Choosing The Right TV Storage

When it comes to adding a TV to your space, there are many ways you could go about it. Thinking back to my uni days, my TV sat contentedly on top of my desk with the DVD player stacked awkwardly on top.

No longer a broke student, investing in a TV stand sounded like a good idea, but how do you choose one that’s appropriate for your space and relatively stylish?

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The Basics

What is WiFi?

Wifi technolgy or working wirelessly is basically connecting your computer to a network using no cables. It uses radio frequency, transmitting data from one point to another using radio signals. You also need to be in the wireless network range for this to work.

What is a Wifi hotspot?

It is basically a venue that offers WiFi access. So airports, hotels or more importantly Statbucks

What do you need?

• a wireless PC card – this can either be built in to the laptop or inserted into the PC card slot.
• a laptop

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The Basics

There are three main types of digital camera:

Compact Camera

• Pros: good prices, very good resolution  Cons: quite bulky

Sub Compact Camera

• Pros: very portable  Cons: can have lower resolution, limited zoom

Pro Cameras

• Pros: good zoom lens, lots of functionality, professional grade optics  Cons: expensive, bulky, heavy

What is a megapixel?

• Pixels are the dots that make up a digital image on a screen, and a megapixel is a million pixels. The more pixels, the better the image.

What is a digital zoom?

• Digital zoom increases the image size using software, but image quality decreases as it increases the size. Optical zoom uses optical lenses to increase magnification producing better quality pictures.

What is a digital SLR?

• Digital SLRs are pro-quality digital cameras with interchangeable lenses. While they take great quality photos, they’re expensive, quite bulky and more difficult to use.

The Important Bits

Resolution

• A camera’s megapixels dictate how large the image is. For example,  7.1 megapixels would produce a decent quality 8 x 10-inch print.

Zoom

• Optical zoom is the most important zoom method, good cameras have 10x optical zoom or more.

User Friendly

• Really think about what you’re going to use the camera for before you buy it. If it’s just point and shoot then you probaby won’t use all the features of the some of the high end cameras on the market. In general the more features the more difficult to use.

Portability

• Sub compact cameras will fit into most handbags and so good to take on a night out, slim and light so easy to carry around. Pro cameras heavy and bulky but better quality.

The Jargon

SLR

• Single Lens Reflex – uses complex optics to show an exact image through the view finder

Resolution

• A rating that measures the total number of pixels the  camera is able to capture

SD

• Secure Digital – a small memory card, the standard for most digital cameras

Compact Flash

• A memory card larger than SD cards.

Memory Stick

• Sony’s proprietary memory card format

Face Detection

• When the camera detects a face in a scene, locks focus on it and adjusts the flash output and exposure so it comes out well.

Image Stabilisation

• Reducing shakiness or blur when taking photos.

Optical Zoom

• Uses optical lenses to increase magnification

Digital Zoom

• A way to crop or zoom images within the camera resulting in loss of image quality

CCD

• Charge Coupled Device

The Basics

There are four main types of laptops:

Ultralight

• Pros: Very portable  Cons: Very expensive, minimal power

Tablet

• Pros: Swiveling touch screen, compact   Cons: Limited power, small screen, expensive

Budget

• Pros: Good prices, good power, lots of features   Cons: Less portable

Desktop Replacement

• Pros: Very powerful, large screens Cons: Very expensive, very heavy, poor battery life

Laptop for Online Poker Players

The Dell STUDIO 17 (N0073501) is an excellent choice for gamers and especially those who want to play online poker on a serious level. The powerful processor will allow you to run several online poker rooms simultaneously, and you will also be able to use advanced statistical software, such as PokerTracker. Other Dell STUDIO 17 features such as memory, the screen, graphics and keyboard are more than sufficient to fit the online poker player’s needs.

The Important Bits

Screen Size

• The bigger the screen the heavier the laptop. Biggest and smallest screen laptops are the most expensive

Weight

• For travel – lighter and thinner the better
• For home – bigger screen is better and it can be heavier

CPU & RAM

• Go for a multicore CPU but avoid the very fastest as they can be pricey
• Install as much RAM as you can afford

Battery Life

• Most vendors sell secondary batteries for extra power

Extras

• Optical drive for burning CD / watching DVD
• Media card reader for camera cards
• Video card for games

The Jargon

Celeron

• Intel’s budget CPU, cheap but doesn’t perform that well

Centrino

• Intel’s technologies including CPU and wireless

Core 2 Duo

• Intel’s latest CPU (part of Centrino)

DVD

• Digital Versatile Disc

Turion

• AMD’s primary laptop chip, cheap but doesn’t perform that well

TFT

• Thin Film Transistor, also know as LCD

WiFi

• Wireless networking with a limited range (approx 200 feet, part of Centrino)

Wireless Broadband

• A built in technology allowing high speed access across the phone network

DL DVD

• Dual Layer DVD, capacity of 8.5GB

HD DVD

• High Definition DVD, capacity of up to 30GB

Express Card

• Business card size slot used for some peripherals

HDMI

• High Definition Multimedia Interface, single cable digital connection for video and audio

Blu Ray

• HD optical standard, many Blu Ray drives allow you to save up to 50GB of data to disc