Tips and Videos:

New computer build

Last time we took one apart now we are assembling a new one. This is the build of an Intel Core i5 based system.

Laptop tear down

Here's a fast tear down of an HP DV1000 I recently worked on. I've had several customers ask what it takes to open up a laptop for a DC Jack or other motherboard repair. This laptop had a broken CMOS battery pin that caused it to loose all the BIOS settings when moved. Repair was to solder a wire between the pin and motherboard. Oh, and then put it all back together.

SSD Performance Comparison

In this video I compare a notebook with an SSD (solid state drive or disk) to my workshop computer. The workshop computer has a normal hard drive (although it's the fastest hard drive for a desktop computer). The workshop computer is also MUCH faster than the notebook (3.62ghz quad Core i7 vs 2.53ghz core2duo) but as you'll see the notebook flat out stomps the faster system. Needless to say I'm going to have to dump the hard drive in the workshop machine for an SSD..as soon as prices come down a bit.

Clean your computer!

If your computer is more than a year old, it's time to clean it out. Dirt inside your computer's cooling system prevents it from doing it's job, this means more heat. Too much heat and you get lock ups, system errors, even hardware failures. All of which can be expensive. Here's a video of a relatively clean system we recently worked on.

And here's part 2 with another, much dirtier machine.

Typing tutor program for school aged children.

A customer recently asked me to recommend some software to help teach their elementary aged children how to type. After searching around, I came a crossed this page. It's free so give it a try and let me know what you think!