Buying an External Hard Drive: What Should You Be Looking For?

I recently have been having some problems with the Compaq laptop that I purchased when I started my freshman year in college about two years ago. It’s ridiculously slow and has been driving me absolutely insane. I’ve run multiple virus scans, but they couldn’t seem to find anything significant.

I finally decided that the best thing to do would be to purchase an external hard drive to dump all of my important documents and my crazy amount of music and pictures on, and then I figured I would wipe everything on the laptop and give it a new start. When I formulated this plan though, I realized that I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of external hard drive I wanted. So after doing some research, I’ve decided to share what I think are the important things to consider when you’re looking for your hard drive.

First off it’s important to know that for under $100 you can get an external hard drive that can hold over 750,000 music downloads or photos. You can add about a terabyte (1024 GB) of space to your laptop or desktop computer. Every single computer available has the ability to have at least one external hard drive added to it. Some computers even have the multiple ports that allow for the use of more than one external hard drive. You are given the capacity to back up anything you could possibly want or need with an external hard drive.

Okay so if your considering purchasing an external hard drive, the first thing that you want to pay attention to is the type of hard drive that you want. There are two different types of hard drives that you’ll be looking at. There are desktop-style drives and notebook-class styles hard drives. Desktop-style drives are obviously for desktop computers. They require a power adapter, and therefore need to be able to stay in one place for the most part. Right now, you can find desktop-style drives with up to 2 TB (terabytes) of extra space on them.

The notebook-class drives are designed to be portable like you’re laptop. They are powered through the connector cable and do not need to be plugged in like the desktop-style. Most of the Notebook-style hard drives are small enough to easily fir into your pants pocket, which is quite convenient. They come with as much as 1 TB of extra space, but it is more common to find them with 500GB or 640GB which is plenty of room.

The next thing you need to consider is something I never even thought about. You need to decide what kind of input you want to utilize to connect your computer and the external hard drive. There are tons of different hard drives that connect in a variety of different ways. Some connect through USB 2.0 ports, FireWire (400 and 800), eSATA, Wireless USB, USB 3.0, or iSCSI. The USB 2.0 port is the most common way to connect the devices, but its not exactly the fastest. FireWIre is less common, but is much faster. Even faster than FireWire is a hard drive that uses an eSATA connection. If you’re not concerned about transferring all your data quickly, then I think that a hard drive that uses a USB 2.0 port is your best bet, and it will also be cheaper.

The last challenge that you will be faced with when selecting your external hard drive is drive speed. Unless you’re connecting you’re hard drive internally to your PC through the motherboard or with an eSATA cable, there is no need to worry about the drive speed. USB 2.0 and FireWire ports can’t handle a fast drive speed and therefore all that is necessary for your external hard drive is the basic drive speed.

There are always things like color and design to consider when you’re considering external hard drives, but I don’t feel like those are too important. You also can look into warranties, because if you’re really hard on your hard drive it can fail you. Those things are all up to you though. Hopefully now when you’re looking for an external hard drive you will now know what to look for. It’s not as hard as it may sound, ad it is definitely something that can really be a good thing for your laptop or desktop. For a very small amount of cash and a little bit of time, you can create a ton more space or possibly even save your slowly failing computer.

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Cisco to Release the Cius Android Tablet

At the CiscoLive event held in Las Vegas this past Tuesday, Cisco announced that they will be releasing their Cius 7-inch Android tablet, but they have not said when or what kind of price tag they plan to put on it.

The Cius will be the first Android tablet that is being specifically designed for business. Cisco says that they are using their newest technology that they have designed for mobile business needs. The Cius will have the ability to take 720p video and utilize the Cisco Telepresence solution. It will come standard with Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, Presence, and an instant messenger app.

Kara Wilson, the vice president of UC and collaboration solutions marketing for Cisco said, “Cisco Cius delivers on our vision of bringing the next wave of collaborative experiences to our customers. It will fundamentally change how your workers, executives and managers will go about their day, ushering in a new era of productivity.”

The tablet measures 7-inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds. Inside the Cius is a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom processor, 32 GB of internal memory, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and a 3G/4G connection. The tablet will run a Mozilla browser, but the company has not named who will be the cellular carrier.

The Cius can be used as a regular tablet or also as part of a docking station. The chief executive of Cisco, John Chambers, also unveiled a smaller version of the Cius that will be more targeted at students.

Cisco says, “You can slowly migrate to cloud computing by deploying business tablets to executives, sales representatives and knowledge workers and then expand mobility across your entire enterprise. Instead of bringing employees to where the work is, you can bring the work to where the employees are.”

I can’t wait to see the Cius in action. It has some great features that you can’t find on just any tablet. I just hope that Cisco doesn’t take to long to release it or that the price tag is too ridiculous. The Cius will just be something that we’ll have to wait and see about.

If you’re looking for a tablet now and don’t want to wait on the Cius, check out the Sony Dash or Apple’s iPad.

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HP’s Fourth of July Sales

HP is offering great Fourth of July deals early this year. They are now advertising their Compaq Presario CQ62Z series notebooks starting as low as $379.99. For that amazing price tag you will get Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, 320GB of hard drive, and a 2.2GHz AMD V-series processor. That’s a great deal!

They are also offering their HP Deskjet D2680 printer for merely $59.99 after instant savings. The printer prints 28 black and white pages per minute and 21 color pages per minute, and it features 600 dpi black print resolution.

If you are looking for a laptop or a printer this summer, you should definitely look further into HP’s great Fourth of July savings.

If the Compaq Presario CQ62Z isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, check out HP‘s new line of business laptops.

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Student Laptop Rentals 101

Many students know just all too well that being able to work and study while on the go can be the difference between a failing and passing grade. College is riddled with long bus rides, waiting between classes while on campus, pop quizes, cram studying, and long lectures. Put simply, students who are without a laptop are at a huge disadvantage to those who do. Many colleges utilize online interfaces such as BlackBoard to post lectures, assign homework, post grades, have discussions with those enrolled in the class via forums, and even register for classes. Students who attend colleges which emphasize online communications are often limited to only studying either at home or in a library when not in class, and must resort to copying down all notes by hand. As a student myself, I can attest to how helpful a laptop can be when attending college. In terms of being able to study whenever I want and typing up the notes by hand, a laptop is truly an educational lifesaver.

Unfortunately brand new laptops are expensive and quickly outdated within only a few semesters. Not to mention the possibility of theft while navigating around campus with thousands of other students. Luckily a Student Laptop Rental can be an inexpensive fallback for when cram season begins or a time intensive project falls on your lap in the midst of other assignments. These laptop rentals are available by the month, semester, or even year and are guaranteed to provide excellent satisfaction and aide you in your studies. Not only will you be saving money when compared to purchasing a brand new laptop which can run in the thousands of dollars, but you will also be ensuring that you have the means to study and work hard when it truly counts. All laptop rentals are booted with a fresh install and the data is completely wiped from the hard drive leaving you with a clean slate to do whatever you see fit with your laptop. Whether you decide to use your laptop for graphical design or for simply typing up papers and online research, know that a laptop rental will help you streamline your duties as a college student.

If you are interested in a student laptop rental, contact a Tech Travel Agent today at 1 800 736 8772 or follow the link for a quick and easy student laptop rental request. Or, if you happen to live in the mid west, see our Ohio Student Laptop Rental page for more information about student rentals in your area.

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Looking for Laptop Rental information? Visit our Tech Travel Agent Laptop Rental Page for a variety of laptop rental solutions for business or personal use. Or call today at 800-736-8772.

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi

Starbucks made a big announcement today. As of July 1st, the company will be offering free Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi will be provided by AT&T and is available for any Starbucks customer with the simple click of a button. Starbucks CEO Howard D. Schultz made the announcement today at a press conference in New York. According to The New York Times, he described it as "a way to bridge the online world and real-world coffee outlets."

Ironically, most coffee shops already offer free Wi-Fi. Starbucks is a little late to the game. Starbucks customers could buy and registered a Starbucks card that would allow them two hours of internet access. Beyond those two hours, or if you did not have the card, you had pay $3.99 per two hours.

On the other hand, the coffee shops who do have free internet access seem to be working on telling customers who use their tables as their own personal offices to get out sooner rather than later. Whether they are posting signs telling customers they must purchase something if they plan to stay or covering power outlets with tape so that people may not charge their laptops up, most less recognizable shops are doing just the opposite of what Starbucks is about to offer.

Currently, Starbucks says their customers usually use about an hour of Wi-Fi on average. They don't expect that number to change, even with the free Wi-Fi. Stephen Gillett, the chief information officer at Starbucks, as well as the general manager of Digital Ventures, a business unit created by Starbucks, will manage the network.

So, is Starbucks' move just a way to drive the economy? In January, after announcing a same-store sales increase of 4% after many months of declines, Starbucks said the improvements are due to its "role as an office for the unemployed." The company said many people use their stores as a place to work on resumes or work on freelance writing jobs.

In addition to the new free network, Starbucks is partnering with Yahoo to give customers more digital content. The Starbucks Digital Network will give customers free access to sites such as The Wall Street Journal, as well as allowing downloads from sites such as iTunes. Customers will also get content from sites such as Zagat, and Patch by AOL.

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The New Kno Tablet

On Wednesday at D: All Things Digital another tablet made an appearance. This tablet is going to be targeted mainly at students and should be launched at the end of the year. It is being called the Kno.

The Kno is a touch-based device running on a Linux operating system. It is comprised of 14-inch dual screens with each screen featuring 1440 x 900 IPS display. It weighs about 5.5 pounds and has up to 6 to 8 hours of battery life. This amount of battery life may seem impossible for a dual screened tablet, but the CEO of Kno, Osman Rashid, said that each screen will have their own battery pack.

The Web-based operating system that the Kno will run on has been specifically designed around the use of touch. Rashid said, "We are not going to try to retrofit something, we are going to build it from scratch."

Kno is based in Santa Clara, California. It has 90 employees that have been working on the Kno tablet for about a year now.

As I said before, Rashid is targeting the Kno at students. He doesn’t feel that it will replace a laptop, but that it is a much more portable device to bring to class. He said, "We believe the laptop is becoming the new desktop," he said. "It is going to stay in your dorm or in your home. This is all you need to carry around."

Kno has not yet settled on a price for the tablet, but they are certain that they want it to cost well under $1,000. It will be interesting to see more details about the Kno as its release date draws nearer.

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Netbook or iPad: Which Do You Prefer?

CNET decided to ask its readers which they prefer: an iPad or a Netbook. According to the results, those who favorite netbooks did so for practical reasons, while those who preferred an iPad cited media-viewing capabilities and other novelties. Netbooks seemed to be the most favored. As the article points out iPads are newer and aren't exactly like traditional computers. So, whether or not the match-up is fair, is questionable.

However, most people are probably going to own either, but not both. Due to their size and ease of carrying, both are handy for travel or working on the go. And as CNET points out, neither one is exactly a laptop and neither one is exactly a smartphone. When the results were tallied, CNET posted some of the pros for each device. Here's a quick look at what all they found.

Netbooks:

Netbooks were seen as "cheap" and "simple" compared to their Apple counterparts. As one participant said, "...while the iPad is interesting, I don't see it filling a need for cheap, simple computers, which can do everything."

Netbooks were also popular because the offer full keyboards and the ability to multi-task. A more tech-savvy reader stated that "app restrictions" at Apple make the iPad less open than a Windows-loaded netbook. One musician stated that USB and more driver support makes the netbook more appealing for him, and some readers would choose the netbook just because they are PC loyalists.

iPads:

On the other side of the not-quite-a-phone, not-quite-a-computer device debate, some say the virtual keyboard works fine and that features like predictive spell-checking and 45-degree angle tilt help them type faster than they would on a regular keyboard. Some stated that maps are easier to follow on the iPad screen, and other insisted the iPad is better for travel due to its lighter weight and ease-of-use when looking for entertainment.

Many people cited various app-related pros for the Apple device and some say people just haven't given the iPad a try yet. As one reader put it, "...The iPad is different from a Netbook. Neither are appropriate for real computer work, but for using the Internet, mail, games, and/or light computing, the iPad is the better choice."

For more information on which device CNET readers prefer, check out iPad or Netbook?

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