to sell their products. Also each brand has its authorised dealers. 

There are many branded companies like HP, Dell, Acer,  Thinkpad, Sony, Apple etc in the market and each has its own market. In general, a company always wants to increase their market as much as possible through various channels. They won't  loose any single opportunity which reaches to its customers. So Company sells its products  online as well as in store. As part of sales, company opens a franchise in many locations and  also have a partnership with its authorised dealers. The franchise or dealer has their own website and also publish the products in various public channels like Amazon, eBay etc.. So we understand that a company sells its products in both offline/in store and online.

However, the warehouse is common for both. The warehouse is a place where all products kept for delivery purpose.

Now Let me go through each way in detail. 

In Store:   This is a place/shop where all of brand related products are kept for display purpose. 

Advantages:

• A Staff member attends you and gives brief introduction about the desired product.
• If you like and buy a product, you will get that in sealed pack right away.
• You have a privilege to check the product immediately.
• Good Payment security.

Disadvantages:

• You need to travel to Store.
• You have to listen what staff member says. Obviously, they say their product is best and won't come to know about pitfalls.
• You can not compare a product with other brand similar product.
• You will get only some deals which are specific to store like stock clearance sale, inauguration sale etc. 
• You have to buy each related product individually and there will not be any group discount and also cannot come to know what most people buying as a pack and why.

Online:   It is nothing but a virtual store.

Advantages:

• you can search for a product and do a research on each brand from your home. you need not to travel any where.
• You can compare different products from different brands and can choose the desired one.
• You will have plenty of options to choose a desired product and a chance to view plenty of discounts.
• You can read plenty of reviews and can decide.
• The product will be delivered to your address.

Disadvantages:

• Most people worry about hacking of their card details and those might be misused.
• Incase of returns, the procedure will be bit lengthy. 

There are some more points which are common for both Online and in store.  we should carefully observe the terms and conditions for these.

Warranty :

Warranty is given by the Branded company and this is common for both Online and in store purchases. Also the Warranty applies to Hardware parts only. If you feel any any of hardware parts not working, either you need to contact the store staff or customer care. in Most times, staff member also redirects you to Customer care to explain the problem by providing a number. However, there are some  stores, send the faulty products to Product test centre on behalf of you and may charge the shipping cost.

If you buy it a online, by default you will be provided a Customer care number and a packing cover will be sent to you on request and provides the details where you should send.

Once the product is received by test centre, that will be tested throughly and if they find any fault with Hardware parts, that will be replaced. If they find any problem with software that will cost you to resolve.

I never see in  any shop staff or member resolves the problems free of cost.

Returns Policy: This is totally depends on the Store/ Dealer policy. Some stores may accept the returns to keep their good will. However, I never see a store doing this especially in Laptops ( in electronic goods).

You know,  This is a big contradiction topic. Some may like to buy in store and others do shopping online. Here i can share my experience and would like to leave decision for you.

So far i bought 3 brand new laptops and 1 used desktop since Aug 2006.

I bought first two laptops in store. I had a tough experience with store staff and hadn't receive any support. As i am a computer professional, I resolved the problems buy spending  a little more money. However, there are some stores who took care of their customers for their good will.

I bought some more in online. Though i had some problems with my later purchases, I posted to resolution centre in amazon & ebay and got resolved in 24 hours. 

Then i realised a proper medium is required between buyer and seller. 

My Next Topic: Softwares

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Internal and External components of a Laptop

                                                           dbgmall.com
As i mentioned in my previous blog, i would like to take you through the internal and external components of a laptop in this blog.

I think you all agree with me to say there are many advantages with laptops over desktops.We cannot deny that Desktops also have some advantages. If any of desktop parts are not working then we can replace them easily. This not the case with laptops.  However, laptops portable & wifi access factors tempts us to buy them with out any second thought. So Let us have a glance through components of a Laptop.

Every Laptop has two types of components :

External Components:  These are Keyboard, touchpad, screen, ports.
Internal Components:  Hard Drive, Memory, Graphics card and Processor

When we buy a laptop, the most important factor that need to be considered is its internal components along with build quality and its usability. So let me give brief note about each component.

KeyBoard:   Key board requires no introduction. This is one of the key component to consider the model of any laptop.

• Make sure you should not feel the keyboard is too much cramped.
• Keys should be solidly mounted  well spaced. If they rattle, thats not a good one.
• Each key is cut individually through a hole of chassis.
• Look for Hot keys like single use key to launch your applications, or to control laptop features like bright, contrast, volume
• It will be good if keyboard comes with backlight.

Touchpad/Pointing stick:   This is used in laptops instead of  mouse. The points to consider are 

• The cursor doesn’t skip around or jump when you drag your finger across the surface.
• It should have right size and you should feel comfortable to use.

Screen:  The laptop size is measured by its screen size.  the most common size is 15.6-inch model.  we can also find 13.3-inches, 17.3 inches. The cost of a laptop relatively changes depending on screen. The points to be considered in respect of screen are:

• weight of laptop varies depending on screen size. 
• opt for a Super-TFT screen if you are looking to watch DVDs, edit video and use your machine for visual multimedia.

Ports:  The most common ports are  as shown in the diagram.

HDMI - Connects to hi-def digital Monitors
S-Video - Connects to your VCR or Television
Express Card - Fast Expansion card upgrade slot
FireWire - for importing and exporting the data at high speed.
Card Reader - Can read a host of compact flash storage cards
S/PDIF - Digital output for phones
USB - Connects high speed devices
DisplayPort - An alternative to HDMI
Optical Drive - Create and play CDs, DVDs and blue ray discs
Modem - plugs into your phone line for dial-up internet

Hard Drive:   Earlier, this internal component is considered as key factor to decide to choose laptop. But now many external drives came into market with high data storage  capacity.  So it became a least important factor now. In general, i suggest 250GB high enough as Hard drive. However, you should consider some another factors before you decide on Hard disk.

• The storage occupies by your applications and system back up.
• How often you clean up your junk files and moves the photos/Files to External storage.

Graphics:  There are two types - integrated and dedicated. It is vital to get a right one. Integrated is the cheapest and intended to run the basic functions. A dedicated graphics card is mainly used to play games or run multimedia applications. This allows your computer very fast. However, It increases laptop cost very heavily.

Memory (RAM):  Memory is used to store the data tempararily in RAM( Random Access Memory) as accessing hard drive is a slow process. So CPU stores the data in fast-access volatile memory. The more  RAM you have the faster it can run. However, This also increases the cost of a laptop. So i suggest to make sure you have the RAM slots available so that if in case it is required and have some budget, we can extend the RAM. If the slots are not available then we need to go for a new Laptop again.  I suggest to have minimum 4GB and can be extendable to 8GB.

Processor:    This is the brain of a laptop. Most people are trapped under this category. What ever the deals you find, clearly observe about this. Processor runs your programs and is capable of performing millions of calculations a second. You don’t necessarily have to have the fastest chip, but getting the latest technology means you’ll be able to run software faster. 

     There are only two manufacturers in the market. i.e. Intel and AMD. Whenever you buy check what processor it is using and whether the model is up to date. This will help your laptop for long run.

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Next Topic :  Where should i buy a laptop online vs In Store

How to Choose a Laptop

dbmall.com Welcome to my second blog. As i mentioned in Introduction blog, now i am going to present a topic on how to choose a Laptop.

Let me start with a question. Is really required an introduction about laptop? Definitely not. There is no doubt Laptop is crazy word and popularly recognised all over the world. However, How many people know its exact usage and when should i go for this? I am sure the answer would be less than 20%.

Most people buy a laptops with of the following reasons:

• All of my friends/relatives bought so i should have one.
• I am embraced to say i haven't so i have to buy one to save my face. 
• Getting a fancy deal like 750GB hard Disk, 8 GB RAM just for 500 bucks.
• My kid want to play games so let me buy one.
• With out watching rhymes,  my kid is not taking his/her food.
• My old one got crashed so i need to buy a new one.
• And many more.

Yes, all these are valid. However, are we buying these by choice or by chance? I can say it is by chance. I have to buy one  so let me. This is where you need to take a moment , question your self and just go through the following steps to analyse your requirement to choose a right one. 

• what will i do daily with my laptop?
• Am i use for presentation?
• Am i going to buy for personal use or for group usage?
• Am i take laptop with me while i travel?
• Am i use for programming and development tasks?
• Am i use laptop just to replace my desktop?
• Am i use laptop as student?
• As i use for amusement like playing games & watching videos.
• Am i required more store to save my data and photos?

Basically i can say, People use laptops in two ways. i.e. either for family purpose or professional purpose.  

Students, Employees use their laptops in professional way. They need some additional storage as well as memory  because they use some specific softwares to complete their daily work. When laptop is started, Many of the software run automatically and occupies the memory. So eventually the performance of the laptop decreases. They need good processor and battery life time.

Remaining all falls under family category. They use their laptops for emailing, photo sharing,  playing games, watching videos and web browsing etc. So the moment of laptop is very less and need not bother about battery life time which is the critical for any computer. These can also go for cheap laptops.

I will go through the internal components of laptops and its usefulness in my next blog. This will help you to understand about the internal structure of a laptop which leeds you to choose correct laptop.

Introduction

Three months ago, I was having a silly chat with my friends as usual. Suddenly a topic came on Computers. One from that group told, his laptop was attacked by a virus and unable to work and also felt that he lost all his data and photos.
As i am a computer professional, He asked me about advise to solve that problem. I told him why don't you use google to find information about that virus. Its matter of couple of minutes to solve. He simply told

• you may find lot of spam information than actual when you search for a topic.
• if you click on any link, that might redirect to some unwanted links

Also when i had chat with different aged persons, i came across many questions like

• Which computer is suitable to me?
• I am just using my computer to do some documentation. Am i required to have Anti virus?
•  how will Virus comes into my computer?
• I lost my System password can i recover my data?
• What could be the best configuration for usage?
• Which brand should i select to buy new laptop?
• What are the minimum Softwares required to my laptop?
• Where should i buy for new laptop and its accessories?

Though we all very familiar about computers, the most common question among us is "Any suggestions  for new computer".  

After going through all these discussions, I decided to share my knowledge and experience in a blog so that every one can easily find suitable answers. 

My next blog will be on how to choose a laptop.

I want to maintain this as a interactive session so i appreciate if you can leave your comments on my blog.  Also if you are specifically looking for  any information please feel free to post.

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